NEW DELHI: The scheme for the Prime Minister’s Awards for Excellence in Public Administration has been restructured this year to recognise the performance of district collectors through targeted individual beneficiaries and implementation of a dozen flagship programmes of the government “with a saturation approach”, according to an official statement put out on Monday.
There shall be two categories of awards this year. In the first category ‘holistic development of districts’ comprising 10 awards, the performance of districts will be evaluated in a cumulative manner under schemes like the Har Ghar Jal Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (both urban and rural), Mission Indradhanush, Pradhan Mantri -Jan Arogya Yojana, 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. The second category — comprising six awards, including two each for the Central, state and district level — will recognise innovations by officers from all Central as well as state services, that are sustainable and can be replicated.
The first category seeks to encourage last mile delivery, saturation approach and citizen centricity. District collectors will present a comprehensive picture of the progress achieved across the listed schemes and their leadership role over the implementation period in the nomination form. The progress achieved by the districts in adopting a saturation approach between April 1, 2021 to January 31, 2024 would be considered for the award nomination.
The department of administrative reforms and public grievances (DARPG), while launching the PM Awards portal on Monday with the online participation of district collectors, said the application for the awards would be evaluated on three parameters: good governance, qualitative and quantitative.
“The objective of the awards scheme is to encourage constructive competition, innovation, replication and institutionalisation of best practices,” said the DARPG statement.
The registration process on the PM Awards portal is on from January 8 to 31, 2024, The awards — comprising a trophy, scroll and a Rs 20-lakh incentive for the awardee district or organisation to be utilised for implementation of the project or programme or bridging resources gaps in any area of public welfare — shall be conferred by the prime minister.
The evaluation process would include the short-listing of districts or organisations by a screening committee and 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 are conferred on the Civil Services Day celebrated on April 21 every year.