J-K's Mission Youth, Baramulla district receive awards from PM on Civil Services Day

New Delhi: Jammu and Kashmir's Mission Youth programme and Baramulla under 'Aspirational Districts' were conferred Prime Minister's Award for Excellence in Public Administration for inter-sectoral initiatives, including ramping up of services in health, education and employment.

The awards were presented by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday on the occasion of Civil Services Day.

The citation for the Mission Youth complimented the team headed by Chief Executive Officer Shahid Iqbal Choudhary, a 2009 IAS officer from Jammu and Kashmir. The award was received by Jammu and Kashmir chief secretary Arun Kumar Mehta who was accompanied by the CEO of Mission Youth.

Mission Youth clinched the top position among over 600 nominations from across all states and Union territories in the Innovation (state) category. The second position was bagged by the Gujarat government's State Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation.

Mission Youth was selected for innovations leading to the empowerment of youth in Jammu and Kashmir. It included schemes in education, skilling, coaching, volunteerism and effective use of technology for very transparent and effective service delivery.

More than 61,000 people have benefitted from the schemes and close to 5 lakh youth were engaged with Mission Youth over the last two years.

The CEO of Mission Youth had earlier made a presentation before the Empowered Committee headed by Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba, leading to selection of the mission in a multi-staged evaluation and selection process over the last six months.

The award carried Rs 20 lakh cash for Mission Youth, a citation, a scroll and a certificate of Appreciation in favour of its CEO.

Choudhary expressed great satisfaction over the positive response to the initiatives, and proactive measures by the departments and especially the deputy commissioners in making the scheme a grand success at the ground level.

Pertinently, Mission Youth has been picked up as a unique case study by the Capacity Building Commission of India in collaboration with Harvard Business School for inclusion in courses of top management and public policy schools.

The other recipient was Syed Sehrish Asgar, Deputy Commissioner of Baramulla district in North Kashmir, for having established birth waiting wards in primary health centres and community health centres apart from upgrading diagnostic services at all delivery points.

Smart kindergarten complexes were established for pre-primary education and Atal tinkering laboratories were established for practical and innovative learning. The administration also established five industrial training institutes and Tata Technologies created a 'Centre of Invention Innovation Incubation and Training' for skill development.