The Indian Express Excellence In Governance Awards | Ashwini Vaishnaw | #EIGAwards

0:00 for taking out the time and joining us we're extremely privileged and honored to have you with us thank you so much with the presence of The Honorable Minister Mr VI Goa chairman and managing director of the Indian Express group our distinguished guests ladies and gentlemen let me formally welcome and wish you all a very very good evening on behalf of the Indian Express group let me welcome each one of you to the Third Edition of the Indian Express excellence in governance Awards and none of this ladies and gentlemen would have been possible without the support of our partners I'm rhma bat nagar and I'm extremely thrilled honored and

0:46 privileged to be your host for this evening our partners are presenting Partners nextg Cloud Technologies co-presenting partner National Stock Exchange associate Partners vaji RAM and ntpc Indian oil government of utarak Gujarat State Cooperative Bank ICICI Bank our University partner is II our knowledge partner PWC ladies and gentlemen at this point I'd like to take this opportunity I'd like to request Mr Raj kamja Chief editor the Indian Express to join us to present the opening remarks please and could I request a huge round of applause ladies and gentlemen as we welcome him

1:33 please welcome sir Union ministers Dr jitendra Singh G Shri Singh ESP Singh Bagel G Mr vnav is going to join us soon distinguished guests the chairman of the Indian Express group Shri VI goink Kaji it's my privilege to welcome you to the third Indian Express excellence in governance Awards it's a celebration of the finest work done by District magistrates across the country this year

2:20 2025 makes this evening very special it's the 75th year of the constitution in the newspaper to mark this Milestone we launched a year-long series on women and men who have shaped the Republic Case by case who have pushed its letter and spirit from pushing the boundaries of free speech to scrapping the zamindar system protecting land rights to ensuring affirmative action it's more than a coincidence that each work that we celebrate this evening has

3:07 done the same thing it has pushed the boundaries of the constitution in letter and spirit in a visible and tangible way in the lives of people with the DMS putting in place systems that touch the lives of people giving a voice to their h hopes as we know the diff uh different articles of the Constitution 14 15 19 and 21 in fact you can match every work that we celebrate with one article of the Constitution if not more a second a second dimension of what

3:55 we celebrate is how the DM have cut across disciplines in one science meets culture in the second sociology melds with technology in a third economics intersects with human behavior it's fitting therefore that our chief guest and the guest of honor showcase this in their own personal and professional arcs Shri Ashwini vnav G is is an engineer a civil servant and and a minister Dr Singh is a doctor a college teacher a

4:40 columnist both bring to their many portfolios this interdisciplinary approach and we will soon hear from them we will we are going to hear from them about how the government intersects with the people so this evening that we celebrate is not not only about the DMS who have done a remarkable job but it is it is also celebrating the community they have touched the women the children and the men how governance has helped them ask for more so that they can realize their full potential under the Constitution thank you very much for being here and for celebrating this

5:26 effort thank you sir ladies and gentlemen the Indian Express excellence in governance Awards went through a rigorous selection process selected by an eminent jury who are also with us this evening here's a short glimpse into the selection process can we take a look at the a please the Indian Express excellence in governance Awards celebrate best practices across a range of categories healthare to gender and inclusion skill development to education energy to

6:13 agriculture startups and Innovation to e governance as many as 450 entries poured in from 29 States for the awards PWC the knowledge partner for the awards conducted a Thor check on the parameters of impact on public sustainability problem solving and people participation for all the entries the short list was then verified by field reports by the Indian Express reporters and editors the final winners were selected by an eminent jury which included wajahat habibah former chairperson of the national commission for minorities and first Chief Commissioner of India nupar ra India's former foreign secretary km chandrakar former cabinet secretary

6:59 marjit Sinha senior fellow Center for social and economic [Music] [Applause] [Music] progress ladies and gentlemen I would now like to take this opportunity to invite our jury chair Mr vad habibullah former chairperson of the national commission for minorities and India's first Chief Information commissioner to walkers through the process please let's welcome him with a huge round of applause ladies and gentlemen welcome sir very honored to have you with

7:49 us jendra sing G Mr Singh friends uh it's a privilege for me to serve on this committee I think for the second or third time running but let me tell you since I've been asked to walk you through the process as to what were the criteria principally guiding the selection a lot has been said about the purposes of this award and the fine work done by District magistrates and I'd like to congratulate the Indian Express and its partners for instit in this award because in my view and my experience and

8:34 I think other members of the jury will agree there have over the years been a great deal of work done down to the district level The Cutting Edge it has been called of the government where government interacts directly with the people the institution of district magistrate is an old Institution harking back to the days of the Amal gar of Raja toal and then the collector and so on but today it has become an instrument for bringing development to the people it's no longer as you know collector there's nothing further they're collecting but they're actually

9:21 delivering and actually working for the people now obviously the progress of our country and all of you will know that that development has not necessarily been uniform the reason policies are the same state government policies government of India policies government has now been decentralized right down after payti Raj all these are there but the office of the district magistrate when I'm telling you that this is an ancient institution this this is an institution that was used by the British to strengthen the Empire and therefore replicated across their empire but our free and independent

10:10 India has used this institution as SAR pil for saww in the constituent assembly as the instrument to bring governance to the people and bringing governance to the people means serving the public I have been director of the National Academy of administration also during the time that the Prime Minister was Shri atal bhari vajpai G and every time for three years I was there every time I'd reiterate to my officer trainees as they parted ways to go on to serve in the

10:56 district and secretariats they must not forget get their public servants very often sadly we begin to think we I mean government servants begin to think as the public as our servants it's important to remember and these Awards help to bring home to those who may not be the awardees that that is the prime objective of governance in today's Democratic India and here therefore the persons who have been selected have been

