India is driven by the Amrit Kaal wherein there is a strong push to empower all the states and districts to contribute to the production of innovative services. The idea of an ‘Innovation-ecosystem’ is crucial to create an enabling environment that is conducive for innovation and technological advancement. It is a key component in the characterization of any development strategy. Moreover, the aspiration of innovation drives states to increase their productivity and efficiency, thereby achieving growth. And it is this ushering in of new ideas in material form that drives social and economic transformation.
Innovation in public administration focuses on enhancing structures and functions of a well-performing and effective civil service. With the increasing penetration of technology and digital aptitude, India holds tremendous potential in bringing novel strategies to ease the citizen experience with minimal government interventions. The fundamental idea behind stimulating innovation is to draw on new ideas, methods or technologies and ultimately improve the lives of citizens. Therefore, technology brings innovative opportunities into the public sector, improve interaction between government and citizens through the simplification of procedures and contribute to open government. Furthermore, learning new skills for public administration not just improves its effectiveness and better prepares them for the future, but also boosts creativity to identify new challenges.
The Civil servants are responsible for a number of innovations across the country while achieving administrative efficiency to improve the efficacy and reach of the Government and its Schemes. Government of India under the Prime Minister’s Awards for Excellence in Public Administration has instituted an award for ‘Innovations’.
Hon’ble Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi during his address on the Civil Services Day, 2022 has desired that each District should select one of the Scheme/ Project, which has been awarded the Prime Minister’s Award for excellence in Public Administration, 2021, for replication. Hon’ble Prime Minister has also desired that replication of best practices should be institutionalized. The Awardee District / Officer will act as a mentor to the Districts/ Organisations, which have chosen the Awarded Scheme/ project, by sharing their own experiences, difficulties faced and steps taken by them to overcome such difficulties and succeed, by directly connecting with them virtually.
Hence, to build upon the innovative capacity, it has become the need of the hour for all the stakeholders to collaborate and deliver excellence in governance systems. Through this portal, we aim to establish a vibrant platform for sharing and dissemination of best practices. This will certainly promote and enhance innovative capabilities amongst the public administrators. At the same time, it will create a repository of valuable practices to enable consistent benchmarking to further improve local innovation systems.
Abhinav Pahal provides a platform to experience the Awarded Good Governance Initiatives and give a window for adoption and replication of these awarded initiatives. It provides a direct link with the awarded District/ Organisation. The Districts/ organisations after registering will have to choose one of the Awarded Scheme/ Project for replication in their own District. Every District has to select one of the Prime Minister’s Award, 2021 winning initiative for replication and periodically review the progress. This portal has been enabled to realize the vision of Hon’ble Prime Minister and facilitate the nation in its efforts to make the life of its Citizens better in the ‘Amrit Kaal of Independence of India’.