PM's Awards scheme restructured, to recognise performance through targeted beneficiaries

New Delhi: The scheme for the Prime Minister’s Awards for Excellence in Public Administration has been restructured to recognise the performance of civil servants through ”targeted individual beneficiaries and implementation” of the government’s priority programmes, an official statement said on Monday.

Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the entire concept and format of the award has undergone a revolutionary change since 2014, the statement issued by the Union personnel ministry said.

The objective of the scheme is to encourage constructive competition, innovation, replication and institutionalisation of best practices, it added.

”Under this approach, emphasis would be on good governance, qualitative achievement and last mile connectivity, rather than only on achievement of quantitative targets,” according to the statement.

”The award scheme has now, this year, been restructured to recognise the performance of the district collector through targeted individual beneficiaries and implementation with a saturation approach. With this in focus, the applications for awards would be evaluated on three parameters — good governance, qualitative and quantitative,” it said.

It is expected that central ministries, states and all districts participate in this scheme of the Prime Minister’s Awards for 2023. The awards for excellence in public administration under this new scheme shall be conferred by the prime minister, the statement further said.

It added that a web portal for the Prime Minister’s Awards for Excellence in Public Administration 2023 was launched on Monday by the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances.

The registration process on the portal has commenced and will be operational from January 8 to 31, 2024, the ministry said.

For the year 2023, the scheme for the Prime Minister’s Awards aims to recognise the contribution of civil servants under two categories — ”Holistic Development of districts under 12 priority sector programmes” and ”Innovations”.

The priority sector programmes are ‘Har Ghar Jal Yojana’, ‘Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Gramin)’, ‘Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban)’, ‘Mission Indradhanush’, ‘Pradhan Mantri-Jan Arogya Yojana’ and ‘Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana’, ‘PM SVANidhi’, ‘Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana’, ‘PM Vishvakarma Yojana’, ‘PM MUDRA Yojana’, ‘Pradhan Mantri Poshan Yojana’ and ‘Kisan Credit Card Scheme for Farmers, Animal Husbandry and Fisheries’.

Ten best-performing districts on cumulative aggregate criteria will be given awards under this category. The progress achieved by districts in adopting the saturation approach in the period April 1, 2021, to January 31, 2024, would be considered for the award nomination.

There will be six awards under the innovations category — two awards each for the central-, state- and district-level initiatives. The awards will be for ”demonstration of innovation which is sustainable and can be replicated”, the statement said.

The evaluation process would include the short-listing of districts or organisations by a screening committee (first and second stages), evaluation by an expert committee and an empowered committee.

”Prime Minister’s approval will be taken on the recommendations of the empowered committee for the awards,” the statement said.

The PM’s Awards 2023 will consist of a trophy, a scroll and an incentive of Rs 20 lakh to the awarded district or organisation to be utilised for the implementation of projects and programmes or bridging resource gaps in any area of public welfare.

The awards are given on the occasion of the civil services day, which is celebrated every year on April 21.