11:42 selected yes for their innovative ideas of how they have applied development policies in particular Fields but but the the governing feature has been number one is it something that the public needed number one number two as was mentioned what was the effect on the public and the advantage of instituting this award is that it helps to set examples otherwise very often and my colleagues would agree there are people who have gone out and done excellent work in the field but then when the

12:27 successor comes he either feels that he would like to take another course and so on and therefore the development activity that has been that has been undertaken is not sustained and is and tends to disappear so here we have seen that the development activity that has been initiated has it become a part of the functioning of the village of the district and the people of that District have they adopted it as part of their way of life and part of their demand from governance now you know that over the years institutions have come up

13:14 to ensure that the public is actually involved in the in the development process and present government has evolved a system where officers go out from secretariats to go to the districts meet with the people meet with thect District magistrates and then determine whether the policies are actually helping or not helping this is important why is it important because the public the public happiness the public content is the key so in brief that is what I wanted to tell you was the Criterion the principle Criterion in seeking these Awards not the idea was a brilliant idea there may

13:59 be brilliant ideas and there are brilliant ideas not that it was so Innovative that it had never been done before no it may have been done before but how far did it affect the lives of the ordinary citizen in keeping with the principle so clearly enunciated by the father of the nation Mahatma Gandhi to wipe the tear from every eye maybe it is not a tear literally now but the concerns of the individual with the least capacity or resource of his own or her own to be able to live the life of a developed

14:45 free independent minded Indian that is the essence of seeking to recognize the district magistri thank you [Applause] thank you sir I would now like to take this opportunity to invite Mr VI Goa chairman and managing director the Indian Express group to deliver the welcome address please [Applause] [Music]

15:48 thank you Shri wajahatullah for the wonderful work that you as chair of our distinguished jury have done your work makes this evening possible welcome our chief guest honorable Union Minister for Railways who's on his way information and broadcasting electronics and information technology Mr ashini vnav G guest of honor Dr jendra Singh G who is a minister of state with the independent charge of science and technology earth Sciences the prime minister's office Personnel public Grievances and pensions atomic energy and space as Chief editor rajal underlined receiving these awards from you is most

16:34 appropriate your record in public life has been synonymous with excellence and governance it inspires the next generation of bureaucrats all the nominees the 16 winners of the third Indian Express excellence and governance Awards all district magistrates from across the country who have traveled to join you this evening ladies and gentlemen your presence this evening is a very powerful idea it was an idea born 10 years ago which today is and I strongly believe more relevant than ever indeed at a meeting with the Prime Minister Narendra Modi G we discussed this idea and he lent his full weight to

17:22 it when he announced the banal Indian Express excellence and governance Awards showcasing and celebrating the work of District collector or the district magistrate who is the first foot soldier of governance who bring the gains of Freedom governance and development to the most vulnerable of the fellow citizens these magistrates will be tomorrow secretaries in the states and in the center they will constitute the steel frame or rather Platinum frame that secures and renews our democracy this year in the Third Edition of the awards we are delighted with the

18:08 response double of what we started we have received a record of 456 entries across 18 categories from the 29 States and union territories our categories track progress in a range of areas that touch all aspects of Life Education and health care to Swatch and gender social welfare and agriculture to msmes and startups even Law and Order the awards capture the widest range of what excellence in governance means ideation implementation and impact after a rigorous analysis by PWC

18:57 as you saw in the clip we were privileged to have a distinguished jury sorry it was headed by as we know Shri habibullah who is the former Chief Information commissioner his colleagues Mr K chandrasekar A for a former cabinet secretary Smith nup ra ra Menan former foreign secretary and Shri amarjit Sinha senior fellow Center of Social and economic progress who's with us again again today each one of them has been an architect of change the participation brings both integrity and insight into these Awards all the entries were then

19:42 verified on the ground by Indian Express network of national correspondents meticulous and rigorous over the next few weeks we will be writing about each one of the award-winning projects in detail this will definitely help share best practices of course each project is unique to its setting shaped by its history and geography but good governance has principles that translate across regions the Indian Express excellence and governance Awards therefore is not only a celebration of that Excellence but will also help Foster it once again my heartiest congratulations to all the winners and my deepest appreciation for

20:30 the work they have done and your presence here today to celebrate it I welcome our guest of honor Dr jindra Sing G to share his thoughts and to start the award ceremony thank you ladies and [Applause] gentlemen thank you sir we'll request you to stay on stage with us ladies and gentlemen we are extremely honored and privileged to have with us our guest of honor The Honorable Minister Dr jitendra Singh G sir thank you so much for taking out the time and joining us I would now request you to kindly join us on stage and share a few words please

21:19 [Applause] thank you very much good evening Mr Jan all seated before me all the dignitaries and Veterans I can [Music] see all the seniors over here from the political Spectrum also from the civil services and I think I must begin by complimenting the Indian Express group for having started this tradition about 3 years back and in a way also supplementing the kind of work that the government is

22:04 doing in periodically felicitating identifying some of the officers who are performing differently or in a more distinguished manner now having said that I think sometimes we tend to take fancy in saying look here Indian administrative servic is a Reincarnation of Indian civil services of the British Empire or maybe inherited from there but actually to add to what Mr maahad was very beautifully pointing out in fact the role and the expectations chained on the midnight of Freedom itself the very fact that the district head who was known as District collector

22:51 came to be known as District development commissioner in itself carries the connotation that he was expected to collect revenue for the British Empire or for the Empire and now he was expected to collect revenue for the welfare state and I think if many of us who were civil servants at that time and also in the subsequent Generations realize that that would at least accomplish half of the task that is sought to be done by the jury by the teachers of the academy and elsewhere secondly over a period of time it's not the the Dynamics has changed the civil servant of half a

