UN honours organisations from Nagaland, UP for public service

United Nations, Jun 24 (UNI) Two public organisations from India have been conferred with the UN Public Service Awards for 2008.

The General Assembly has designated June 23 as the UN Public Service Day.

Twelve awards were selected in the Winners category and six in the Finalist category from among 183 innovative programmes from 57 nations.

A delegation led by R S Pandey, Steel Secretary to the Indian Government (former chief secretary in the Nagaland government), received the award given for Programme of Communitisation of Public Institutions and Services, Nagaland in the Winners category. The programme significantly improved public service delivery in essential services such as health, education and electricity through an imaginative empowerment of user community in a legislative framework.

It is also playing a key role in achieving the Millennium Development Goals such as reduction in poverty and bolstering health care availability.

The District Lokvani Society, Sitapur in Uttar Pradesh, was also selected for receiving the honour under the Finalist category for providing information about government services in rural areas and for providing a channel for redressing citizens' grievances through an online portal. A member of the Permanent Mission of India to the UN accepted the commendation certificate on behalf of the society.

Deputy UN chief Asha Rose Migiro hoped that the awards for this year will inspire governments and individuals to provide basic amenities to the people.

Ms Migiro said addressing a meeting of the Indian representatives, various diplomats and others that ''Governments around the world need to break with business as usual and engage in even more innovative ways of delivering public services.'' UNI XC PD PM1155