Governance is ability to develop trust between govt and society: Ashwini Vaishnaw at the third Indian Express Excellence in Governance Awards

“It really means a lot and once you get into that category where people start calling you an institution, the sense of responsibility also increases a lot,” he said.

The winners of The Indian Express Excellence in Governance Awards with Union Minister of Railways, Information & Broadcasting, Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw, The Indian Express Group Chairman and Managing Director Viveck Goenka, Executive Director Anant Goenka, CEO George Varghese, jury members Wajahat Habibullah and Amarjeet Sinha in New Delhi on Tuesday. (Photo: Renuka Puri)

“Governance is the ability to develop the trust between the government and the society — when the society believes that we have a system which will be working for us, which will support us, and give us justice when we need it,” he said.

District Magistrates from across the country were felicitated for exemplary work in 16 categories, from social welfare to agriculture, education to technology. The winners were selected by a jury from over 450 entries.

Vaishnaw, a former civil servant from the Odisha cadre, recalled his own experiences as District Collector in Balasore and Cuttack. “Many of us who have gone through that phase in life would recall each and every day that we spend in a district means so much to us, and to the people living in the districts,” he said.

Talking about the Super Cyclone of 1999, when he was DM in Balasore, he said it was a time when the meteorological department did not have so much accuracy. He said he downloaded data from NASA computers and realised that a big disaster was going to come.

At that time, there weren’t many resources, he said, adding, “When you don’t have resources, or data information, you don’t have a decent life.” Vaishnaw said he prayed to God, sat with public representatives and made a clear action plan with regard to evacuation, and could save many people in his district.

Earlier, Jitendra Singh, Minister of State (Independent charge) for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, who was Guest of Honour at the awards ceremony, underlined the importance of integrity.

“Integrity should not only be practised but it should be seen to be practised. The best measure of it is that it is practised when nobody is watching you,” he said, adding that he appreciated the current crop of civil servants, for learning to “balance their public obligations, also political obligations”.

Noting the “demographic change and democratisation of civil services,” Singh said, “It is no longer confined to an elite section. Earlier, we had civil servants mostly from the southern states, like Tamil Nadu or Kerala, and in the north, of course Bihar. Now we have toppers from states like Punjab, Haryana. So that’s a huge demographic change. And there is a huge percentage of women civil servants coming in, almost 28-30%, which was hardly 3-4% earlier.”

Speaking on the occasion, Viveck Goenka, Chairman and Managing Director of the Express Group, said, “Exemplary public service, which we celebrate today, whose beneficiaries cut across the dividing lines of party and identity, plays a strong role in dispelling the mistrust and cynicism in our discourse. The award-winning DMs bring the gains of freedom, governance and development to the most vulnerable of their fellow citizens. They secure and renew our democracy.”

Raj Kamal Jha, Chief Editor, The Indian Express, said, “In this the 75th year of the Constitution, each award-winning project we celebrate today has expanded its letter and spirit empowering the community and helping it realise its potential.”

The winners were chosen by a distinguished jury headed by Wajahat Habibullah, former chairperson of the National Commission for Minorities and the country’s first Chief Information Commissioner, and comprising Nirupama Rao Menon, former Foreign Secretary; K M Chandrasekhar, former Cabinet Secretary; and Amarjeet Sinha, Senior Fellow, Centre for Social and Economic Progress.

PwC, the awards’ knowledge partner, thoroughly examined each entry’s performance in terms of innovation, impact, implementation, and participation of people. The Indian Express reporters and editors used field trips and an audit to confirm the shortlist, and the jury then decided the winners.

Those present at the ceremony included Minister of State S P Singh Baghel, Manish Tewari of the Congress, D Raja of CPI, Anil Baluni of BJP, K C Tyagi of JD(U), former Union Minister KJ Alphons, Hansraj Ahir, Chairman, National Commission of Backward Classes, V Srinivas, Secretary, Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances, Centre for Policy Research president Srinivas Chokkakula, Special CP (Crime), Delhi, Devesh Srivastava,  Sudhakar Rao, Director Branding, ICFAI Group, Arjun Ravindran, Director ,Vajiram & Ravi IAS, Sonali Mitra, Director Marketing & Communications, PwC India, ambassadors and lawmakers.