IAS officer Ashwini Bhide: Changing an ecosystem

R Ramana, director, planning and real estate development, MMRC, who has known Bhide for 15 years, says she deals with everyone with respect. “She is a thorough, upright and clean administrator. She studies all problems in-depth, gives her time to hear the stakeholders’ views and grievances, and tries to give a comprehensive solution where common citizens get their rightful benefits,” he says.

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Bhide’s single-minded focus to meet her goals is a trait she’s had since her formative years. She belongs to a middle-class family—her father worked with the State Bank of India, a job with transfers, and mother was a homemaker—in Western Maharashtra, and studied in Marathi-medium schools in small villages. “We had people from all strata of society, mainly from rural areas. As a result, there was realistic grooming,” says Bhide, who stood in the merit list in SSC, and did her BA in literature from Willingdon College in Sangli. While pursuing her postgraduation in Pune, she began preparing for the Maharashtra Public Service Commission and UPSC exams.

A relative who worked at the Mantralaya had informed her about IAS as a career option. “The usual route for meritorious students was medical or engineering. But I thought I should do something different,” says Bhide, adding that the journey began when she was 15, and challenges included information deficit in an era without internet. “Aspirants like us from rural areas and smaller towns did not have the resources,” she says.

Once the hurdle was crossed, though, she learnt everything on the job—from understanding human behaviour to dealing with various stakeholders: Politicians, citizens, citizen groups. Her initial stints as assistant collector in Kolhapur district, CEO of Sindhudurg district and CEO of Nagpur Zilla Parishad saw her handle labour problems, industrial unrest and disaster management, among other issues.

She says there are both challenges and advantages of being a woman IAS officer. “People shower a lot of love because they see such few lady officers. And the expectations are high—she should be considerate, sensitive and understanding. And we must respond to that positively,” says Bhide, who is involved with the Coastal Road project in Mumbai too. The system, though, she concedes, is male-dominated, and the struggle began from having washrooms for women. “There are tough decisions that you take, but people don’t expect that from women officers. There is a patronising attitude. As you move up the ladder, there is a glass ceiling that one encounters… that’s because there is a political role that increases.”

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Whenever there is an impasse, she says she takes the lead in proactively talking to politicians, and stresses on the need for “bridge-building”. “At times, there can be pure denial from the political representative about having a female officer… the comfort level about women officers among political leadership is less,” she says, adding that irrespective of one’s gender, one needs to be a good officer.

“Ashwini handles male ego and male-centric work environment efficiently… she is able to master that,” says Ramana, adding that she’s tech-savvy, an avid reader who reads both English and Marathi literature, and a fast learner.

Bhide, who also enjoys watching films and documentaries, listening to classical music, and attending cultural programmes, emphasises that more women need to show up as only then the ecosystem can change. “Organisations need to create a conducive atmosphere for women. And women too, irrespective of the atmosphere, should take it as a challenge and step up. As the number increases, things change,” says Bhide, who describes herself as a democratic leader, but a hard taskmaster, who is outcome-oriented and believes in team building.