Chhattisgarh News: Chief Minister’s Excellence Awards 2025–26: Chhattisgarh Honours Governance Innovations

Chhattisgarh's Chief Minister Vishnudeo Sai announced the CM Excellence Awards 2025-26 to recognise transformative governance innovations across districts and state departments. The awards emphasise outcomes, scalability, and citizen-centric public administration, with 10 winners selected from district and departmental categories after a rigorous evaluation.

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai on Wednesday announced the Chief Minister’s Excellence Awards 2025–26, recognising transformative governance innovations implemented across districts and state departments. Instituted by the Department of Good Governance & Convergence, the awards underline the state’s commitment to innovation, measurable outcomes and citizen-centric public administration.

The announcement reflects a broader shift in administrative culture, where governance is increasingly evaluated on impact, scalability and problem-solving ability rather than intent or expenditure alone. The awards acknowledge that excellence in public service today lies at the intersection of technology, institutional reform and responsiveness to citizens’ needs.

Addressing the occasion, Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai said innovation in governance is not an option but a responsibility. He stressed that public systems must continuously evolve to deliver services with speed, transparency and integrity. The Chief Minister noted that each awarded initiative represents a replicable model for future-ready governance.

The awards were announced on Good Governance Day, observed on the birth anniversary of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The Chief Minister said good governance is realised not merely through policies, but through continuous innovation focused on public interest.

The Chief Minister’s Excellence Awards 2025–26 followed a rigorous multi-stage evaluation framework. A total of 312 innovations were received, including 275 from districts and 37 from state departments, reflecting widespread participation and a growing culture of solution-oriented governance.

After a two-tier screening process, 55 initiatives were shortlisted, followed by 13 finalists, and finally 10 winners, evenly divided between district-level and departmental categories. The evaluation criteria placed strong emphasis on outcomes (50 points), scalability (40 points) and innovation (10 points) to ensure recognition was based on real-world impact.

Among district winners, Dantewada’s blockchain-based land record digitisation emerged as a landmark reform. The initiative reduced land record retrieval time from weeks to minutes, eliminated document fraud and significantly improved service delivery, particularly in tribal and remote areas.

Nirman Jashpur, developed in Jashpur district, demonstrated how integrated digital monitoring can strengthen infrastructure governance. Covering more than 7,300 works across 16 departments and 444 Gram Panchayats, the platform enables real-time tracking, geo-tagged verification and GIS-based planning.

In Mohla-Manpur-Ambagarh Chowki, the Augmented Take-Home Ration (A-THR) initiative addressed severe acute malnutrition among children. Developed in collaboration with national and international institutions, the programme achieved a 77.5 per cent recovery rate, showcasing the impact of evidence-based nutrition interventions.

Gariyaband’s Elephant Tracking and Alert App highlighted technology-enabled human-wildlife coexistence. Using AI-based tracking and real-time alerts, the initiative reduced human casualties to near zero while significantly lowering crop damage and compensation costs. The model has already been adopted outside the state.

Narayanpur’s Intify Intelligence Tool strengthened internal security governance by integrating intelligence inputs into a real-time, geospatial and predictive platform. The system enabled over 100 planned operations, improved inter-agency coordination and enhanced situational awareness in Left Wing Extremism-affected areas.

Departmental innovations

On the departmental front, the Vidya Samiksha Kendra (VSK) of the Education Department stood out as a data-driven governance platform. Monitoring over 56,000 schools, 2.83 lakh teachers and 57.5 lakh students, the AI-enabled system supports early dropout detection and evidence-based decision-making.

The One Click – Single Window System of the Commerce and Industries Department streamlined 136 services across 16 departments, improving ease of doing business by integrating approvals, incentives, grievances and inspections into a single digital platform.

The Commercial Tax (Excise) Department’s comprehensive e-governance reforms showcased deep digital transformation in revenue administration. With end-to-end digitisation and real-time dashboards, the department recorded ₹5,425 crore in revenue, enhancing transparency and regulatory oversight.

The FDS 2.0 – eKuber Digital Payment System of the Forest and Climate Change Department replaced cheque-based workflows with fully cashless, RBI-integrated payments. The system processed over ₹1,776 crore through 18 lakh transactions, ensuring timely wage payments and transparent fund flow, even in remote and Naxal-affected areas.

The QR code-based information disclosure under MGNREGA, implemented by the Panchayat and Rural Development Department, strengthened grassroots transparency. By allowing villagers to access real-time scheme information through QR scans, the initiative empowered communities across more than 11,000 Gram Panchayats.

Future roadmap

The Chief Minister said these awards mark the beginning of a sustained journey toward innovative governance. Award-winning officers and teams will participate in a leadership development programme at a premier management institution, ensuring that today’s innovations evolve into tomorrow’s governance standards.

Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai reiterated that innovation in public administration is not just about adopting new technology, but about delivering timely, transparent and outcome-oriented services. He affirmed that Chhattisgarh will continue to nurture innovation as a core value of public service, strengthening public trust and delivering measurable impact to every citizen.