23:37 century ago is no longer the one today because after all he's the child of the same Society so he so you cannot blame or single out a civil servant for something that you find has been happen happening inappropriately because after all he is not different from the society that has groomed the others but at the same time the level of accountability has increased the scrutiny has increased there were times soon after Independence and the immediate pre-independence or the immediate post Independence times when people hardly got to see a collector or a DM he was such a remote of a iconic person and now I'm

24:26 sure out of 700 800 districts we have at least 1/4 of the districts each day have a dhna prod or dhna protest outside a collector's office and many of the collectors in some of the most volatile or rifer States get habitual of checking on Telephone before they leave their residence if everything is quiet on the way and those of them who have gone through these Services because I've seen them closely and also to understand them so they are expected to but I think that's a different kind of a nature of a task and which they are expected to perform which is an opportunity a challenge and also an opportunity for them to prove themselves now what we did

25:13 in the last 10 years in the government and I think it's an opportunity for me to mention because if we don't pat our back who else would so we a first thing we did was was very much in the manner the Indian Express has taken up we change the entire format of the PM excellence awards which were being given to the civil servants earlier earlier on it was more of a individual profile based so sometimes if not consciously or subconsciously some kind of a subjectivity or extraneous consideration would creep in like for example somebody would suggest look here the been many years we have not awarded somebody from

26:00 Punjab so we should have one you know because in this country you have all these balances also to take and take care of and if you don't take care of of course the civil servant will not be harmed but someone like me who's there on a 5year probation term would have to face the music so when I when somebody suggests that you try to figure out who who from Punjab so they say oh a he got one B he's already G so so left out is Zed or c so the person gets an award by default so what we try to do is I'm sure veterans like Mr alons are there we made it program based or Flagship program

26:45 based so each year now we single out five or six Flagship or priority areas or sectors of the government in place and then invite entries and the result has been miraculous we get almost 99 98% entries from all the district because each district collector is trying to VI with each other to prove that he's performed better in that scheme rather than that so it helps us both ways the the implementation the execution of that particular scheme also seeks to reach the saturation point and The Collector since he's he he's the recipient of the award in his capacity as The Collector not in the individual capacity but nevertheless he gets the uh all the CR and of course which chili deserves so that is one the other is

27:33 that earlier on right from the academy the civil servants would straight away go to the state cers we took an unorthodox decision though very cautiously of having a three Monon staint in the central government and a new designation was created called assistant secretary to begin with you were slightly apprehensive how these young boys and girls would react because they go there become sdms and DMS and if they go to a mu you know subdivision you have four attendant for four limbs you know you are pampered up so much so here we would be asking them to sit with the under secretaries and sort of be behave like interns for 3 months or so but later on we realized that they actually

28:20 enjoyed that experience and of course when we started off this I had a sitting with them I said look here it's maybe sometimes you would realize is it going to do you also some good because when you go off there you sometimes you know you don't you're not able to reconcile to the new situation suddenly you come out of Academy you become the big boss over there and in a small town you are treated like a Maharaja so on the one hand you have people there making a be line to gain your patronage on the other hand you have the matrimonial Market chasing you so in that hum you get confused so said we thought we this could be a leveling ground for you to at the same time you could also carry with you some

29:05 perspective of the central government and the flagship over and it really helped because soon after that we had covid and we were calling up each district collector every day we made a routine of that sorts we divided the districts amongst themselves and whenever at the other end you had one of those collectors who gone through that stint he would very confidently speak from there sir I'm the one who was in that Ministry and these boys these days they don't no longer tend to follow the kind of protocol which maybe but I think at the end of the day because if I go on and on then it will be I think two things have happened a there's a demographic change and in other words there's huge huge democratization of civil services is no

29:53 longer confined to an elite section earlier on we had civil servants mostly for the South Indian States like for example Tamil Nadu for example Kerala and in north of course Bihar now we have toppers from the most unlikely States like Punjab harana so that's that's a huge huge demographic change you and and I think for the and you have a huge percentage of women civil servants now coming in almost 28 to 30% which is hardly 3 or 4% earlier on and for three consecutive years we had a woman topper number rank one we had that girl called Ira seel followed by uh Tini then I think there was Sanji and the

30:39 fourth was of course a boy from Hyderabad and I said you broken the Jinx so and that has been possible all because of the access to information access to knowledge and my I think message because the Indian Express has done a contribution to the society as well by starting this would be that we could at least make the parents aware of not spending those five seven lakh package which cost in these uh coaching centers I have had the opportunity of sitting with the 20 Toppers consecutively every year for the last almost 10 years and believe me you the Toppers have a background of a NOA VI a kendria v hardly anyone coming out from these coaching centers they may be going there towards the end just to take the mock test but I think we need to educate

31:26 the parents because when they go out for the morning walk somebody says the other one gets worried how he's done that so that is one aspect of it and that's a healthy change a democratization of the across the region across gender wise as well and the third second part of course which I think could be also guarded of but that's not something to be left only to the administrators or the traines of the administrators that's more that's a larger problem too serious a problem is that of the Integrity because that eminates from the social factors as well so we had someone like Mr Tian chhat who was the the chairman of the iipa for a very long time the longest living civil servant amongst us who passed away just

32:11 about two or 3 years back so I had a great FY because I am myself a Storyteller but I don't get a captive listener so I like to be a captive listener to a good Storyteller so he used to tell me all the kind of stories and he told me once and I'll wind up with that he said for the first time where I became stdm in the then state of Madras and a part of one of the Andra Pradesh today's Andra districts and my DM was a britisher and uh the SRO said was not to mix with the public too much not to take too much of hospitality and my boss would take the official car from his his residence

