New Delhi [India], April 21 : Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha's brainchild and Jammu and Kashmir administration's flagship inter-sectoral initiative "Mission Youth" programme was conferred the coveted Prime Minister's Award for Excellence in Public Administration on Friday.
According to an official statement from the Department of information and public relations J&K, "Mission Youth", a specially designed programme for empowering youth, made it to the highest civil services awards based on outstanding achievements over the last two years.
The award was presented by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday on the occasion of Civil Services Day held at Vigyan Bhawan, in the national capital.
The award was received by the J&K Chief Secretary Dr Arun Kumar Mehta, accomped by CEO Mission Youth Dr Shahid Iqbal Choudhary.
CEO Mission Youth, Dr Shahid Iqbal Choudhary earlier made the presentation before the Empowered Committee headed by the Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba, resulting in the selection of Mission Youth in a multi-staged evaluation and selection process over the last six months.
Mission Youth clinched the top position in over 600 nominations from across states and Union Territories in the Innovation (State) category, while the second position was bagged by Gujarat Government's State Organ and Tissue Transplant Orgsation (SOTTO).
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.
With more than 61,000 youth benefitting from schemes and close to 5 lakh youth engaged over the last two years, Mission Youth earned the rate distinction of reaching out to the maximum youth under any such initiative in the country.
The award carried Rs 20.00 lakh cash reward for Mission Youth, a citation, a scroll and a certificate of Appreciation in favour of the CEO Mission Youth Dr Shahid Choudhary for placing in the Performance Appraisal Dossier of the officer by the Deptt of Personnel and Trainings as the PMA scheme guidelines.
Chief Secretary Dr Arun Kumar Mehta described the occasion as momentous for Jammu and Kashmir, especially the youth in the UT.
He complemented the CEO of Mission Youth, Dr Shahid Iqbal Choudhary, and his team for outstanding performance and contribution leading to such a rare feat in a short span of over the last two years. He reiterated the commitment of the administration for taking every step to empower the youth and steps for a very mengful engagement.
Choudhary expressed satisfaction over the very positive response to the initiatives by the youth of Jammu and Kashmir, and the proactive measures by the departments and especially, deputy commissioners in making the scheme a grand success at the ground level.
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.
Choudhary thanked Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha for leadership of Mission Youth and personal efforts to bring stakeholder compes and orgsations to Jammu and Kashmir.
The Citation of Honour underlines special initiatives like Youth Portal, customised livelihood-linked schemes like Mumkin and Tejaswini, education support like Parvaz, Youth clubs and the effectiveness of District Level Task Force headed by DCs as many of the unique features of Mission Youth leading to a sustainable and effective platform of youth empowerment in Jammu and Kashmir.
Mission Youth has launched more than 15 schemes for the youth.
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