Efforts of District Ganga Committees to be considered for PM's Awards for Excellence in Public Administration 2020

New Delhi [India], July 17 : The efforts of District Ganga Committees (DGCs) in protection and rejuvenation of water bodies, holding regular meetings and initiatives to aware people are among those parameters that will be considered for the Prime Minister's Awards for Excellence in Public Administration 2020, National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) Director-General Rajiv Ranjan Mishra said on Friday.
He expressed happiness over the inclusion of Namami Gange Programme in one category for Prime Minister's Awards for Excellence in Public Administration 2020 launched by Union Minister Jitendra Singh today, in which, for the very first time, the 'Good Performance for Ganga Rejuvenation Award' has been instituted.
"Prime Minister's Awards for Excellence in Public Administration was launched today. Namami Gange has been included in one category. As per the Prime Minister's directions, a committee has been set up in every district. There are around 57 Ganga district committees. These awards have been announced to encourage these committees and to participate in programmes of Namami Gange," Mishra told ANI.
He said that works of district committees will be evaluated like how many meetings were held and what was the outcome that affected the programmes in the districts.
"Conducting regular and effective meetings will be considered for giving awards as it will reflect on various projects of Namami Gange. Efforts of district committees in protection and rejuvenation of water bodies, wetlands and small rivers will also be considered. The work has been done for the cleanliness of ghats and surrounding areas around it and their efforts made people aware and encourage them to become part of the mission and converting this mission into people's movement," he said.
Mishra appealed to every district officer of all 57 DGCs to review what works were carried out in their respective region and file the nomination.
"I appeal every district officer of all 57 districts to review what workers were carried out in their districts and go to portals and file nomination," he said.
The Director-General said that emphasis has been given on connecting with people in this mission.
"The river and people connect has to improve. That is why there are several outreach programmes. This thing differentiates this mission from earlier missions. The Prime Minister emphasised that coordination must be improved on the district level. Normally, river cleaning programmes limited to creating strategies with Jal Nigam and other bodies. In this mission, the emphasis is given on look at kind of overall picture at the district level," he said.
Mishra has reached out to the Chief Secretaries of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal, requesting them to "impress upon the District Magistrates under their state (out of the 57 identified DGC's) to ensure proactive participation and adherence to the timelines envisaged under the scheme".
Earlier in the day, Union Minister Jitendra Singh launched the restructured Prime Minister's Awards for Excellence in Public Administration 2020 scheme and web portal, in which for the very first time the 'Good Performance for Ganga Rejuvenation Award' has been instituted.
"This year, for the very first time, the Prime Minister's Awards for Excellence in Public Administration seeks to recognise the efforts of District level officials involved in the Namami Gange Programme. This is an exemplary recognition for the initiatives being taken up under the Namami Gange Mission. Under this award category, one award shall be given to a district out of the 57 notified District Ganga Committees under the Namami Gange Programme," an official release said.
In the first meeting of the National Ganga Council held on December 14, 2019, at Kanpur under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, it was decided to create a "Good Performance for Ganga Rejuvenation" award for the Ganga districts under the Prime Minister's Awards for Excellence for Public Administration Scheme.
According to the release, during the meeting, the Prime Minister gave utmost priority to the functioning of the DGCs and closely reviewed their performances.
Under the scheme, 57 DGCs on the Ganga main stem and tributaries have been included as a separate category for the Civil Services Day Awards by the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG).
"The registration on the Prime Minister's Awards web portal, www.pmawards.gov.in, will commence from July 15 and submission of application will be from August 1 to August 15 after registration. The award has been scheduled to be distributed on the occasion of Rashtriya Ekta Diwas on October 31," the release said.
It stated that all District Magistrates and Chairperson, District Ganga Committee (57 districts - 52 on Main Stem and 5 on Tributaries) have been requested to make "maximum use of this opportunity and to prepare details of District initiatives for the Prime Minister's Awards Scheme, based on the parameters identified for evaluation".
These parameters include -- Regular conduct of meeting of District Ganga Committee; protection and rejuvenation of traditional water bodies; cleanliness of ghats and areas in the vicinity of river; extent of organic farming within 5 kilometres on both sides of river Ganga within their districts; plantation along river Ganga (Ganga Van); awareness (involvement of NCC, NSS and special attention to schools and college students).
"DGCs have also been requested to prepare, a write-up on the District Performance Indicators Programme/Innovation along with supporting documents like an executive summary, field photographs (maximum 10), flow charts detailing uniqueness and success story of the initiative," the release said while adding that along with the application, a short film of three to five minutes' duration highlighting the initiative/innovation may also be appended.
The release stressed that the DGC is the "most unique feature of the notification of authorities under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 by the Government of India dated October 7, 2016, which creates a mechanism at the District Level for addressing the problem of pollution abatement of the River Ganga.
"The Government of India has instituted a scheme in 2006 namely, "The Prime Minister's Awards for Excellence in Public Administration" - to acknowledge, recognise and reward the extraordinary and innovative work done by Districts/Organisations of the central and state governments," the release said.
"The scheme was restructured in 2014 for recognising the performance of District Collectors in priority programs, innovations and aspirational districts and was further restructured in 2020 to recognise the performance of District Collectors towards economic development of the district. For the year 2020, the scope of the awards has been expanded to identify areas of overall outcome-oriented performance in the districts across sectors," it further said.