Dr. Jitendra Singh Felicitates Retirees with “National Anubhav Awards” at Vigyan Bhawan

New Delhi – Union Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh presented the “National Anubhav Awards” at Vigyan Bhawan during the 57th Pre-Retirement Counselling Workshop. Addressing the gathering, he described retired officials as “partners in nation-building even after superannuation” and underlined the significance of using their experience to strengthen governance.

The Anubhav Awards, launched in 2015 by the Modi Government, aim to create a living archive of governance experiences while recognizing the contributions of retiring officials. Dr. Singh highlighted that the candid reflections of retirees help the government enhance transparency, improve citizen-centric service delivery, and strengthen human resource management. “Those with fewer stakes after retirement can speak more boldly and candidly, providing invaluable insights,” he said.

The Minister noted that artificial intelligence would soon be deployed to analyse memoirs submitted on the Anubhav portal, thereby identifying recurring gaps in processes like promotions, transfers, and grievance redressal. He called this a “hybrid model” of combining human intelligence with AI to shape policy reforms.

Over 12,500 memoirs have been published on the Anubhav portal in the last decade. This year, 15 officials from 11 ministries and departments were honoured, marking the first time a PSU bank officer and a BHEL officer featured among awardees.

Prominent honourees included:

M. Venkatesan, who documented his role during the 2014 Kashmir floods and the 2022 Ukraine evacuation,

Hukum Singh Meena, who digitised land records in 6.4 lakh villages,

Shalini Kacker (SBI), who advanced DBT, pension reforms, and Digital Life Certificate campaigns,

O. Virupakshappa (Posts), who expanded financial inclusion through postal savings and insurance, and

Saju P.K. (CRPF), who served in sensitive operational areas like Assam and Pulwama.

The Jury Awards recognised officials across diverse fields, including DRDO, ISRO, Telecom, CRPF, CWC, and ITBP. Notably, nearly one-third of the awardees were women.

At the ceremony, Dr. Singh also launched Digital Life Certificate Campaign 4.0 and released a Coffee Table e-Book highlighting success stories from Special Campaign 2.0. The event included pre-retirement counselling sessions on pensions, health, investments, and taxation to prepare employees for life after government service.

Encouraging retirees to pursue entrepreneurship, advisory roles, and social initiatives, Dr. Singh said, “You may retire on paper, but you never retire from serving the nation.”