New Delhi: Fame India, an acclaimed rating magazine has listed 100 District Magistrates (DMs) in its survey findings, as the “outstanding and best-performing” administrative heads of the state and is set to feature the twenty-five most distinguished of them, in its upcoming 2026 edition.
The extensive pan-India survey of District Magistrates, across 800 districts in the country, seeks to encourage outstanding leadership in public service, amidst challenging circumstances.
As the DMs serve as the senior-most administrative officers in any district, their role assumes great significance as they are the real ‘power centres’ in bringing changes to lives of ordinary people. While institutions and individuals contribute to development work, the greatest responsibility for implementing government schemes at the grassroots level and ensuring their benefits reach the public lies with the District Magistrate.
The Fame India, through its special edition “Best District Magistrates 2026,” has attempted to highlight the work and achievements of those District Magistrates, who have demonstrated excellence in administration, innovation, and public service during their tenure.
The survey which started first in 2011, has become a yearly tradition at the noted media organisation and its categorization of DMs on basis of ‘performance and delivery’ over the years has gone to set moral high ground, not just those for the selected ones but also for fellow officers.
According to Fame India Magazine’s Managing Editor Anil Singh, such surveys go on to instil a sense of competitiveness among the officers, spurring them to outdo each other and benefit the people at large.
Further sharing details about ‘evaluation’ of outperforming officers, Anil Singh told IANS that elaborate and extensive exercises are conducted on the ground to arrive at any conclusion.
“From public opinion to views of public representatives and leaders – both ruling and Opposition alike are factored into for deciding upon respective DM’s performance and distinguished service,” he informed and added that stake surveys are conducted in the later part where views and feedbacks about his works are taken from top-most bureaucrats, preferably at Secretary ranks.
The latest survey by Fame India, was undertaken in collaboration with Asia Post agency, based on 10 parameters — Outstanding administrative capability, Effective governance, Vision and innovation, Accountable working style, Quick decision-making ability, Crisis management skills, Sensitivity and seriousness, Interpersonal skills, Public relations and communication ability, Development-oriented thinking.
“As a responsible and positive media organization, our initiative aims to honour and recognize those District Magistrates and Deputy Commissioners who are playing a significant role in nation-building,” said Fame India in a statement.
It also informed that around 100 officers have been selected in preliminary results and out of this, a few distinguished District Magistrates will be featured in its upcoming magazine.
Below is the list of 100 District Magistrates, as found in Fame India Survey:
AGMUT Cadre
1. Ankit Yadav (North Goa)
2. Lakshya Singhal (South Delhi)
3. Mekala Chaitanya Prasad (South-West Delhi)
4. Saloni Rai (Udhampur/North Delhi)
5. Sunny Kumar Singh (New Delhi)
6. Vishakha Yadav (Kurung Kumey, Arunachal Pradesh)
Andhra Pradesh
1. A. Tamim Ansaria (Guntur)
