Crowdsourcing ideas for improving railways: Govt kickstarts 3-day Rail Vikas Shivir

Railway MInister Suresh Prabhu. Photo: Dalip Kumar.

For the first time in 163 years, the Indian Railways will kickstart a brainstorming exercise for the future of railways at the three-day Rail Vikas Shivir beginning Friday.

 

The Shivir will be held at Surajkund near New Delhi from November 18 to November 20. The exercise will involve all railway employees from gangmen to Railway Board Chairman, cutting across hierarchies. 

 

Here is everything you should know:
 

1. Modi's address would be shown throw a video conferencing  link at the Shivir venue for the first two days. He will personally attend the Shivir on November 20.

 

2. Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu is spearheading the Shivir along with his Ministers of State for Railways Manoj Sinha and Rajen Gohain. Many cabinet Ministers have been invited on the concluding day of the event. 

 

3. The Vikas Shivir is aimed at energising the entire organisation, building momentum for execution through numerous pragmatic yet innovative ideas, showcasing the collective thought of the leadership of railways, said a press release by the Railway Ministry.

 

4. The Shivir is the outcome of a two-month long preparation. 

 

5. All railway employees were invited to submit ideas online or through the helpline

 

6.  Four lakh messages were sent, 10 lakh posters made, advertisements were placed on 13 lakh pay slips, 1 lakh WhatsApp messages were sent. A website was also created for online submission of ideas.

 

7.  76,000 officers and staff submitted  1,10,000 ideas and Northern Railways topped it by submitting 15,339 ideas.

 

8. Top three teams with the best crowdsourced ideas will be awarded prize money on the final day