List of Civil Services Day 2018 awardees; 10 things to know about the big day, April 21

Select bureaucrats listening to PM during the Civil Services Day function

ON SATURDAY — April 21— civil servants gathered in New Delhi on the occasion of the annual Civil Services Day to brainstorm what has been achieved so far, and what all could be done next to improve the delivery of services to the citizens, among others. First, here’s the list of winners of 15 awards, for which as many as 643 districts among others had participated:

Under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana

1. West Tripura district in NE and hill states category

2. Beed (Maharashtra) in other states category

Under ‘Promoting Digital Payments’ Programme

3. Bishnupur (Manipur) in NE and hill states category

4. Daman (Daman and Diu) under Union Territory category

5. Sonipat (Haryana) in other states category. 

Under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Gramin)

6. Kangra district (Himachal Pradesh) under NE and hill states category

7. Neemuch district (Madhya Pradesh) under other states category

For Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban)

8. Puducherry ULB under UT category

9. Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (Telangana) under other states category

For Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana

10. Dhemaji (Assam) under NE and hill states category

11. Karimnagar (Telangana) under other states category

Awards for Innovation

12. Banka district (Bihar) for initiative Unnayan Banka – Reinventing education using technology

13. Team GST, department of revenue (GoI) for their initiative GST – One Nation, One Tax , One Market. 

Innovation (AS/JS & Dir/DS category)

14. Shailendra Singh, additional secretary and Ravinder, joint secretary, DIPP (GoI) for initiative, Ease of Doing Business

15. Yugal Kishore Joshi, director, ministry of drinking water and sanitation (GoI) for information, education and communication of Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin).

In addition to the PM’s presentation of awards in those 15 categories, here are 10 things to note during the Civil Services Day, 2018. 

A) Prime Minister Narendra Modi while addressing the civil servants said it was an occasion of appreciation, evaluation and introspection. 

B) PM said the awards also indicate the priorities of his government: Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana, Deendayal Upadhyay Kaushalya Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana and digital payments. 

C) Prime Minister further said it is important for civil servants to keep pace with emerging technologies worldwide.

D) New Pathways, a coffee table book comprising details of 28 successful innovations and 34 success stories relating to implementation of the government’s priority programmes, was released on the occasion. 

E) The other book that was also released by the PM was ‘Aspirational Districts: Unlocking Potentials’.

F) A film— “New India-shaping the future” was also screened during the occasion. The film shows initiatives of the 11 districts/organisations selected for PM Awards this year.

G) The number of districts competing for the PM’s awards has increased significantly this year. In 2016, only 74 districts had participated for the PM awards and the number has risen significantly to 599 districts in 2017 and to 643 districts in 2018. 

H) 103 out of 115 aspirational districts have participated for PM’s awards this year.

I) The grievance redressal mechanism of the DARPG has been strengthened, and the grievances have increased significantly from about 2 lakh in a year in 2014 to about 16 lakh in a year now.

J) The prominent civil servants who attended the Civil Services Day function include principal secretary to PM Nripendra Misra, additional principal secretary to PM PK Mishra, cabinet secretary PK Sinha, DARPG secretary KV Eapen, NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant et al.