Digital India Awards 2020: Bihar wins award for innovative digital initiatives amid Covid-19 lockdown

Digital India Awards 2020: Bihar has won the Digital India Award 2020 for the initiatives undertaken by the state during COVID-19 lockdown such as reaching out to its citizens and providing different kinds of assistance including transferring money to the beneficiaries' accounts.

Almost 21 lakh people, a majority of whom were migrant-labourers who got stranded outside the state were provided assistance and cash through digital platforms called-‘ Bihar Parvasi Sahayta Mobile App’. The central government has decided to recognise such innovative digital initiatives of the state officials with the Digital India Award 2020.  

President Ram Nath Kovind will be conferring the Digital India Awards 2020 on December 30, 2020 in New Delhi. Union IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad will also be present on the occasion. 

Who will receive the award?

Five senior officials of Bihar will receive the award for their innovative digital efforts during the COVID-induced lockdown including principal secretary of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and then principal secretary of the Disaster Management Department. 

The Chief Minister Secretariat, Disaster Management Department along with the National Informatics Centre (NIC) of Bihar were jointly declared as winners in the "pandemic category" of Digital India Awards 2020.

Key Highlights 

•Chanchal Kumar was conferred the 'Award of Excellence’ under the Digital India Initiative on July 10, 2020. He has previously served in many departments with notable performances in each of them.

•Similarly, the principal secretary of the Disaster Department Pratyay Amrit had taken up a digital initiative called the Garur app, which helped provide assistance to almost 15 lakh migrants who had returned to Bihar and were quarantined at 10,000 quarantine centres.

•The mobile app was developed to register the migrant labourers and map their skills throughout the lockdown time. Through the app, Amrit ensured that cash assistance worth Rs 1000 reach each of the registered migrant labourers and other people upon their return to Bihar. 

•He also ensured free availability of clothes, utensils and other daily use valuables for the quarantined people across the state. Pratyay Amrit is also known for successfully completing electrification of Bihar.

•He was awarded the Prime Minister’s Excellence Award in Public Administration by the central government in 2011. 

Digital India Awards

The Digital India Awards have been set up under the National Portal of India to bring the innovative digital efforts to the front so that other government entities also take inspiration from them and take up similar efforts in their work areas.