At the 8th "National Anubhav Awards" ceremony and the 57th Pre-Retirement Counselling Workshop held at Vigyan Bhawan, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science and Technology; Earth Sciences and Minister of State for PMO, Department of Atomic Energy, Department of Space, Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Dr. Jitendra Singh underlined the importance of drawing upon the wisdom and experience of retired government employees, calling them “partners in nation building even beyond superannuation.”

Addressing the gathering, Dr. Jitendra Singh said the Anubhav Awards, launched in 2015, were conceived not only to honour retiring officials but also to build an institutional memory of governance through their recorded experiences. He stressed that candid feedback from retirees provided valuable insights for improving transparency, citizen-centric governance, and human resource management. “Those who have lesser stakes after retirement can speak more boldly, more candidly. Their observations help us course-correct our policies and ensure better service delivery,” he noted.

The Minister also highlighted efforts to integrate technology with institutional learning. He said artificial intelligence would be increasingly deployed to analyse memoirs submitted on the Anubhav portal, helping identify systemic gaps in areas such as transfers, promotions, and grievance redressal. “We are moving towards a hybrid model, where human intelligence and artificial intelligence together will guide policy reforms,” Dr. Jitendra Singh remarked.

This year’s awards mark a decade of the initiative, with more than 12,500 memoirs published on the Anubhav portal so far. Fifteen awardees from 11 ministries and departments were felicitated, including for the first time officers from a public sector bank and a central public sector enterprise.

Prominent "National Anubhav Award" winners were M. Venkatesan who, superannuating after 35 distinguished years as civil servant, documented his services during critical times including the 2014 Kashmir floods and the Ukraine evacuation of 2022, Hukum Singh Meena, who spearheaded the digitisation of land records in over 6.4 lakh villages; Shalini Kacker of SBI, who drove Direct Benefit Transfer, pension reforms and Digital Life Certificate campaigns in banking.

O. Virupakshappa of the Department of Posts, who expanded postal savings and insurance schemes to rural communities; and Saju P.K. of the CRPF, who served in sensitive operational areas ranging from Assam to Pulwama. The Jury Awardees included Jai Prakash Srivastava (BHEL), Vinod P. and Dr. Sabu Sebastian (DRDO), Dr. Jolly Dhar (ISRO), Sunitha Cherodath(Telecom), S. Meenakshi Sundaram and Balam Singh Rawat(CRPF), Velaga Kumari (CWC), Sheela Rani Poddar (CRPF), and Santosh Gawli (ITBP), reflecting the wide range of services represented.

The ceremony was attended by senior officials including V. Srinivas, Secretary (Pension); Shri Vitul Kumar, Special DG, CRPF; Smt. Roli Singh, Additional Secretary & DG, CGHS; Shri Raj Kumar Arora, CGDA; and Shri DhrubajyotiSengupta, Joint Secretary (Pension), among others, who joined Dr. Jitendra Singh in felicitating the awardees and releasing new initiatives such as the Guidelines for the nation-wide Digital Life Certificate Campaign 4.0 and a Coffee Table e-Book of success stories from Special Campaign 2.0 . Notably, one-third of the awardees this year were women, reflecting a growing presence of women officials in governance.

Dr. Jitendra Singh urged the awardees not to consider retirement as the end of their service but as the beginning of a new chapter. He cited examples of senior citizens leading successful start-ups in the food and agriculture sector, encouraging retirees to channel their skills into entrepreneurship, advisory roles, or social service. “You may retire on paper, but you never retire from serving the nation,” he said.

The day-long event also included pre-retirement counselling sessions on pension procedures, health benefits, investment options, and income tax matters, aimed at equipping soon-to-retire employees for life after government service.

As the Anubhav Awards enter their tenth year, the initiative continues to evolve, with feedback-based evaluation criteria and a broader participation base, including public sector banks and enterprises. Officials said the awards had become a repository of governance lessons, bridging the past and the future of public administration.

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NKR/PSM/AV