Divya Mittal: the ex-IAS officer who says the problem was never funds or rules, but intent
Divya Mittal, a 2013-batch Uttar Pradesh-cadre IAS officer, tool to her X and announced on 29 SeptemberTuesday that she is entering politics, a month after resigning from the service. She will begin in Uttar Pradesh, she said in a video on X, but will not join any existing party.
"Politics," she said, when asked what comes next. "I will do politics, but not with anyone or any party. But with you all."
From London finance to the civil services
Mittal is originally from Rewari, Haryana. She studied engineering at IIT Delhi and management at IIM Bangalore, then moved to London, where she worked in finance, including at JP Morgan. She has said she felt "incomplete" despite that success. She returned to India for the UPSC exam and cleared it with an all-India rank of 68, according to The Tribune, though accounts of her attempts differ.
In Uttar Pradesh she served as district magistrate of Deoria, Mirzapur and Sant Kabir Nagar. She gained wide attention in Mirzapur when tap water reached the remote hill village of Lahuriadah for the first time, 75 years after Independence. She was special secretary in the Revenue Department in Lucknow when she resigned on 30 August after about 13 years. She called the decision considered and personal, driven by priorities and family rather than pressure, and described the IAS as "merely one chapter" of her life.
Her case: "a lack of intent"
Mittal's explanation centres on what she saw inside government. She described approving a school for a remote village after a woman asked for classes beyond Class 5, only to find that construction had not begun three years later. "It was not a question of funds or rules," she said. "There was a lack of intent."
She also alleged that an incorrect report in a land matter was withdrawn after intervention, but that efforts to secure possession for the man later met an instruction that it had been stopped "from above". She asked who that "above" was, arguing that in a constitutional system the people should be at the top. These are her own accounts. No independent verification or official response has been reported.
Her agenda covers poor rural roads and bridges, exam paper leaks, slow recruitment and the effect of artificial intelligence on jobs. She also spoke as a mother of two daughters worried about the future they will inherit.
An independent platform
Mittal said she will build a platform with citizens and will not be swayed by money, muscle power, or caste and religious calculations. She named four principles: intent, justice, concern and thought. "The objective is not only to change one politician; politics has to change," she said.
She called Uttar Pradesh her karmabhoomi. "I came here as an officer, but the people here made me their daughter," she said. The announcement comes months before the 2027 Assembly elections.
What is not yet known
Mittal has not named her platform, explained how it will be organised or funded, or said whether she will contest a seat. Reactions from established parties had not been reported at the time of writing. Her strongest credential is her record on delivery. Whether that translates into votes in a state dominated by party machinery is the test ahead.