32:59 sorry from his office to his residence get down there and then walk back to the club Officers Club instead of getting down at the club which was on the Midway so that the message didn't go that he had used the car to go to the club so he would go to the so that was a kind of you know because the Integrity should not only be practiced it should also appear to have been practiced and I think the equal measure of the best measure of it is that it is practice when nobody's watching you so he he used to narrate with very with a lot of uh fun one of the incidents or anecdotes he said once there was uh this inauguration of one of the cinema halls or some kind of um of course you didn't have pvrs then but some readyy there who wanted to launch

33:45 his new Cinema complex so he was keing that the DM should be the chief guest and DM was ad aand that he would not go but ultimately at the end of the day Mr Ry succeeded in persuading him and the DM carried Mr chatur along who was his immedate Junior so after the ceremony was over the host was keen and insisting that they should have some refreshments which he had laid out and he said the DM was known for not partaking of such hospitalities or treats so he said loudly in the hearing distance of all he said ready you know I

34:30 don't take anything outside they are insisting you stay back but just be careful don't eat readyy salt so so that if you don't takes anything in a manner that he comes back to you to seek a favor but I think that is something that would be a matter of concern but that's not with with all the fair to be fair to them is not the concern of the civil servants alone is the concern of social concern which is because they are equally capable or equally culpable to all the goods and bads happening in the society but overall there has been a wealthy healthy progression and I must appreciate the present crop of civil servants they have beautifully learned to balance their

35:15 public obligations also political obligations and I was telling them other day in the Academy I said what is appreciable is not what you learn from this Academy equally appreciable is what you soon unlearn and learn outside like for example there's a cabinet Shuffle in the middle of the night the same bouquet which was given to me would be given to someone else next morning so they do so so seamlessly that's worth learning thank [Applause] you Dr Singh if I could request you to kindly continue being with on stage with us Dr Singh if I could invite you to join us back on stage with us please thank you for those words ladies and gentlemen before we begin with our award ceremony we also have the

36:03 presence of our chief guest for this evening sh Ashwini vnav G The Honorable Union minister of Railways information broadcasting electronics and information technology thank you so much sir for taking out the time and joining us ladies and gentlemen it is now that time and moment that we've all been waiting for we will now felicitate those District magistrates who have worked on and helped introduce change in their districts but most importantly impacted lives ladies and gentlemen we will now begin with the first category of this evening our first category is agriculture can we take a look at the a please

36:49 [Music] Tamil nadu's krishnagiri district with its ideal conditions for FL cultivation generates nearly 28 CR stems annually contributing 200 CR rupees in export Revenue yet its Farmers suffered due to inadequate post Harvest infrastructure forcing them to rely on the auction Center in neighboring Bengaluru to address this an international FL Auction Center was established in host due to its proximity to Bengaluru International Airport this centralized Marketplace allows Growers from hosur

37:35 and surrounding regions to sell their fls directly to domestic and international buyers facilitating efficient market access and expanding their customer base for an idea that helped the horiculture sector blue Karai District collector and magistrate Krishna G Tamil Nadu [Applause] may I now request km sarayu to kindly join us on stage and accept the award please [Applause] [Music] [Applause]

38:28 thank you so much congratulations once again the second award is in the category of Education can we take a look at the AV please class rooms in East King District of arunachal Pradesh faced a familiar problem the lecture and teaching fail to lighter spark among students that's when authorities set up an innovation lab using Cutting Edge technology including Robotics and 3D printers students were given a chance to develop innovative ideas Technologies and solutions to real

39:16 world challenges this access to Quality stem education led to improved educational outcomes in the district for a simple idea that clicked suchin r Deputy Commissioner East G arunachal [Music] Pradesh may I now request Mr Sachin Rana to kindly join us on stage to accept the award please [Applause] thank you sir congratulations once again

40:02 up next is our next category which is Healthcare can we take a look at the a [Music] please how do you talk about mental health more so if you are from one of the rural marginalized communities that have limited awareness and access to health it is with this in mind that the SVA initiative was launched in dur chhattis gar to address mental health and mobility issues from schizophrenia to depression anxiety paralysis and post Accident

40:48 Rehabilitation as part of the initiative community health workers and dud volunteers organized awareness campaigns on Mental Health for bringing mental health awareness to one of the most vulnerable population pushpendra Kumar Mina District collector and magistrate du chatis may I request Mr pushpendra Kumar Mina to join us on stage please [Applause] [Music] [Applause] congratulations uh let's move on to our next award and this is in the category

41:34 of water can we take a look at the a [Music] [Applause] please generations of farmers in Charan security District have been cultivating P the water in ensive crop for farmers who depended on groundwater for irrigating their fields uneven rainfall and drought conditions meant limited produce and income all this was changed with a conservation initiative as part of which over 5,000 water bodies were meticulously mapped in the district and rejuvenated using a geographic information system or GIS based to at

42:23 the end of the program 57 water bodies in the district were rejuvenated for playing a part in bringing the water bodies to life Nan pration lra Deputy Commissioner giri J may I now request prakar Roja chief administrative officer to kindly join us on stage to accept the award on his behalf [Applause] thank you sir let's move on to our next category

43:09 which is skill development can we take a look at the AV [Music] please with money for caught in a spiral of violence since May 2023 in kin District 20 relief camps sprung up almost overnight out of home and with no jobs over 3,000 internally displaced persons in the district faced a bleak future to address their livelihood concerns The District administration started project Leu Cline as part of which the displaced persons were imparted livelihood skills from making

43:56 handic products to candles agarbattis detergents Etc today the relief centers act as manyi production units for strengthening the hands of the disempowered Rohit an Deputy Commissioner King money May I now request Mr Rohit Anan to kindly join us on stage to accept the award please congratulations sir at this point ladies and gentlemen

