By TIOL News Service

NEW DELHI, APRIL 22, 2018: ON the occasion of Civil Services Day, the Prime Minister, Mr Narendra Modi, yesterday gave away 15 awards, including the one to the Department of Revenue for GST Initiative. The GST Team included some CGST officials such as Mr Upendra Gupta, Mr G D Lohani, Mr M K Sinha, Mr Alok Shukla, Mr Amitabh Kumar and others and also SGST officials such as Gujarat Commissioner Mr Vaghela. It was given in the "Innovation" category.

Other awards were - Under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana, District West Tripura (Tripura) was awarded under NE & Hill States category and Beed (Maharashtra) was awarded under Other States category. Under ‘Promotign Digital Payments’ Programme, Bishnupur (Manipur) was given award under NE & Hill States category, Daman (Daman & Diu) was awarded under Union Territory and Sonipat (Haryana) was awarded under Other States category. The Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh was awarded under NE & Hill States and Neemuch district of Madhya Pradesh given award under Other States category for Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Gramin). For Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban), Puducherry ULB (Puducherry) was awarded under UT category and Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (Telangana) was awarded under Other States category. For Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana, Dhemji (Assam) and Karimnagar (Telangana) were given awards under NE & Hill states and Other states categories respectively. Under awards for Innovation, Disitrcit Administration  Banka of Bihar was awarded for initiative Unnayan Banka – Reinventign Education using Technology and Team GST, Department of Revenue (GoI) was awarded for their initiative GST – One Nation, One Tax , One Market. Under innovation (AS/JS & Dir/DS category), Team India represented by Shri Shailendra Singh, AS & Shri Ravinder, JS, DIPP (GoI) was awarded for initiative Ease of Doing Business in India and Shri Yugal Kishore Joshi, Director, Ministry of Drinking Water & Sanitation (GoI) was presented award for Information, Education & Communication of Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin).

The Prime Minister said the occasion is one of Appreciation, Evaluation and Introspection. He described the Prime Minister's Award as a step towards motivating civil servants, and congratulated the awardees. He said the awards also indicate the priorities of the Government.

He said that the priority programmes such as Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana, Deendayal Upadhyay Kaushalya Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, and Digital Payments, for which awards have been given, are important programmes for New India.