Governance
Express Governance Awards
- 03 Sep 2019
- 4 min read
Recently, a total of 16 district magistrates have been honoured with The Indian Express Excellence in Governance Awards for their pioneering work across a wide range of categories.
- Some of the unique initiatives are:
Category : Left Wing Extremism District
- District : East Godavari (Andhra Pradesh)
- Initiative : Digital Connectivity through FSOC.
- Google’s X FSOC or Free Space Optical Communication (FSOC) has enabled the remote tribal villages located in the hills to get connected with the outside world.
- It provides services like mobile connectivity, internet, and wireless landline connectivity to the villages.
- The initiative has made facilities like telemedicine, public grievances redressal, online education etc. accessible for remote villages.
- Availability of connectivity will help to eradicate Left Wing Extremism.
Free Space Optical Communication (FSOC)
- FSOC is an optical communication technology that uses light to wirelessly transmit data to telecommunication and internet applications.
- FSOC links use beams of light to deliver high-speed, high-capacity connectivity over long distances but without the cable.
- FSOC boxes can simply be placed kilometres apart on roofs or towers, with the signal beamed directly between the boxes to easily traverse common obstacles like rivers, roads and railways.
Category : Women Development
- District : Jhabua (Madhya Pradesh)
- Initiative : Sathidar Abhiyan
- It is an initiative for empowerment of women and children through eradication of social evils.
- The campaign intends to bring an end to the reserve dowry system by social leaders aware of the adversities.
- It is not easy to end the practice in a go, so administration capped the dowry amount to Rs 50,000 or less initially as against the conventional Rs 2, 3 lakhs.
- Eventually,administration succeeded to eliminate dowry system completely in targeted villages.
Category : Child Development
- District : Nagpur (Maharashtra)
- Initiative : Jivhala
- The initiative aims for Creating Awareness About Child Rights And Prevention of Sexual Harassment in Tribal Ashram schools.
- It provides training and orientation through video and reading material to students which made children open about these sensitive issues.
- The initiative helped to empower children and also sensitized the school administration about their responsibilities.
Category : Inclusive Innovation
- District : Valsad (Gujarat)
- Initiative : E-Megh
- The initiative provides Early Flood Warning System.
- It also provides effective and efficient real-time data
- It enhances the co-ordination between the officials and the beneficiaries by using Communication tools like Auto-generated calls & SMS to the authorities.
- It also comes up with the flood maps to co-relate threats to various towns and villages.
Category : Skill Development
- District- East Godavari (Andhra Pradesh)
- Initiative : Kaushal Godavari (KG)
- The initiative focuses on Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Promotion.
- The district administration arranged facilities for skill development, skill enhancement and job placement.
- Job placements under the programme aided private companies which have hired 16,000 youths from tribal area till now.
Category : Border Districts
- District- Cachar (Assam)
- Initiative : Debo Na Nebo Na
- It is an Anti-Corruption Movement along with Mobile Phone Application by the District Administration
- “Debo Na, Nebo Na” means “Won’t Give, Won’t Take”
- Complaints can be lodged through forms dropped in drop-boxes kept outside every government office,phone calls or directly through the app.
- The motive behind the project is to ensure that there is no absence of facilities to communicate about a corrupt practice .