44:43 I'd like to take this opportunity to invite Mr George vergis the group CEO the Indian Express group to present the honorable Minister Dr jitendra Singh with a token of our appreciation for being our esteemed guest this even evening this in fact ladies and gentlemen is a framed front page of the Indian Express Edition which in fact is Dr sing's birth date [Applause]

45:29 [Music] [Applause] [Music] I'd like to thank Dr Singh would also like to thank Mr vgis please ladies and gentlemen now it is an honor and privilege to have with us our chief Guest The Honorable Minister Shri Ashwini vnav G sir thank you so much once again for taking out the time and joining us your presence makes a lot of mean for

46:14 us I'd like to invite sir on stage to join us please sir I'd also request you to say a few words please sir we'd love to hear from you sir yes sir please thank you once again it's already what 2 hours they have been listening to people but we love to hear from you already two hours you have been listening to different things so I'll keep it very short uh Mr guenka all the entire Indian Express Team all the senior uh dignitaries present here thank you all for inviting me to this very interesting uh something very close to

47:02 my heart occasion um very happy to see young energetic officers doing their best in the field and really really making such a big difference in people's lives I always say that district magistrate is not a person DM is an institution DM is actually an institution because across the country there is so much trust so much expectation from people from that one particular institution from that person who acquires that position that it really really means a lot and once you get into that category where people start calling you an institution the

47:49 sense of responsibility also increases a lot I think uh many of us who have gone through that phase in life would recall each and every day that we spend in a district means so much to us means so much to our families and means so much to the people living in the districts um one can recall many instances for example the Super Cyclone of 1999 I was uh serving in the district of basur in orisa can I speak in Hindi Indian Express

48:38 [Laughter] English language can become so big an issue 1999 superclone um that was the time mety Department that was the kind of prediction IMD right East Coast D Compu data download

49:28 science right 8 nth sth k k k spe St it was so clearly visible because it was like really really you are living in living in very different kind of era to

50:24 situation so what we did in that uh incident Representatives ml members chairperson

51:21 Bay block Dr Kamas Cy low I'm talking of 19999 [Music] school action 29 October

52:08 1999 evacuation or evacuation evacuation evacuation or man 99 Super Cyclone 31st October 9 landfall immense Devastation thousands and thousands of

52:54 people died in all the other districts OFA [Applause] District Human Rights Commission prec Financial Powers Limited District

53:39 learning inces 100% were examples when they create a difference when they bring a significant change in people's lives that is what matters and that is what makes the position as an institution not just a person it makes an [Applause] institution I really cherish that particular example in my life incident in my life

54:45 people start thinking of you in a particular way [Music] construction conru labor contractor

55:42 contractor you cannot imagine oh they were all terrorized s labor nearest obviously B they all walked almost 3540 km from the construction site to my residence in K City I was shocked

56:50 is I resigned from the service very early in my career I didn't wait for pension vention I had already resigned I had gone for my MBA [Music] [Applause]

57:44 [Music] trust develop Society I think that's what governance is I think governance is the ability to develop the trust between the government and the society that is what when the society believes that yes we have a system which will be working for us which will support us which will give us Justice when we need is Institution power smile

58:53 [Applause] wish you all the very best cond thank you very much all the very [Applause] best sir thank you so much for those very inspirational words but we would now like to move forward with the awards

59:39 presentation our award is in the category of startup and msme can we take a look at the a please despite producing high quality handmade items artisans in chesar jpur District lacked the skills and means to package and Market their produce effectively The District administration started J pure an initiative to improve product quality and establish a robust brand presence the initiative not only improved the quality of the products but led to the establishment of sales outlets in in

1:00:26 major cities such as Delhi Pune and Mumbai in less than 3 months 4.5 lakh products from jur have been sold through stalls and online platforms for their increased earnings The Artisans have just one person to thank Dr RI MIT District collector and magistrate jur chattis [Applause] gar may I now request Dr Ravi mitel to kindly join us on stage and accept the award [Applause]

1:01:12 please congratulations and thank you so much our next category for this evening is gender and inclusion can we take a look at the a please [Applause] Fisheries is a key sector in orisha ensuring employment generation and poverty alleviation in rural areas but mostly for men as part of a new initiative the Kendra par District administration now engages women for the job the district's py culture initiative now has 2.6 lakh women members from

1:01:58 1,199 self-help groups who Farm fish across 58.66 sectors of the grand punchayet tanks besides challenging conventional gender roles the project is aimed at improving household income and nutritional security while ensuring gender equity and sustainable livelihood for empowering women in busy culture through a transformative approach sui May vikas collector and district magistrate KRA Kisha may now request Mr sui May vikas to join us on stage and accept the award [Applause]

1:02:50 please congratulations and thank you let's move on to our next award the next Indian Express excellence in governance award is in the category of disaster management can we take a look at the a [Applause] [Music] please following the June 2nd 2023 basur accident when the coramandel express crashed into a stationary Goods tram which in turn collided with the Bengaluru H Express killing 288 people on the spot leaving about 6,000 people

1:03:35 injured the administration faced an urgent challenge how to ensure prompt treatment for the injured The District administration mounted a multi- agency rescue operation along with local people NOS police and army Personnel the 56-hour operation was marked with officient Tri and rap referrals which ensured only six Hospital fatalities this is considered a disaster management Benchmark at the national level for leading one of the most remarkable operations to save lives Thea bah shindi District collector basur orisha may I now request Mr datat bahai shind to please join us on stage and

1:04:20 accept the award please [Applause] [Music] [Applause] congratulations once again let's move to our next award and this is in the category of e governance can we take a look at the a please [Music] [Applause] the Manipur e District portal is a single point of access to all

1:05:06 departmental services offered by the government of Manipur it aims at providing complete and accurate information on government functions and services to Citizens businesses and other interested stakeholders it envisions districts are the de facto front end of government where most government to citizens or g2c interaction takes place K zingla district magistrate ukul Manipur may I now request Miss kangu zingla to join us on stage to accept the award please [Applause] [Music]

