Excelsior Correspondent
NEW DELHI, Dec 21: This year’s prestigious Gfiles Governance Award- 2015 was conferred among others on two officers from J&K, Rakesh Kumar Gupta (IAS) and Jigmet Takpa (IFS) at Civil Services Officer’s Institute Chanakyapuri, New Delhi today.
Rakesh Kumar Gupta, Principal Secretary, Department of Forest & Environment Government of J&K was awarded the “Excellent Contribution Award” for implementing path breaking reforms in the UPSC examination by IT- enabling of the entire examination process and implementing reforms in the Civil Service Examination.
An 1986-batch IAS officer of the Jammu & Kashmir cadre, Mr Gupta has had a distinguished career. He served as Chief Vigilance Officer, National Consumer Cooperative Corporation (Government of J&K) and Principal Secretary to the Governor (Government of J&K). As CEO and J&K State Election Commissioner, he handled the challenging job of conducting elections in the State in a peaceful manner and computerised the electoral rolls in Urdu, using unicode software.
As Commissioner of Science and Information Technology, he formulated the IT policy for the State. He was instrumental in setting up Community Information Centres in backward areas to increase information technology penetration in rural areas and bridge the digital divide in J&K. As Special Secretary, Social Welfare, Gupta is credited with setting up the council for rehabilitation of victims of militancy. As Secretary Power, he initiated power sector reforms, drafted the Regulatory Commission Act and gave a big boost to non-conventional energy sources. In recognition of his contributions, he was also conferred the Chief Minister’s Gold Medal for honesty, integrity and meritorious public service by the Government of J&K.
Jigmet Takpa IFS, Chief Conservator of Forests, Ladakh/ Director, Ladakh Renewable Energy Development Agency, Leh, was awarded “Exceptional Contribution Award” for successfully implementing biodiversity conservation, Energy security and sustainable livelihood improvement programs in Ladakh region of Himalaya.
Mr Takpa pioneered biodiversity conservation, rural development and renewable energy in Ladakh and established a bench- mark in the Himalaya. An officer of the Indian Forest Service from Ladakh, his achievements are testament to his dedication. Takpa’s initiatives to address the development and conservation challenges facing Ladakh’s fragile ecosystem include establishing flagship projects in identifying, devising and adapting suitable technologies for efficiently managing the natural resources of the high-altitude Himalayan regions. His efforts resulted in a rapid growth in the populations of key flagship species such as the snow leopard, bar-headed goose, black- necked crane, wild yaks, Asiatic ibex and the Tibetan antelope.
He is credited with the success of Project Snow Leopard that turned Ladakh into the snow leopard capital of the world. The Ladakh Ecotourism Project has directly benefitted the community. The Ladakh Renewable Energy Initiative vastly alleviated the longstanding problem of energy shortage in the region and reduced the tremendous expenditure of the Government of India in sustaining the energy sector.
The chief guest on the occasion was Nadendra Singh Tomar, Union Minister for Mines and Steel Government of India. Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu, Union Minister for Railways and Capt Abhimany Finance Minister Government of Haryana were the guests of honour. The function was also attended by many High Commissioners, Ambassadors from many countries and eminent dignitaries.
The jury for the gfile consisted of Prabhat Kumar (IAS) former Cabinet Secretary Government of India, Anil Razdan – former Secretary Power, Vishnu Bhagwan- former Chief Secretary Haryana and MB Kaushal former Secretary, Internal Security, Government of India.
The Gfiles do not accept any nomination or recommendation for the award, rather the jury members strives to identify such people and recognize the selfless service and contribution of officers to national building after year long scrutiny across the country.
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