New Delhi:
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today 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 after inaugurating the eighth Civil Services Day function here.
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 here for his initiatives to provide education to children in Dantewada.
Mr 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.
Mr 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, Mr Jain had initiated revitalisation of the city by restoring its open spaces and urban lakes to achieve sustainable development. He 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.
Mr 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 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.
The Gujarat government's Directorate of Employment and Training was honoured with the PM's award for excellence in public administration in organisation category for its initiatives - Kaushalya Vardhan Kendra - aimed at development of skills in the youths of the state.