Category – Individual

Initiative        -           Trichy Community Policing

Name of the Awardee -       Shri J.K. Tripathy, IPS

Inspector General of Police, Economic Offences Wing

Government of Tamil Nadu

Shri J K Tripathy, IPS, as  Commissioner of Police, Trichy had broadened the normal police role towards more personalized service delivery by instituting ‘Community Policing’.   He reoriented operations to focus on local problem solving, developmental and welfare activities, crime preventive education and developing good relations with the community

He instituted the Beat Officers System (BOS), which localized policing and built good rapport with the community,  led to greater transparency and officers having a greater sense of accountability and responsibility.  Crime rates came down considerably because of a direct policing approach and the community’s participation.

The lower level police staff, which is a major (86%) section in police department, was trained and given better understanding of this approach, leading to implementation of the concept effectively at the grass root level. Other innovations were Wide Area Network connecting all Police Stations, Helpline for women in distress, slum adoption programme and boys’ clubs for checking juvenile delinquency. 

The officer successfully met the challenges through contemporary as well as traditional policing practices by leveraging the existing organizational structure and resources.  Initiating an innovative philosophy is a notable achievement and this initiative is being replicated in other States as well.

 Category – Individual

Initiative        -           Changing Face of Thane & Nagpur Cities (Maharashtra)

Name of the Awardee -       Dr. T. Chandra Shekar, IAS

Vice President & CEO,

Maharashtra Housing & Area Development Authority, Mumbai

Dr. T. Chandra Shekhar, IAS, an officer of the Maharashtra Cadre has been singularly credited for changing the face of Thane and Nagpur cities for the better, during his tenure as Municipal Commissioner in these cities. He provided better civic amenities in the two municipal corporations through meticulous and streamlined planning as well as holistic and integrated development with attention to detail, covering all facets of infrastructure-creation and management. He innovatively combined natural and human resources in improving the quality of life, enhancing the living environment and bringing about community welfare in the cities concerned.

He ingeniously overcame lack of financial and technical support through innovative public campaigns, involvement of civil society, industry, NGOs and social organizations. Gearing up and modernizing all the departments of administration concerned, institution of public-private partnerships and selective outsourcing in the creation and maintenance of public-purpose assets were part of his action agenda.  Through perseverance, persuasion and pro-active efforts he implemented removal of illegal structures, laying of new roads and widening of the existing ones, improvement of green cover, enhancing of the water-supply and sewage disposal, construction of public utilities as well as rehabilitation and resettlement of project-affected families. The civil society representatives remember and acknowledge that the intensive and integrated development work of Dr Chandra Shekhar brought about a renaissance, a cultural and attitudinal change among the citizens, making the living in the two cities, a pleasurable experience.

Positive outcomes and impact of these initiative can still be seen even today, hence proving sustainability of the project. 

Category – Team

Initiative        -           Lokvani-an effort to empower the Citizen (Uttar Pradesh)

Names of the Team Members        -           (i)        Mr. Amod Kumar, IAS

(ii)              Ms. Zohra Chaterjee, IAS

(iii)      Mr. SB Singh

(iv)      Mr. Uma Shankar Singh

(v)       Mr. Devendra Pande

(vi)      Mr. A P Singh

The above team of officers of Uttar Pradesh have showed  innovation and adaptation to meet stake holder’s complaints and requirements by setting up “Lokvani – an effort to empower the citizen”.

The group initiative involved online monitoring of status of citizens’ complaints and transparency in the functioning of district administration.  The Public Private Partnership adopted in the running of the interactive kiosks in Hindi has facilitated large-scale participation of poor people from rural areas.

“Lokvani” also meets the record maintenance requirements of public institutions.   It is a definite improvement in the response to public grievances and accountability of district officials.

The initiative was started in Sitapur District initially and was later introduced in the entire State of Uttar Pradesh on 2005.  In order to sustain the initiative, a State-level apex society called “Lokvani Uttar Pradesh” was created in 2006 to be the nodal agency for coordination and supervision of the functioning of district level Lokvani societies.

By December 2007, the complaints received were 1,07,453 through the 700 Lokvani kiosks across the state, out of which 1,02,648 complaints were  addressed.