2. DK Balaji (Krishna)
3. G. Lakshmeesh (NTR District)
Assam
1. Anamika Tiwari (Morigaon)
2. Bikram Kairi (Dibrugarh)
3. Sumit Sattavan (Tinsukia)
4. Swapnil Paul (Kamrup Metropolitan)
Bihar
1. Anand Sharma (Madhubani)
2. Deepesh Kumar (Saharsa)
3. Dr. Thiagarajan S.M. (Patna)
4. Shashank Shubhankar (Gaya)
5. Subrat Kumar Sen (Muzaffarpur)
6. Udita Singh (Rohtas)
7. Vaibhav Srivastava (Saran)
8. Vivek Ranjan Maitreya (Siwan)
Chhattisgarh
1. Divya Umesh Mishra (Balod)
2. Gaurav Kumar Singh (Raipur)
3. Sambit Mishra (Bijapur)
Haryana
1. Ajay Kumar (Gurugram)
2. Ayush Sinha (Faridabad)
3. Neha Singh (Sonipat)
4. Satpal Sharma (Panchkula)
Himachal Pradesh
1. Anupam Kashyap (Shimla)
2. Apoorva Devgan (Mandi)
3. Gandharva Rathore (Hamirpur)
4. Hemraj Bairwa (Kangra)
5. Manmohan Sharma (Solan)
Jharkhand
1. Aditya Ranjan (Dhanbad)
2. Dinesh Kumar Yadav (Garhwa)
3. Hemant Sati (Sahibganj)
4. Manjunath Bhajantri (Ranchi)
5. R. Ronita (Khunti)
6. Ravi Anand (Jamtara)
Karnataka
1. Darshan H.V. (Dakshina Kannada)
2. Jagadish G. (Bengaluru Urban)
3. Swaroopa T.K. (Udupi)
Kerala
1. Anu Kumari (Thiruvananthapuram)
2. G. Priyanka (Kochi)
3. Prem Krishnan S. (Pathanamthitta)
Madhya Pradesh
1. Kaushalendra Vikram Singh (Bhopal)
2. Raghavendra Singh (Jabalpur)
3. Rajni Singh (Narsinghpur)
4. Satish Kumar S. (Satna)
5. Shivam Verma (Indore)
Maharashtra
1. Amol Jagannath Yedge (Kolhapur)
2. Ayush Prasad (Nashik)
3. Jitendra Dudi (Pune)
4. Kishan Narayanrao Jawale (Raigad)
5. Saurabh Katiyar (Mumbai Suburban)
Manipur
1. Dharun Kumar S. (Churachandpur)
2. Mayanglambam Rajkumar (Imphal West)
Meghalaya
1. Abhinav Kumar Singh (West Jaintia Hills)
2. Rosetta Mary Kurbah (East Khasi Hills)
3. Vibhor Agarwal (West Garo Hills)
Odisha
1. Amrit Ruturaj (Khordha)
2. Dattatraya Bhausaheb Shinde (Cuttack)
3. Subhankar Mohapatra (Sundargarh)
4. V. Keerthi Vasan (Ganjam)
Punjab
1. Ashika Jain (Hoshiarpur)
2. Deepshikha Sharma (Firozpur)
3. Himanshu Aggarwal (Jalandhar)
4. Komal Mittal (Mohali)
Rajasthan
1. Alok Ranjan (Chittorgarh)
2. Ankit (Dungarpur)
3. Arun Garg (Jhunjhunu)
4. Jitendra Kumar Soni (Jaipur)
5. Mukul Sharma (Sikar)
6. Tina Dabi (Barmer)
Tamil Nadu
1. D. Sneha (Kanchipuram)
2. Pavankumar G. Giriyappanavar (Coimbatore)
3. Rashmi Siddharth Jagade (Chennai)
Telangana
1. C. Narayana Reddy (Ranga Reddy)
2. Harichandana Dasari (Hyderabad)
3. Mikkilineni Manu Chowdhary (Medchal–Malkajgiri)
Tripura
1. Chandni Chandran (North Tripura)
2. Rinku Lathar (Gomati)
3. Vishal Kumar (West Tripura)
Uttar Pradesh
1. Anjani Kumar Singh (Mainpuri)
2. Asmita Lal (Baghpat)
3. Avinash Singh (Bareilly)
4. Rajendra Pensiya (Sambhal)
5. Ravindra Kumar (Azamgarh)
6. Satyendra Kumar (Varanasi)
7. Vijay Kumar Singh (Meerut)
8. Vishakh G. Iyer (Lucknow)
Uttarakhand
1. Lalit Mohan Rayal (Nainital)
2. Mayur Dixit (Haridwar)
3. Nitin Singh Bhadauria (Udham Singh Nagar)
4. Prashant Arya (Uttarkashi)
5. Vishal Mishra (Rudraprayag)
West Bengal
1. Harishankar Panicker (Darjeeling)
2. P. Deepap Priya (Howrah)
3. Ponnambalam S. (Paschim Bardhaman)
4. Shilpa Gaursariya (North 24 Parganas)
One prominent District Magistrate from each category (in the above list) will be featured in the Fame India’s special 2026 edition.
The survey, in collaboration with Asia Post, scanned nearly 800 districts across the country and eventually zeroed in on 100 names – based on expert opinions, ground reports, and media analysis.
(IANS)
