Nominations invited for PM’s awards for Excellence in Public Administration; NGOs can also nominate outstanding officers

THE Central government has invited the nominations of outstanding officers for “Prime Minister’s Awards for excellence in Public Administration”. The award is meant for recognizing the extraordinary and innovative work done by officers of the Central and state governments.

All officers of Central and state governments individually or as a group or as organizations are eligible for consideration. Nominations are now being invited for the year 2010-11 under the scheme. The last date for receipt of nominations is July 15, 2011 in the department of administrative reforms and public grievances under the ministry of personnel, public grievances and pensions.

The Central government departments, ministries, state governments, NGOs and other stakeholders can be nominating authorities.

The main features of the scheme as well as operational guidelines are as under:

a) Self nominations are not accepted.

b) In respect of nominations from states, the state governments will constitute state level committees to shortlist their nominations and verify the facts before forwarding the nominations to the Central government.

c) Nominations should generally be encouraged. However, nominating authorities and state-level committees are requested to forward or short-list nominations only if the initiatives of the concerned officers are truly innovative, outstanding or exceptional in nature.

d) Nominating authorities should ensure that no vigilance case or enquiry is pending against the nominated officer.

e) Central government departments, ministries, state governments, NGOs and other stakeholders can be nominating authorities.

g) Where the nomination is in respect of a group of individuals, it should be ensured that names of all the nominees concerned are explicitly stated.

h) Nomination should be submitted in the Form prescribed.

For detailed guidelines, log onto the department’s website: www.darpg.nic.in.

Now, proximity to Narendra Modi costs an IAS’ job!

DK Rao, a 1980-batch Gujarat cadre IAS officer, has claimed that he was forced to retire from service because of his proximity to chief minister Narendra Modi. After a couple of instances of IAS and IPS officers becoming a victim because of anti-Modi stance, here is a case where the IAS says he is a victim of political and bureaucratic rivalry because of his closeness to Modi. According to media reports, Rao lost his job after Central Vigilance Commission and the DOPT implicated him in a 16-year-old corruption case. The Indian Express quoted Rao as saying that some Congress leaders targeted him.