After home ministry, others likely to ‘streamline’ awards they give | India News

NEW DELHI: After the home ministry announced to discontinue one award for personnel of various central and state police forces, and restricted two other awards, now other ministries are also set to follow suit. The ministries and Central government departments are likely to “streamline” the awards they give every year to officers and organisations for their works, sources said.
TOI has learnt that Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently flagged the issue at a meeting with senior ministers and urged them to ensure that the ministries and departments follow high standards while selecting winners for different awards.
The home ministry notified the changes barely a week after Modi spoke about it.
Earlier different departments had submitted the details of awards they give and the processes adopted for their selection with the home ministry. TOI has learnt that there has been a few rounds of meetings under the chairmanship of director general (awards) of home ministry, who has been tasked to transform the ecosystem of awards conferred by the Union government. One of the major focuses of the exercise is to avoid duplication and to ensure that only the most deserving persons get the awards on merit.
There have been several instances when the number of awardees in functions organised by ministries are in dozens. Considering this growing trend, the home ministry had urged other ministries to review the awards and their processes, including the ones conferred by the PSUs and boards.
“Different ministries have submitted the details of the awards and their significance. In some cases, the awards are given based on the recommendations from state governments,” said a source.
Officials said the government has set up a Central Awards Support Unit (CASU) to act as a nodal point between ministries and other agencies for reviewing and transformation of awards.