Vice President to open civil services day function, PM to give awards

Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu will inaugurate a two-day civil services day function here tomorrow while Prime Minister Narendra Modi will present awards for excellence in public administration on the concluding day on April 21, a press release issued today by the Personnel Ministry said.

The awards are for the effective implementation of identified priority programmes and innovation and given to districts or implementing units and other central or state organisations.

The PM awards for excellence in public administration were instituted with a view to recognising the "extraordinary and innovative work" done by districts and organisations of the central and state governments for the welfare of common citizens, it said.

Four priority programmes-- the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana, Promoting Digital Payments, Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana Urban & Rural -- and the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana -- have been chosen for the awards.

In addition, there are awards for innovation for central and state organisations.

Eleven awards for the four identified priority programmes will be given this year while two awards shall be presented to organisations of central or state governments or districts for innovations.

Out of these, one award will be given to an aspirational district.

A new category of awards for Additional Secretary- or Joint Secretary-level officers and Director or Deputy Secretary serving in the government of India has also been introduced this year to recognise contribution towards transformational improvements in processes and systems through simplifications and process re-engineering, among other measures.

In the inaugural session, the Vice President will release a book Emulating Excellence- Takeaways for Replication' and inaugurate an exhibition put up by Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances on identified priority programmes and innovations.

Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Development of North Eastern Region and Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions Jitendra Singh will preside over the function.

The inaugural session will be followed by a plenary meet on Evolving Strategies for Transforming Aspirational Districts', chaired by Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog.

Four breakaway sessions will be organised on subjects related to agriculture, housing, digital payments and skilling.

Parshottam Rupala, Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare and Panchayati Raj, will chair the session on the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana while Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of State (Independent Charge), Housing and Urban Affairs, will chair the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana session.

Narendra Singh Tomar, Minister for Rural Development, Panchayati Raj and Mines, will preside over the session on the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gramin Kaushalya Yojana and Telecom Secretary Aruna Sundararajan will chair the meeting on Promoting Digital Payments.

During the awards event, the Prime Minister will release two books -- New Pathways' comprising success stories on the implementation of identified priority programmes and innovations and Aspirational Districts: Unlocking Potentials', on evolving strategies for transforming Aspirational Districts.

The award ceremony will be preceded by a plenary session on Artificial Intelligence for Effective Governance', chaired by Ravi Shankar Prasad, Minister of Law and Justice, Electronics and Information Technology.