DIMAPUR — Deputy Commissioner of Wokha, Ajit Kumar Ranjan, and the chief executive officer (CEO) of Kiwi Production Company from Phek district, Chete Lohe, were among 18 persons from the northeast region to receive awards for innovation organised by the Centre for Innovations in Public Systems (CIPS) held on January 19 in Shillong, Meghalaya.
The award ceremony was organised for the first time by CIPS, in collaboration with the Government Innovation Lab (GIL), Government of Meghalaya, and Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI) as partners.
An update from CIPS stated that Ajit Kumar Ranjan was awarded for his innovation on “Entrepreneurs task force, one stop model for rural entrepreneurs,” while Chete Lohe was awarded for “Promotion and marketing of organic Kiwi fruit.”
The award ceremony was organised 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.
Speaking on the occasion, Chief Minister of Meghalaya, Conrad K Sangma, congratulated CIPS and ASCI for organising the innovation awards ceremony in the state. He has termed the awards as recognition of all the innovations that have been taking place not only in the state but in states across the country.
He has attributed the capable and collaborative efforts of the administrative staff and functionaries for bring about a plethora of innovations in various sectors through a decentralised approach. While describing that innovation in all forms is always great, Sangma said any innovation is only good as long as it is able to help the people achieve their goals.
He further stressed on the importance of working together as a team and the need to streamline and simplify rules and processes.
The special address was delivered by the guest of honour and member of NITI Ayog, Dr. VK Paul, wherein he highlighted official mandate of NITI Ayog including promoting cooperative federalism and competitive federalism.
While appreciating the state’s initiatives in promoting innovation in the public systems, 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. He also spoke about the need to prioritise the awards and innovations in the education sector to build a strong human capital.
He further spoke about the importance of interventions in prevention pathways in the domains of mental health, oral health and elderly health among others and urged everyone present at the award ceremony to pay special attention to those paradigms.
A book titled ‘Celebrating inclusive innovations’ was also released during the award ceremony.
