Meghalaya awarded for innovation in health sector

Shillong, Jan 20: With an aim to encourage innovators from small states and inclusive innovations in public systems across the Northeast Indian States, Union Territories and Hill States, in the field of Education, Health, Information Technology and Rural Development, an award ceremony and panel discussion was held here on Friday.

Awards were given to states who stood out in terms of innovative practices in the mentioned sectors. This Award Ceremony was organized for the 1st time by the Centre for Innovations in Public Systems (CIPS) in collaboration with the Government Innovation Lab (GIL), Government of Meghalaya, with Administrative staff College of India (ASCI) as knowledge partners, according to a Press release.

Addressing the audience, the Chief Guest of the ceremony, Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma congratulated CIPS and ASCI for organizing the innovation awards ceremony in the State. He said that this is a recognition of all the innovations that have been taking place not only in the State, but in States across the country. He mentioned that the best way to achieve the state goals is through collaborative efforts and stated that in the last 5 years, although he contributed in laying down the vision for the State, the capable and collaborative efforts of the administrative staff and functionaries were responsible for a plethora of innovations brought about in various sectors through a decentralized approach, and added that this can be an example for other practitioners present at the award ceremony to follow.

The special address was given by the Guest of Honour in the Award Ceremony, Dr. V.K Paul, Member, NITI Ayog, Government of India. He informed that the official mandate of NITI Ayog includes two elements- 1) promoting cooperative federalism and 2) competitive federalism. He stated that this award ceremony is more focused on the competitive federalism aspect. He appreciated the State’s initiatives in promoting innovation in the public systems. He added that the country is moving towards strengthening health systems across the country through various National Programmes to reach the last mile of the population. He requested the policy practitioners and administrators to create a paradigm that would enable running hospitals in the public sector using the best systems of administration. For CIPS in particular, he highlighted focused innovation through the lens of SDGs. He also spoke about the need to prioritize the awards and innovations in the education sector, to build a strong human capital.

VK Paul went on to appreciate Meghalaya’s Village Health Councils (VHCs) and said that it has the ability to transform health in a significant manner. He expressed surprise at the implementation and impact of CMSMS and the impact seen in terms of 50 percent decline in maternal and child deaths in the State from 2020-23. He further went on to appreciate the Meghalaya Early Childhood (ECD) Mission. He said that the government of Meghalaya has given the right priority to the right innovations through various interventions.

Development Commissioner & Principal Secretary Health & Family Welfare Department, Government of Meghalaya, Sampath Kumar, IAS spoke about Meghalaya’s State Capability Enhancement Approach to drive policy and innovation in solving complex development problems. He described the idea of building state capability as a homegrown approach of the Government of Meghalaya and said the State has an immense capacity to bring transformative development.

He said that being a landlocked state, Meghalaya has a huge human resource and the state is working towards unleashing the capability of children and youth, by designing the Early Childhood Development mission to build cognitive capital. He also informed that the state is unleashing the potential of a massive network of Self-Help Groups (SHG) women groups, where currently more than 90 percent of rural households are covered under SHG network.

The list of awardees along with the respective innovations are as follows:

1. Sampath Kumar, IAS: Positive Public Health Management Meghalaya
2. Dr Phunchok Norboo, Mission Director, ABDM, Ladakh: Integration of Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission with e-Hospital
3. Ram Kumar S, IAS: Meghalaya Drone Delivery Network
4. A. Arun Prince Milton, Scientist, ICAR, Meghalaya: Rapid and cost-effective visual Diagnostic Kit for African Swine Fever Virus
5. Shantanu Gotmare, IAS: Kritagyata- Online Pension Sanction and Payment Tracking System
6. Mukesh Repaswal, IAS, Information technology Director, Shimla, Himachal Pradesh: Mukhya Mantri Seva Sankalp 1100
7. Krishna Kumar, IAS, Deputy Commissioner, Jiribam, Manipur: Manipur E-district Portal
8. Issac Zothanpuia, Project Manager, Mizoram State e-governance Society, Mizoram: RTI Online to promote accountability and for ease-of filling requests
9. Pallav Gopal Jha, IAS, Managing Director, GMDW&, Assam: Web-based water supply connections, Registration & Payment System
10. Shyambir, IAS, Deputy Commissioner, Ganderbal, J&K: MASHAAL-E-GAASH- A people-driven initiative to promote literacy
11. Dev Raj Dhiman, Principal, Himachal Pradesh: Inquiry Based learning for holistic development
12. Varnali Deka, IAS, DC, Nalbari, Assam: Poshan Club: Nurturing children for welfare schemes
13. Purva Garg, IAS, sECRETARY education, Samagra Shiksha: ECCE Early Childhood Care and Education as per new education policy 2020.
14. Varnali Deka, IAS, DC, Nalbari, Assam: Mushrooms as a tasty nutraceutical supplement
15. Shiv Kumar Upadhyaya & Deepak Shah: Village as Harbingers of change toward optimal utilization of resources
16. Prasada Rao Vaddarapu, IFS: Bamboo brooms with handles as alternatives to plastics
17. Ajit Kumar Ranjan, IAS, DC, Wokha Nagaland: Entrepreneurs Task Force, one stop model for rural entrepreneurs
18. Chete Lohe, CEO, Kiwi Production company, Phek, Nagaland: Promotion & Marketing of Organic Kiwi Fruit.