1:05:57 congratulations ma'am to our next award ladies and gentlemen and this is in the category energy can we take a look at the a please in a groundbreaking initiative over 25 interior villages in gumla primarily in habited by particularly vulnerable tribal groups or pvgs have been equipped with a state-of-the-art solar grid that generates over 600 Kow of electricity the project has meant improved educational outcomes for students better medical equipment and as

1:06:43 health spur economic activities including for women in addition provision of more than 200 solar lift irrigation systems have helped address the critical issue of water scarcity in the K Sati District collector gumla J may I now request prakar Roja chief administrative officer to kindly join us on stage and accept the award on his behalf please thank you sir to our next award ladies and gentlemen and this is in the category

1:07:29 sustainability can we take a look at the AV [Applause] [Music] please developed on a PPP model the bamboo forestation based economy and elephant Corridor restoration program is implemented on 100 hectares of land on a remote and uninhabited riverine on River brahmaputra and aims at creating livelihoods based on sustainable bamboo forestation while preventing man animal conflict it engages a local private organization to create maintain and monetize bamboo plantations and provides

1:08:15 50% of the revenue generated to the gr PCH at Zilla parishad while also creating livelihoods for locals adya Vikram yadav District commissioner s Saga as welcoming Mr ad Vikram yadav to join us on stage [Music] [Applause] please congratulations moving on to our next category which is Law and Order can we take a look at the a please

1:09:02 [Applause] in June 2023 a cast dispute erupted in vti village in Tamil nadu's karut District after a dalit was denied entry into the village Temple as the issue threatened to snowball into a larger conflict the karur administration held a series of Peace meetings involving the communities and took several steps as for the Thomas kilman model of conflict resolution to restore peace in the village which was reflected when all communities including thets entered the temple together for resolving a social conflict by involving Civil Society D prahu Shankar District collector K Tamil

1:09:47 Nadu welcoming Dr T prush shanka to join us on stage to accept the award please [Applause] thank you sir let's move on to our next award which is for the category swatchta can we take a look at the a please [Music] how does one deal with a legacy especially one that is 50 years old and weighs 1.53 lak metric tons halfhazard

1:10:35 disposal of household waste for 50 years had resulted in mountains of Legacy waste in five areas of asam's tinsukia District besides contaminating the groundwater and soil the waste fed a hazard for commuters using biom mining techniques The tinsukia District administration tackled this waste in over a year at a cost of 9 CR rupees with that 50 acres was freed up for development and ukia was officially declared the First Legacy Wast free District in the Northeast for making a clean sweep swapne PA District commissioner tinsukia Hasan welcoming Mr swapnil Paul on stage

1:11:22 to accept the award please [Applause] [Music] congratulations and to the last category for this evening which is chwy special can we take a look at the AV please [Music] [Applause] one of karnataka's most backward districts cabur has 90% rainfed area under cultivation where jaar and bajra

1:12:08 are steeple food to provide employment to women and healthy food to Consumers The District administration has undertaken The Branding and marketing of kalaburgi Roi and provided Roy making machines to women s groups besides the admin Administration has launched many other initiatives in the agriculture education and social sectors for empowering communities through multi sector initiatives FIA tanu District collector kalaburgi Karnataka may I now request Miss FIA tum to join us on stage to accept the award please [Applause]

1:13:05 congratulations ladies and gentlemen that brings us to the end of the award segment I'll request The Honorable minister to kindly stay on stage with us I'll request Mr VI Goa to kindly take his seat please ladies and gentlemen I'd also like to to now take this opportunity to kindly invite Mr anant Kinka executive director the Indian Express group to kindly join us on stage for a conversation with the honorable [Applause]

1:13:53 Minister all right ah now the grill starts ashin G you're you're used to the grill now you've been uh you've been you know you're you're everywhere I mean it's incredible I mean I think the energy that you have well no comments I'm just waiting for the grill Indian Express has a great habit of grilling people in multiple ways good I good I I hope it's a compliment you know we had a we had an ad take that as a compliment man good love you ashin G and I we had an adaa a few years ago now and there was one clip that there was one answer he gave to one of the

1:14:39 rapid fire questions which even now keeps coming back to me where he explained the the financial justification and impact of of an investment in Railways he calculated about how the the multiplier effect of an investment in railways is so exponential uh and I think that got so popular with the IAS Community which is why I think this you know this you know you are the perfect Chief guest for us and um I'm I'm looking forward to this conversation we won't take too much time I think let me just kind of start with you know you've you've been in the services and now you're kind of leading the services as a as a minister you've seen it all what you know what from your from your Vantage Point what what has

1:15:25 changed in the services from when you started and and today I think the number of uh I mean the people who are coming in the services today they are much more smarter far better exposed to the today's Technologies today's resources and the kind of things that uh we would never be able to imagine that we can get them in the districts those things are available first second the fund flow in the districts is significantly higher compared to what what it used to be in the past so the opportunities to make a difference are much bigger I would say third the uh collegial kind of work atmosphere which used to be there has now expanded Beyond State boundaries

1:16:12 because of the use of Technologies when I interact with the young officers they keep telling me that kind of thing is very popular I would say particularly in the railways ashin G I think even I don't know 10 12 years ago would have been unfathomable to think of anybody sharing a portfolio with Railways Railways is so large you know like a country there's so many employees there's so much of land there's so much of passengers but you know you you you've been able to you know do three Ministries Railways one of them um you know is is it the technology that's kind of changed in how you administer with in Railways or is it or was it politics that actually made Railways much more complicated and had to be I mean how do you how do you view the administration

