Flag Bearers of Kalam’s Vision of Developed India honoured with KIGA Awards

Today in Vigyan Bhawan, Delhi, as a tribute to Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam on his 85th birth anniversary, Kalam Centre organized the 1st Kalam Innovation in Governance Awards to honour those individuals and institutions for their exemplary work in improving governance and delivering value to the citizens apart from organizing the 1st International Summit on Innovation in Governance.

Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, the 11th president of India had a very pronounced vision for India as a superpower by 2020. He had always been in the public eye for his role in offering counsel, reaching out to people and building bridges across religious and social divides. He is now recognized worldwide for his statesman and mentoring qualities. He passed away last year but his message and influence continues to resonate with people across the country, and in all walks of life. Kalam Centre has imbibed these values intrinsically and has become a catalyst in the process of propagating it further. 

The summit on Innovation in Governance was a stride towards the direction of exploring the cutting edge technology, 21st century management and out-of-box thinking to transform the role and impact of governance in India and across the world. It also featured discussions and studies on various national and global examples of transformational governance for the betterment of the people. Plenary lectures by eminent personalities like Dr. S.Y. Quraishi, Former Chief Election Commissioner of India; Shri Alok Ranjan, Former Chief Secretary of UP and Chief Advisor to Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh; Prof Ajay Pandey, IIM Ahmedabad; Prof. V Ramgopal Rao, Director, IIT Delhi was the highlight of the day’s programme.

Shri Alok Ranjan, Former Chief Secretary and Chief Advisor to the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and is the Chairman of Kalam Centre said “Today, more than ever before, governments are working far more closely with the corporate and private sector, interacting with other governments and managing larger amount of tax-derived income which it is accountable to its people for. This expansion of scale and scope is a challenge and an opportunity – for deploying non-conventional technology, thoughts and people into making governance and government work faster, operate cleaner and become leaner in their model.”

Kalam Innovation in Governance Award (KIGA) 2016 was bestowed on select Individuals and Institutions for their role in using Dr. Kalam’s method to achieve his visions and for their exemplary work in improving governance and delivering value to the citizens. Prominent amongst those who received these are Shri Navniet Sikera, IPS who was instrumental in starting the 1090 Women Helpline; Shri O P Chaudhary, who as the District Collector of Dantewara, changed the face of Dantewada from an underdeveloped district into a progressive and vibrant one through his path-breaking and non-traditional initiatives; and Shri Vikrant Pandey the District Collector of Rajkot who has been in news for various governance achievements leading to world records. Shri Kumar Keshav, MD of Lucknow Metro was also amongst the awardees and he shared his views on large project management. Many KIGA recipients also showcased their innovative work in governance during the summit so as to impact the mindscape of others who were present.

Moreover a book titled “Childhood of Kalam”, authored by the CEO of Kalam Centre, Srijan Pal Singh was also unveiled at the Summit. “Kalam as an elder statesman was in the public eye for his role in offering counsel, reaching out to people and building bridges across religious and social divides. Dr. Kalam’s focus was ever on transforming India into a developed nation by 2020 and to this end he continued to travel across the country for his teaching assignment at IITs and IIMs, to address conferences and to meet students and people from all walks of life. This book is about what really formed the core of Dr Kalam’s thoughts and beliefs and those moments which usually most Indians do not know about,” says Srijan Pal Singh, former OSD to Dr. Kalam,  who has co-authored 3 books with Dr Kalam and has a total of 7 books to his credit.

This summit focussed on different sectors of governance and delivery seen through the prism promoting innovation, multi-stakeholder engagement, transparency and learning curve.