Our Correspondent
Imphal, April 22 (EMN): Bishnupur district in Manipur was in the headlines for the third time during the past couple of weeks for getting national awards and achieving targets of centrally sponsored schemes.
The latest award was handed over to Deputy Commissioner Pawan Yadav by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a function that was held during the occasion of national civil services at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi on Saturday.
Bishnupur is the smallest district of Manipur in area, measuring about 469 sq km. It is roughly equal to the Republic of Vanuatu in the south Pacific ocean and having a population of 2, 37, 399 (census of 2011) has brought laurel to the state by getting “Prime Ministers’ Awards for excellence in public administration” in the ‘North East and Hill States’ group for implementing ‘Promoting Digital Payments’.
There were 999 applications received from the organisations of central, state government, and districts. Out of which 138 applications were from aspiring districts for different categories under the Prime Minister’s Awards for excellence in public administration.
The award was given for making Manipur’s lake-island, Karang, the first cashless island of the country, by providing training towards digital payments, according to reports.
Meanwhile the state’s chief minister, N Biren Singh, congratulated the Bishnupur district administration on receiving the award. In tweeter message, Biren said, “Congratulations district administration, Bishnupur on receiving Prime Minister’s Awards for Excellence in Public Administration’ from Hon’ble PM @narenddramodi ji in New Delhi on civil services day 2018 for excellence in ‘promoting digital payments.”
Assam’s Dhemaji and Telangana’s Karimnagar were awarded for the implementation of ‘Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushal Yojana,’ (Hindi for "Transform rural poor youth into an economically independent and globally relevant workforce") which aimed at adding diversity to the incomes of poor families and cater to the career aspirations of rural youths.
Bishnupur district becomes the second open defecation-free (ODF) district in Manipur after Senapati. However, no official function has been held yet to announce the ODF district tag for Bishnupur.
On March 23, a women society called ‘Chaokhat Lup Women Development Society’ of Ningthoukhong, in the district, was also awarded the ‘Swachhata Excellence Award’ by the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs. The award was given in recognition for the exemplary work in the field of sanitation and cleanliness during the year 2017-18.