1:16:57 of Railway specifically see the biggest strength of Railway bureaucracy is the technical strength that they have there are real hardcore technical people who understand the technology who understand the railway operations who understand what goes in making a bridge stable what goes in making a tunnel stable they are able to really calibrate themselves to the new challenges I think that is the biggest strength of Railways if we can if anybody whether it is any Railway Ministry in whichever government our prime minister helped us that he always tells us that when you interact with bureaucracy you have to think of the strengths of the bureaucracy and play on that strength there are uh so many instances when that advice has been so

1:17:43 useful so once we play on the strength of our bureaucracy so in the case of Railways the technical strength of Railways if you use that well then one can achieve a lot is uh the the way I understood Railways in the 3 and a half years of the journey here and the fact that you're sharing that portfolio are there any intersections something what is there anything a lot a lot see today technology straddles across sectors and technology is no longer a vertical it's a horizontal thing and uh if you are able to for example in Telecom uh there are so many things that we did in Railways which were useful for Telecom sector and things in Telecom were useful for Railway sector now now let's say electronics and it there are so many things of it and electronics which are

1:18:29 useful in Railways straightforward you can Implement and the experience of a large organization like Railways gives the right inputs where we can make the correct policies Innovation friendly policies in it so what what's your advice to the young I aspirants or even the DMS uh I mean is governance now less fragmented than it used to be like less sort of specialized or is it more specialized because I I I can argue both points in my mind no you're right one can argue both sides of the entire thing but what I would like to say is um the world today is very different from the world which was there let's say 20 years ago 40 years ago 60 years ago um in today's world the role of specialization

1:19:14 is increasing day by day so one would really be in good stad if one picks up any officer if you guys pick up one of the subjects that you like or two subjects that you like somebody can like sustainability somebody can work on um gender issues somebody can work on finance somebody can work on technology issues whatever you like and you kind of try to study that subject and learn that subject and keep experimenting using that subject over a long period of time then that will give you significant advantage in your uh career in your life also I think uh I think gone are the

1:20:00 days when uh pure generalist approach would uh do well I think time has come when except in a few even in humanity related let's say Ministry of Social Justice the understanding of what cast is the understanding of how cast interplays in a country the understanding of how the ages of uh discrimin ation have shaped people's thinking that's something which requires a specialized thinking that cannot be done with one subject here today one Department here and another department there I think specialization is very very important it's going to be even more important in the coming years so you you know you were you did Wen and IAS it's a very IIT I Wen it's a very

1:20:46 interesting mix but because you said that is is IIT and is a better combination to to be a good administrator in the year 2025 or is a ba and I a better combination to be a good administrator in the none of the above what's important is your value system if your value system is a strong if you know that you can face the if you know that you can face the man in the mirror or the woman in the mirror and look into the eyes and say that yes what I'm doing is right then that's the right choice for for being being a good officer artificial intelligence question had to come up especially because you're a techie um do you worry about that at all about AI

1:21:34 replacing you know the role of a DM or like making it tougher for uh you know people to be equipped to administer in a world of AI on the contrary I think Ai and every technology would really empower the DMS in doing things much better improving their efficiency improving their re reach to the people making sure that the communication between the uh citizens and the government is improving and as I said earlier if we can develop that trust between the government and the citizens I think that's the biggest definition of good governance and uh I think AI will really help in AI or every technology whether it is 5G whether it is whatever we today see or whatever we are going to

1:22:20 see in the future harnessed well they can make a very big difference difference and and the age-old question it still stands about replacing jobs you know telegram is a billion dollar Revenue company with 30 employees famously as you probably know better than anybody else is that something that you think about I think jobs the nature of jobs has been changing for the last thousands of years right earlier the change pace of change used to be like in decades now the pace then the pace of change reduced to years and now it's reducing further the pace of change will be there what we as uh people in position should do is to make sure that our citizens are equipped with the right skills which can help them cope with

1:23:06 this change cope with this transition because this transition is going to happen come what may how we prepare for it how we cope with it how how we uh prepare others for it is what's going to matter Super ashni G we'll have some fun we play a little bit of a rapid fire and you know I I think you might remember the for you might remember the format just have some fun with it and you know keep answers a little bit short uh so one thing that's changed for an IAS aspirant today compared to when you were studying and the one thing that's not changed too much of information how do you cope with so much GK I don't know I think we'll require a chatbot to do the GK exam is it still

1:23:53 there General Studies exam and I think most of them rely on Indian Express for that part for that part of the exam one thing that's not changed I think that aspirational level within our Villages everywhere throughout the country and it has expanded earlier many places like Maharashtra like Gujarat people would generally not even aspire to be an is Officer today it's there throughout the country Ash at some point Babu Dam had got a bit of a bad name in India um can you go back to that time and tell us when that was and why that was I'm not a history student I live in the present and think of the future okay all right the the one lesson you have

1:24:40 learned from won that has helped your Effectiveness as a minister and administrator economic point of view see we can think of every anything in uh multiple ways one way of thinking is okay this is good this is bad so judgment another thing moral immoral so putting different types of f different types of frames of reference on things but when you understand Finance when you study Finance in a very deep way and you start understanding the nuances of Finance then you start looking at things from an economic point of view and that makes a big difference in our day-to-day life and the one lesson from the IAS that you think should be taught in MBA schools around the world well system creating

1:25:26 that okay so um creating institutions is not something which is easy right it really comes with lots and lots of efforts by thousands and thousands of people over a few Generations so when we want to build institutions in a country we can learn from the IAS especially the institution of a district magistrate and that can be a good template for many other things super the most exciting use of AI in governance that you have seen okay so uh one good example that I saw was in uh improving the number of Reserve tickets confirmed tickets we applied AI on various pairs of stations and uh uh it basically it's able to give you such