Category – Team

Initiative        -           Information Technology Audit Initiative

Names of the Team Members        -           (i)        Mr. Gautam Guha, IA&AS

(ii)              Mr. L S Singh, IA&AS

(iii)            Mr. Rajesh Goel, IA&AS

(iv)            Mr. Neelesh Kumar Sah, IA&AS

(v)               Dr. Ashutosh Sharma, IA&AS

The above team of officers of the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India  have designed and implemented an Information Technology Audit Initiative.   The objective of this initiative was to design and implement an audit system to provide assurance to citizens about the reliability and integrity of e-Governance applications.     It highlights the systemic deficiencies in the overall implementation and delivery of IT-based services.

This audit system involves a structured approach to conduct IT Audit. It sets up yardsticks based on international best practices adopted to evaluate the systems. Further, it works within the established regulatory provisions and operates on different platforms and different business models. 

Using this audit system, 308 major IT systems were audited and 181 reports have been approved for inclusion in various reports of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India. 125 reports were published and placed before the respective legislatures.

The initiative has been a catalyst in assisting the Government in improvement of efficiency and effectiveness of IT-based functions and systems.

Category – Team

 Initiative        -           Effective Management of Protected Areas -  Uttarakhand

Names of the Team Members        -           (i)        Ms. Jyotsna Sitling, IFS

(ii)              Mr. A.K.Banerjee, IFS

The above team of officers from the State of Uttarakhand showed impressive performance in achieving effective management of protected areas. Their sustainable initiative resulted in mitigating the conflict in the Nanda Devi National Park (NDNP) between the public and park-authorities. 

Ameliorating the ecological condition of the Valley of Flowers National Park (VoFNP) was another significant achievement of this team of officers. They re-defined and re-positioned the conservation strategy by integrating livelihoods and equity concerns in conservation. They fostered trust and transparency between the Forest Department and the local communities. They promoted livelihood activities in a cost-effective manner involving local stakeholders in the immediate buffer of the protected area.  The project created a new model for handling plastic waste in the high hills with a sharp focus on business.   Leveraging a PPP-based (Public-Private-Partnership) business model, they helped in setting up a recycling plant in the high hills for solid-waste.

Enhancing the role of women in mainstreaming the activities of forest- and wildlife- protection and training of local youth as tourist guides was part of their efforts that brought about perceptible systemic changes,  as well as,  revival and rejuvenation of traditional community institutions like the Eco-development Committee (EDC).

Category – Team

Initiative        -           Unreserved Ticketing System -  M/o Railways

Names of the Team Members       -   

The above team of officers at the Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS) brought about a revolutionary change in the efficiency, effectiveness and performance of the Indian Railways through development and implementation of a computerized Unreserved Ticketing System (UTS). The system greatly facilitated convenience to about 16 million people who travel in the unreserved category through the 24-hour service-availability and reduced the waiting time in queues.   

Update of fares and other business-related changes centrally under the UTS ensures transparent, fast and discretion-free countrywide implementation of change. Computerization also obviated the need to have stocks of pre-printed, destination-wise card tickets, class wise, train-wise etc. which involved high costs in printing, storing and distribution, time overruns in indenting and supply and possible frauds.

The UTS enables the Indian Railways to monitor the revenues generated across the widespread network on a daily basis, without human dependence or intervention. With this initiative, the efficiency of the Indian Railways has gone up significantly - the number of tickets issued per day has increased from 2.19 lakh (March, 2005) to 30.67 lakh (Nov.2007). The number of passengers per day too has increased from 4.75 lakh to 106.21 lakh and the earnings per day have increased from Rs.1.60 crore to Rs.20.0 crore during the same period.

Category – Team

 Initiative        -           Rajarshi Shahu Sarvangin Karyakram, Zilla Parishad,

                                    Kolhapur, Maharashtra

Names of the Team Members  -     (i)  Mr. Deshmukh Prabhakar   Krishnaji, IAS

(ii) Mr. Mane Mahavir Damodar

The above team of officers of Government of Maharashtra  displayed remarkable creativity and commitment to improving children’s education through an innovative initiative titled Rajarshi Shahu Sarvangini Shiksha Karyakram (named after the eminent educationist and social reformer Rajarshi Shahu) under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan.  They promoted the role of communities in supporting education, involved Village Panchayats and instituted new and effective practices of monitoring through “Mata Palak Sanghs”.     Village Education Committee and Gram Sabhas were effectively used as a form of discussion and resolution of education problems.  The programme has been owned by the people, resources have been mobilized by the people both in cash and kind for improving the infrastructure.

