Be innovative to ensure India's rapid growth: PM to bureaucrats

New Delhi, April 21: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday asked bureaucrats to be innovative and enterprising in order to ensure the country's rapid growth.

Honouring civil servants for their out-of-box thinking which resulted in innovative work in the field of public administration, he stressed the need for creating an environment which encouraged creativity and entrepreneurship in the country.

"India's rapid progress depends critically on our ability to be innovative and enterprising in a diverse range of areas, and especially in administration".

"I am happy that we have recognised the innovation and enterprise these civil servants have shown in finding solutions to problems. We need more creativity of this kind," the Prime Minister said inaugurating 8th Civil Services Day function in New Delhi.

He said there was a need to build an environment in the country where creativity, entrepreneurship and enterprise are encouraged and rewarded.

The Prime Minister gave away awards to bureaucrats for excellent work in public administrations including education initiatives in Naxal-hit Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh and efforts to liberate people from manual scavenging in Badaun district of Uttar Pradesh.

O P Choudhary, a 2005-batch IAS officer of Chhattisgarh cadre, was conferred the Prime Minister's award for excellence in public administration for his initiatives to provide education to children in Dantewada.

Choudhary, during his tenure as Dantewada Collector, had taken various innovative measures to transform the minds of future generations through education.

Another IAS officer Amit Gupta was also honoured by the Prime Minister for his initiative 'Daliya Jalao'-liberating manual scavengers and moving towards total sanitation, in Badaun district.

Gupta, as the then District Magistrate, had played a pivotal role in eliminating manual scavenging from the area and provided skill upgradation training for the people of the community involved in such works.

During his tenure all dry toilets in rural areas were also converted to flush ones.

The PM also conferred the award to IAS officer Darpan Jain for his work of saving open spaces and urban lakes and cultural rejuvenation of the twin city of Hubli-Dharwad in Karnataka.

As a former Deputy Commissioner, Jain had initiated revitalisation of the city by restoring its open spaces and urban lakes to achieve sustainable development.

Jain had decided to work for these open areas, which were fast becoming hub of anti-social elements and garbage dump site, due to lack of open space for recreational activities in the city.

The Prime Minister's Award for Excellence in Public Administration, 2011-12, was also given to a team of six officers led by Kamran Rizvi, an IAS official, for developing sugarcane information system in Uttar Pradesh.

Besides him, Amitabh Prakash, Rajesh Kumar Pandey, Anil Kumar Sharma, Satyendra Singh and Virendra Bahadur Singh were also honoured in a team category for implementation of sugarcane procurement system, considered as sensitive in state, which benefited both the farmer and the industry.

The award, which carries a trophy and citation cum certificate, was also given to a seven-member team led by Pradeep Singh Kharola, IAS officer, for transformation of commercial tax regime in Karnataka.

Kharola and his colleagues-Ajay Seth (IAS), Subhodh Yadav (IAS), H N Jaypal, Venkateshan A, P V Bhat and R E Thippeswamy have developed paperless electronic system for commercial tax related work including its filing and remittances.

The Sikkim Government was also given the PM's award for "Excellence in Rural Management and Development in Challenging Physical Environment of the Sikkim Himalaya" in organisation category for its pro-people initiatives including 100 per cent sanitation and successful implementation of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act in state.

Direct cash transfer to curb wastages, leakages: PM

Centre's ambitious direct cash transfer scheme will help in better targeting of subsidies and reducing delay in delivery of benefits besides curbing wastages and leakages, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said in New Delhi today.

Addressing the 8th Civil Services day, Singh said his government has made sustained efforts to curb corruption and enhance transparency and accountability in public works.

He also said the government needs to make full use of new and modern technology not only in delivery of public services but in governance in general.

"A good example of such use is the Aadhar programme for providing all the residents of our country a unique identity, and also the Direct Benefits Transfer scheme based on Aadhar numbers that our government launched a few months back".


"It will lead to better targeting of subsidies and reducing delays in the delivery of benefits such as scholarships and pensions to the intended beneficiaries. It will also help in curbing wastages and leakages, and result in greater financial inclusion," Singh said.

The Direct Benefits Transfer (DBT) scheme now covers 121 districts of the country.

"I think it is also important to recognise the fact that the programmes like the Direct Benefits Scheme also give a sense of empowerment to the people, increase their faith in the processes of governance and therefore have a far larger positive effect than can be measured by the direct advantages they give," he said asking the bureaucrats, involved directly or indirectly in its implementation, to ensure the scheme is a success.

The DBT scheme provides for cash transfer of subsidy from the government directly to an Aadhar-linked beneficiary's bank account.

"Our government has also made sustained efforts to curb corruption and enhance transparency and accountability in the work of public authorities. There are several legislative initiatives that we have taken in this regard, for example the Right to Information Act, the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Bill and the Whistleblowers Protection Bill.

"These are intended to also help in improving the standards of delivery of public services in our country," the PM said.