Prime Minister’s Award for Excellence in Public Administration: UDAN Scheme Selected for the Award

PM’s Award for Excellence in Public Administration- Relevance for UPSC Exam

GS Paper 2: Governance, Administration and Challenges- Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.

Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) flagship Regional Connectivity Scheme UDAN (UdeDeshkaAamNagrik) has been selected for Prime Minister’s Award for Excellence in Public Administration 2020.
- UDAN scheme has been selected under the category “Innovation (General) – Central”.
The Ministry of Civil Aviation will receive the award on 21st April, i.e. Civil Service Day.
- A special event is been organized by the Government of India at Vigyan Bhawan on the occasion of “Civil Service Day” where the representative of the ministry will be facilitated with the award.

About: The government of India has initiated the PM’s Award for Excellence in Public Administration to acknowledge, recognize and reward extraordinary and innovative work done by Districts and Organizations of State/Government.
- This scheme emphasizes on Good Governance, Qualitative achievements, and last-mile connectivity rather than only on achievement of quantitative targets.
Award Prize: The PM’s Award for Excellence in Public Administration consists of a trophy, scroll and an incentive of Rs 10 lakhs.

UDAN scheme full form: Ude Desh Ka Aam Naagrik is a Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) to ensure affordability, connectivity, growth and development.
Objective: UDAN scheme aims to fulfil the aspirations of the common man by following the vision of UdeDeshkaAamNagrik, with an enhanced aviation infrastructure and air connectivity in tier II and III cities.
- It provides a win-win situation for all stakeholders – citizens would get the benefit of affordability, connectivity and more jobs.
The scheme was launched in 2016, and would be in operation for a period of 10 years.
Targets under UDAN: The Ministry of Civil Aviation plans and commits to construct 100 new airports by 2024 in India with 1,000 new routes under the UDAN RCS scheme by the year 2026.

In a short span of 5 years, today 415 UDAN routes connect 66 underserved/unserved airports, including heliports and water aerodromes, and over 92 lakh people have benefited from it.
More than 1 lakh 79 thousand flights have flown under this scheme.
UDAN scheme has immensely benefitted several sectors pan-India including Hilly States, North-Eastern region, and Islands
The UDAN scheme also led to the development of new Green Field Airports such as Pakyong near Gangtok in Sikkim, Tezu in Arunachal Pradesh and Kurnool in Andhra Pradesh.
The UDAN scheme also led to a 5% incremental growth in domestic passenger share of non-metro airports.

shivam