By successfully addressing the issues of teacher-absenteeism, quality of teaching, school infrastructure and student performance, they achieved increase in enrolment to 100%, quality and gender equity, enhanced competitive abilities and improved overall performance of the students in all the rural Zilla Parishad schools in the district of Kolhapur.

Category – Team

Initiative        -           Radical Improvement in Delhi Government School

System, Government of NCT of Delhi

Names of the Team Members  -     (i)        Sh. Rajendra Kumar, IAS

(ii)              Sh. Vijay Kumar, IAS

(iii)            Smt. Gitanjali G Kundra, IAS

(iv)            Sh. Ashok Kumar

The above team of officers of the Department of Education, Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi have shown innovation and team work in meeting the needs of stakeholders of the Department of Education.

The steps taken were placing on-line information pertaining to attendance of the teachers, marks sheets of students, tracking the performance of the students subject-wise, information pertaining to various government schools, their location, courses, map, acts and rules, tenders, circulars etc.    Evaluation of teachers has been introduced based on performance.  The system has helped in identifying gaps and designing solutions for improvement. 

A very educative and attractive multimedia kit was developed and installed in all the schools for the bridge course  to help the students joining the Government schools in  Class VI and Class X. 

As a result, the number of government schools with 100% pass-percentage have gone up from  6 in the year 2004-05 to 41 in the year 2006-07 for  class X,   and for class XII from 18  in the year 2004-05 to 46 in the year 2006-07.   

The number of students passing their class X from government schools has increased by 79%, from 41,056 in the year 2005 to 73,497 in the year 2007.

This initiative has improved the quality of education in Government schools in NCT of Delhi.

Category – Team

Initiative        -           Extraordinary Performance in Emergent Situation of Earthquake in the State of J&K. 

Names of the Team Members  -                 (i)        Mr. B.B.Vyas, IAS

(ii)              Mr. Basharat Ahmad Dhar, IAS

(iii)            Mr. Bashir Ahmad Runiyal, IAS

(iv)            Mr. Abdul Majid Khanday, KAS

(v)               Mr. Jai Pal Singh, KAS

(vi)            Mr. Syed Sharief-ud-din, KAS

(vii)          Mr. Mohammad Ramzan

Thakur, KAS

The above team of officers belonging to the Indian Administrative Service and State service showed extraordinary performance in relief and rehabilitation work during and in the aftermath of the emergent situation of earthquake that hit the State of Jammu and Kashmir in October 2005. By actively involving various stakeholders, coordinating and networking with civilian departments, police, army, para-military forces and NGOs, the officers saved several lives by quickly evacuating and treating the injured. They helped the affected withstand conditions of cold and starvation. Their efforts on a war-footing in the post-disaster damage assessment and reconstruction helped restoration of basic amenities in a short time.

Deputation of judicial officers for working in Lok Adalats for on-the-spot resolution of disputes regarding entitlements and inheritance, use of mobile bank-teams and vigilance squads for settling claims and disbursement of compensation in a transparent manner were part of the innovative practices that reinforced the effectiveness of relief.  Training of 1,500 local youth and officials in quake resistant technologies and involvement of communities led to quick erection of as many as 19,508 sturdy and safe pre-fabricated community-hall-cum-temporary-shelters. These are now being used for housing schools and health centers, thus facilitating continued provision of essential services to the affected people.

Category – Organisation 

Initiative - Water & Sanitation Management Organisation (WASMO) – ‘Innovative Participatory Drinking Water Delivery  Approach in Rural Areas of Gujarat’ -  Government of Gujarat

Water and Sanitation Management Organization (WASMO) Gujarat set up in 2002,  carried out an innovative drinking water delivery project in the rural areas. It involved empowering and strengthening established village level institutions such as panchayats and pani samithis to carry out and maintain self-sustainable community water supply schemes. Their Operation and Maintenance costs are met through user charges, ensuring financial sustainability.  9500 pani samiti have been formed and work has been taken up in 5300 villages. 

