Recognising change that reaches the grassroots

The move has resulted in remarkable improvement in the efficiency of these services and has helped a great deal in bringing these local tribes into the political and administrative mainstream.

This is exactly the kind of organisational innovation that Entrepreneurial & Management Processes International (EMPI), New Delhi, and The Indian Express seek to reward through their award initiative — by picking up people and organisations, both in government and the corporate sector, who are making a difference at the grassroots level through unique ideas and business models.

The second edition of the awards will be presented in the third week of December by former president A P J Abdul Kalam. A formal announcement of the winners will be made in the next couple of days.

“When we talk of innovation, we generally tend to associate it with a new or improved product. But this award seeks to look at something different. We seek to reward an institutional innovation — implementation of an idea or a process — that has been able to create a positive impact on a large group of people,” said Pankaj Saran, vice-president of EMPI Business School, and one of the key movers in the awards initiative.

Another of the awardees last year was the Narayana Hrudayalaya, a hospital in Bangalore that pioneered a cheap health insurance scheme for farmers. For a monthly premium of only Rs 5, farmers could get free medical benefits up to Rs 2 lakh per year.

“This is another example of an innovative idea that has improved millions of lives. We must be able to celebrate such success stories and reward the people and organisations behind them,” Saran said.

Just in the second year, the impact of the awards is already beginning to show. EMPI has also brought out an award journal in which case studies of these success stories have been presented in detail, bringing global recognition to these organisations.

“Surprisingly, some of these organisations themselves do not realise how important is the work they are doing. They work away from the media glare. In such a situation, it becomes all the more important that someone is able to showcase their good work to inspire others as well. I hope these awards would achieve that purpose,” Saran said.

For the inaugural awards last year, four organisations, including Narayana Hrudalaya, won the gold trophy, while three others, including the Nagaland government, received silver trophies. Since there is no bar on the number of awards, this awardees list this year is likely to be longer, with the panel having received more number of good quality applications than last year.