India, Oct. 5 -- Om Prakash Rajbhar, Uttar Pradesh cabinet minister and Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) president, was perhaps not far off the mark when he recently remarked that becoming an IAS officer maybe easier than contesting an election and becoming an MLA. Rajbhar's observation came in the wake of the resignation by 2013-batch IAS officer Divya Mittal, who left the service to become, as she put it, the "unheard voice of the people".

Mittal, whose career path included IIT Delhi and IIM Bangalore and a stint in the corporate sector in London, has said she will enter politics in UP even though her home state is Haryana. She said she plans to work with ordinary citizens and build a new platform around issues including education...