Customs RMS gets PM's Award for Excellence in Public Administration
IN the year 2005, our Prime Minister, while addressing the Collectors' Conference, had announced that the Government would consider introduction of Civil Service Awards in order to motivate the Civil Servants by recognizing the extraordinary and innovative work done by the officers of the Central and State Governments to give their best in the service of the people. Accordingly, it has been decided to introduce “Prime Minister's Awards for Excellence in Public Administration”. The award comprises of a medal, a scroll and a cash award of Rs.1.00 lakh. In case of a group of officers/or an organization total award money can be Rs.5.00 lakhs, subject to maximum of Rs.1.00 lakh per person.
Yesterday, while celebrating the Civil Services Day, this award for public excellence in administration was conferred on Indian Customs' initiative on implementation of ‘Risk Management System' for the year 2007-08.
RMS was introduced to achieve an optimal balance between providing appropriate levels of facilitation to the international trading community and ensuring compliance with regulatory provisions. With a view to streamlining the operations of the RMS, the Risk Management Division has been created by CBEC.
While we congratulate the Indian Customs for receiving this award, we cannot hold back our comments on the apathy shown to this excellent initiative by its own creator. There seems to be something terribly wrong with the PR wing of the CBEC or the Board is stoic. This award is a great achievement. It is an acknowledgement of the outstanding and exemplary performance. But the Board is totally silent. We would have been only too happy to publicise this achievement of the CBEC, but..... we simply have no formally-given information from the Board.
Now with the Prime Minister conferring the award for excellence in public administration on this unique initiative, we hope that the officers and staff of Indian Customs brush up their awareness quotient about this programme and strive to effectively implement this initiative for public good.