Tina Dabi
Tina Dabi is an Indian civil servant in Rajasthan. She ranked first in the Civil Services Examination of 2015. She was awarded with the President of India Gold Medal for performing extremely well during her training period.
Early life and education
Dabi was born in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. Her family moved to Delhi in the year 2005. She is the daughter of Himali Kamble and Jaswant Dabi, both from Indian Engineering Services, and also the elder sister of Ria Dabi, IAS. She was educated at the Convent of Jesus and Mary in Delhi and then graduated in Political Science from Lady Shri Ram College for Women, Delhi.Career
In 2015, at the age of 22, Dabi took the Indian civil service exam to qualify for an Indian Administrative Services job and came in first in the nation, the first woman from the marginalized Dalit caste to do so. Her accomplishment drew attention to the details of her personal life and criticism of the reservation system for scheduled castes.It also drew attention to casteism in India. Rohitha Naraharisetty, writing in The Swaddle, said the "relentless media gaze...from the outset, had little to do with her accomplishments and more to do with astonishment" due to prejudice. Dabi told The Hindu, "When my results were out, wishes poured in on the first day, but the next day, I started getting messages from the media asking for my caste, because my surname sounded different”.
In 2024, a video of Dabi bowing to Satish Poonia drew attention to the relationship between civil servants and elected officials in India.
Her first civil service position was in 2017 as an assistant collector in Ajmer, Rajasthan. In 2020 she was a joint secretary in Jaipur, Rajasthan. In 2023 she was a district collector and magistrate in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan. Since 2024 she is district collector in Barmer.
In 2025, at the 6th National Water Awards 2025, President of India, Smt. Droupadi Murmu, conferred the first ever Jal Sanchay Jan Bhagidari Award to Barmer district, for their success in rainwater harvesting and community driven participation. This initiative was spearheaded by Tina Dabi.
In December 2025, a student protest at Multanmal Bhikhchand Chhajed Women’s College in Barmer, Rajasthan, over an alleged increase in college fees received media attention after some protesting students referred to the district collector, IAS Tina Dabi, as a “reel star” rather than a “role model”. The remark circulated widely in news reports and on social media, following which two student leaders were briefly detained by police, prompting further demonstrations outside the police station. The district administration stated that the action was taken to maintain law and order and clarified that no formal charges were filed, while Dabi described the episode as being unnecessarily portrayed as a controversy.