Govt institutes awards for public servants

The State government will institute ‘Sarvottam Seva Prashasthi’ awards  in recognition of the extraordinary and innovative work of government employees, to encourage and motivate them.

The award will be presented every year on Republic Day and the first of such awards will be presented on January 26, next year. Except Police, Fire Force and Education departments, who have their own scheme of awards, employees of all other departments, including ministerial staff, are eligible for the award. The award is not applicable to All India Service officers. Karnataka has about six lakh employees spread over four categories - Group ‘A,’ ‘B,’ ‘C’ and ‘D.’

The criteria for the award are as follows: implementation of innovative schemes/projects; bringing in perceptible systemic changes and building institutions; making public delivery systems efficient and citizen-friendly and corruption-free; showing innovation and adaptation to meet the stakeholders’ requirements; extraordinary performance in emergency situations like floods, earthquakes and other natural calamities; setting high standards of services and continued improvement, showing high leadership qualities and improving employee motivation, etc.

A pre- and post-analysis on the above parameters is mandatory. It will be subjected to verification by the Evaluation Committee. The initiative/project should have been successfully implemented for at least a year, as on the date of the nomination.

Awards will be given in three categories – district awards (six awards – Rs 10,000 each); department awards (30 awards – Rs 15,000); state awards (three awards – Rs 25,000 each).

A total amount of Rs 23.25 lakh has been set aside for the purpose.