Industrialist Anand Mahindra, known for his motivational social media posts, has sparked a viral conversation by highlighting the exceptional work of a senior Indian bureaucrat. His latest Monday motivation spotlighted IAS officer Supriya Sahu, who has been named a UNEP "Champion of the Earth" for 2025, the United Nations' highest environmental honour.
Mahindra's Tribute to Steady Leadership
In a detailed post on X (formerly Twitter), Mahindra celebrated Sahu's career as a powerful counter-narrative in a world obsessed with quick results. He wrote that her decades of steady public service can move mountains. He expressed particular admiration for her consistency, noting that she was pushing for plastic bans at the district level in the Nilgiris long before it became a mainstream movement.
Mahindra, who has a personal connection to the region from his schooldays, defined her leadership through quiet clarity, stubborn persistence, and outcomes that outlast headlines. He praised bureaucrats like Sahu for choosing long-term transformation over short-term safety, thereby setting global standards for public service.
Who is IAS Supriya Sahu?
Supriya Sahu is a 1991-batch IAS officer of the Tamil Nadu cadre. For the past four-and-a-half years, she has served as the Additional Chief Secretary for Environment, Climate Change, and Forests. Born on July 27, 1968, her love for nature was ignited during childhood travels with her father. A postgraduate in Botany from Lucknow University, she began her career as an Additional Collector in Vellore.
Her diverse career includes leading the Tamil Nadu State AIDS Control Society and serving as Joint Secretary in the Union Ministry of Information & Broadcasting. An avid nature lover, she often shares stories about elephants, which she sees as symbols of resilience and family, on her Instagram.
A Legacy of Groundbreaking Environmental Work
Sahu's recognition by the United Nations stems from her pioneering leadership on subnational climate action, ecosystem restoration, and sustainable cooling in Tamil Nadu. Her impactful initiatives include:
- Operation Blue Mountain: As the District Collector of Nilgiris around the year 2000, she launched this visionary initiative to ban single-use plastics.
- Massive Afforestation: She set a Guinness World Record on June 24, 2003, by overseeing the planting of 42,182 trees in a single day.
- State-Wide Greening: Under her leadership, Tamil Nadu has planted over 100 million trees, created 65 new reserve forests, doubled mangrove cover, and increased wetlands from 1 to 20.
- Institutional Innovation: She founded the Tamil Nadu Green Climate Company, a non-profit focusing on coastal resilience and urban heat, and established the US$60 million Endangered Species Conservation Fund.
- Cool Roof Project: This initiative painted roofs of 200 "green schools" for passive cooling, enhancing resilience for an estimated 12 million people.
Her nature-first approach in urban planning, especially in Chennai, tackles plastic pollution and human-wildlife conflict head-on. According to the UN, her work has created millions of green jobs and positioned Tamil Nadu as a model for science-based, community-driven climate resilience.
Anand Mahindra's viral post has successfully drawn national attention to the quiet, persistent work of an officer whose environmental foresight and grassroots grit have earned India and Tamil Nadu a prestigious spot on the global stage. Supriya Sahu's journey from the Nilgiris to the United Nations podium is a powerful testament to the impact of dedicated public service.