 Creation of WASMO as a Special Purpose Vehicle and as a registered society has made it a unique organization in the rural water sector.  Community water supply scheme created is self sustainable as the source security is ensured and is managed by permanent village institutions.

WASMO has been quite effective in its mission to promote, facilitate and empower Village Panchayats and the rural community to manage local water resources by building sound local institutions with a basic philosophy that “Users are the best managers”.

Category – Organisation 

Initiative   -   State Poverty Eradication Mission, Kudumbashree – ‘Asraya – Destitute Identification, Rehabilitation and Monitoring Project’ -  Government of Kerala

The State Poverty Eradication Mission – Kudumbashree – promoted by the Govt. of Kerala has demonstrated  through the ASRAYA Project how a difference can be made to the lives of the destitute individuals and families, i.e. those who live at the margin of the economy and polity, without a voice or power of choice, grossly lacking capabilities to access even their basic entitlements.

 A unique feature of the ASRAYA project is that the implementation is carried out with the involvement of the Community Based Organizations (CBOs) of the poor, through simple, socially acceptable and transparent criteria for identifying the beneficiaries.  Neighbourhood groups comprising of 20-40 women members from poor family are the key community structured for identifying destitutes  in their areas and to support them holistically. 

 The physical requirements of the target groups as well as the source of funds for meeting their basic needs are integrated into the Village Plan by the CBOs in consultation with the beneficiaries and the Gram Panchayats.  As a result,  Kudumbashree today covers 633 of 999 Village Panchayats benefiting a total 49,080 families.   The programme has increased awareness of all stakeholders and mobilized large scale voluntary resources.   The redeeming outcome  is mainstreaming of the destitute families and their social inclusion which is  a laudable achievement.

Category – Organisation 

Initiative        -           Electronically Deliverable Services (e-Seva) - Government

                                    of Andhra Pradesh

The Directorate of the Electronically Deliverable Services of the Govt. of AP was the trend-setter through its first-of-its-kind path-breaking initiative of e-Seva, making the government services directly and easily accessible to citizens through its single-stop integrated service centers set up under Public-Private-Partnership.   It integrates Central Government, State Government, local Government and even commercial services delivery through a single counter and hence, is a  very citizen-centric approach. 

Introduced in 2001, the e-Seva facility has come to be widely acclaimed for the convenience and comfort it provided to the citizens in availing Government services.  Improved accountability, responsiveness and transparency were the other benefits of this ICT-based (Information and Communication Technology) initiative.

In view of the popularity of the service, more e-Seva centres and more services are regularly added. Started originally in the twin cities of Hyderabad-Secunderabad, the e-Seva project has successfully been replicated in smaller municipal towns too. Result - Over 100,000 citizens are served every day. The volume of transactions has grown substantially, from 3 lakh in 2001 to over 1.62 crore in 2006, with the value of transactions growing from Rs.0.35 crore to Rs.2,489 crore during the same period.

Category – Organisation

Initiative  -    Orissa Primary Education Programme Authority (OPEPA) – ‘Child Tracking System in Orissa’ -  Government of Orissa

The Child-Tracking System by the Orissa Primary Education Programme Authority (OPEPA) is a unique, innovative and ICT-based (Information & Communication Technology) initiative that tracks ‘out-of-school’ children and brings them back into the educational system. It also ensures providing necessary inputs and incentives like mid-day meals, free text books, uniforms for the children to remain in school etc. 

The tribal  girl-children are given  extra support.   Furthermore, the project links in a novel way, the performance of students to that of teachers, monitoring the latter’s interest, attitude and aptitude towards teaching.  Transparency and involvement of stakeholders viz. the Village Education Committee, Parent-Teacher Association and Village Panchayat have contributed immensely to the success of the initiative.

Schools in 52,000 revenue villages are being tracked using a unique Education Management Information System (EMIS) Code, benefiting 10.5 million children (0-14 yrs.). Several State Government departments too are using this data for introducing and implementing a variety of children-specific benefit schemes.

Prime Minister’s Awards for Excellence in Public Administration

for the year 2005-06 presented on 21^st April, 2007

1.                  Shri Rajeev Chawla, IAS – for the initiative “Bhoomi – Online delivery of land records in Karnataka”.

2.                  Shri R.S. Pandey, IAS – for the initiative “Programme of Communitization of Public Institutions and Services in Nagaland”.