1:26:13 a good outcome that in the areas where it is applied the confirmed tickets have increased by almost 28% or something without actually harming the prospects of the people let's say it's say good fun I'm bit serious kind of people so serious kind of person so no no it's a good answer the most worrisome use of AI for governance of deep fakes deep fakes one line of advice to an IAS aspirant who says I want to grow up to become Ashwini vashna Ah that's the most difficult question I don't want anybody to grow like me grow your own life live your own life live your own values live your own uh aspirations we all live in we all have our very distinct very different

1:27:00 backgrounds and uh do what you love to do basically I would say that do what you love to do just do that live in the present live think of the future have Focus distract all the distractions keep them away and really really have a meaningful life the growing uh the growing popularity of the political theater behind Doge Department of government efficiency does that does that concern you at all no see uh multiple things we have also done for example in the um various uh schemes when Adar came there were so many cases where funds were actually going to some persons where

1:27:47 whereas those persons didn't exist for example today Doge has identified people above 200 years age right so that kind of thing has been done in our country when Adar came when so much cleaning up I think it's about a lakh 50,000 CR rupees worth savings were made and these are savings which carry on year after year so that kind of thing has been practic in our country already super if you had a magic wand any one thing you would want to change about Indian bureaucracy ah I'll be killed for giving a right answer um see if there is one thing which I will uh request I'm using the word request here

1:28:33 if there is one thing which I'll request all the officers and especially in all services is have an open mind listen to the people understand what their problems are and instead of just commiserating with the problems try to find a solution okay is there is there one country outside of India whose bureaucracy you admire Singapore okay why uh very smart people extremely uh knowledgeable but the population of cuf parade I mean Singapore that can be see question is not uh the bureaucracy also is relatively small right it can be small but the point here is what's the level of their intellect yeah the level of their capability that's phenomenal is

1:29:20 there an English bias in services and should it be corrected should be corrected we must love all our languages I I'm sure all officers know how how well we learn the language of the place there are two officers froma CER right you enjoy living with uh the people who the state in which you go and live and I think that's a great thing okay um you're a technologist a finance Wiz and a politician so I'm going to ask you which skill do do you find most used in each of your Ministries so let's start with it do you find the technologist used most or the finance guy used most the politician use most no I think understanding of society makes a very big difference in all the three

1:30:06 Ministries technology you can get from anybody right but your understanding of how the social system works what the society expects from you how what are the times that we are living in where do we want our country to go from where we are today those are the things which matter much more than the skills so politician is that is that a political skill you think I frankly uh wouldn't like to put it in that kind of bucket because things are not as easy as that like you can put them in small small buckets okay now you guys know what the upsc interview looks like right okay I'll ask a last question if bureaucrats from around the world were to have visited the kumb the mahak oh

1:30:53 they would fail mahak is such a big such a big thing I mean organizing and something of this magnitude I don't think any other country can take this challenge except the is officers and the IPS officers and the railway officers and the other officers of our country nobody else can take that challenge super Ash thank you so much for your time thank you for being SM asking all the questions thank you so much thank you to The Honorable Minister thank you Mr Goa but we'll request you to stay on stage with us we would now like to present the honorable Union minister with a token of our appreciation this is the front page

1:31:39 print of the Indian Express dated July 18th 1970 which is also the honorable Minister's birthday [Applause] thank you sir we'll request you to kindly take your seat please sir but I'll request Mr Goa to stay on stage with us to deliver the vot of thanks please ladies and gentlemen thank you so much for making the time to be here I

1:32:25 won't I I I I won't spend too much time speaking I know a lot of people have been speaking on stage and honestly after Ashwini G you know I I I don't want to follow that act so uh congratulations to all of you you know I uh you know I'm the third generation now at at the Indian Express and uh my grandfather started the paper in 32 he was an MP from vidisha also briefly so I I saw one of our friends wi from vidisha uh I think I'd like to believe that the Indian Express has been doing a pretty decent job auditing government uh all the way since from 1932 till today uh I think we're going to continue that job uh in spite of that as a central role uh for the express I really feel that whichever you know is Officer government servant that I have interacted with uh I

1:33:12 have always come impressed and uh feeling so impressed by their commitment passion and especially like we saw today um we just also grateful for the kind of effort commitment and work that you all put into making India a better place uh thank you all for your efforts thank you for coming here a lot of you have come with your families uh and thank you to all the distinguished uh guests and the and the first row here who have taken time very grateful to all of you and thank you to our sponsors thank you very [Applause] much Mr gal request you to stay on stage with us please ladies and gentlemen to make this moment truly special for all the winners of the Indian Express excellence in governance Awards I'd also

1:33:57 now like to take this opportunity to invite The Honorable Minister back on stage with us I'd also like to take this opportunity to invite Mr VI Goa Mr George wgis all our winners with their trophies to join us on stage our jury our sponsor Partners to kindly join us on stage so that we can get this one memorable picture with the honorable Minister please could I request all our winners with their trophies to kindly join us on stage

1:34:54 [Music] she [Applause] be [Music]

1:36:18 what you need I [Music] ladies and Gentlemen let's have another round of applause as we congratulate all our winners of the Indian Express excellence in governance Awards we we'd like to thank each one of you once again for taking out the time once again a big thank you to all our sponsors and partners without whom none of this really would have been possible

1:37:05 our presenting partner NextGen Cloud Technologies our co-presenting partner the National Stock Exchange associate Partners vaji RAM and Ravi ntpc Indian oil government of utak Gujarat State Cooperative Bank ICI Bank our University partner F knowledge partner PWC ladies and gentlemen with that we've come to an end of this very very successful evening we'd like to thank our honorable Chief Guest The Honorable Minister once again for taking out the time and joining us and thank you for being such a lovely audience do join us

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