Chief Minister Vishnu Dev Say announced the Chief Minister Excellence Award 2025-26, celebrating innovations that improve governance in Chhattisgarh. The award honors 10 innovations chosen from 312 entries submitted by districts and departments, emphasizing technology, measurable outcomes and citizen-centred service.
The award signals that the state prioritises innovation, tangible results and the public interest. Say stressed that governance quality should be judged on real, measurable impact, scalability and solutions to local problems. The award aims to institutionalise this new administrative mindset, combining technology, sensitivity and institutional reforms to strengthen public service.
Say said good governance emerges from continuous innovation, not just policies. In honour of Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s birth anniversary and the State’s Good Governance Day, he declared the award winners.
He added that innovation is not optional but essential for responsive governance. Public systems must adapt to citizen expectations with speed, transparency and reliability. The awardees’ work serves as examples and replicable models for future governance.
The selection was a two-tier process: 55 entries were shortlisted, 13 finalists chosen, and finally 10 winners. Scoring weighted 50 points for results, 40 for scalability and 10 for innovation.
District winners included Dantewada’s Blockchain-based land records digitisation, which eliminated manual paperwork and reduced record retrieval time from weeks to minutes. The programme ended document fraud and accelerated service delivery.
The Jashpur “Construction Jashpur” system integrated real‑time monitoring, geo‑tagged verification and GIS‑based planning across 7,300+ projects and 444 villages, improving quality and reducing delays.
In Mohammad‑Manpur‑Ambagar, the Augmented Tech‑Home Ration (A‑THR) initiative tackled severe malnutrition, raising recovery among children by 77.5%. It demonstrates evidence‑based nutrition interventions can change lives at scale.
Ghariaband’s Elephant Tracking and Alert App reduced human‑elephant conflict, almost eliminating casualties and cutting crop damage, setting a model for conflict‑sensitive governance.
In Narayanpur, the Intify Intelligence Tool integrated data for internal security, enabling over 100 planned operations, improving inter‑agency coordination and counter‑insurgency awareness.
The Education Department’s Vidya Review Centre (VSK) monitors 56,000+ schools, 283,000 teachers and 5.75 million students, enabling early dropout detection, better resource use and evidence‑based decisions.
The Commerce & Industry Department’s One‑Click Single Window System simplified approvals, incentives and complaints across 136 services, cutting delays and boosting investor confidence.
The Revenue Corporation’s e‑Governance overhaul, including track‑and‑trace and real‑time dashboards, generated ₹5425 crore in revenue and set new transparency standards.
The Forest & Climate Change Department’s FDS 2.0 – e‑Kuber digital payment system replaced manual checks with a fully cash‑free, RBI‑integrated payment setup. Over ₹1,776 crore has been transacted in 1.8 million transactions, ensuring timely wages, livelihood security and transparent fund flow.
Panchayat & Rural Development’s QR‑code based information self‑declaration enhanced citizen‑centric governance, reducing intermediaries and boosting transparency in over 11,000 villages.
Say concluded that the awards mark a new beginning to promote people‑centric innovation and good governance across Chhattisgarh. The winners will undergo leadership development at a prominent institute to set future governance standards.
He reiterated that innovation in public administration means delivering timely, transparent, results‑oriented services, and that the award demonstrates how scalable, data‑driven, citizen‑centric solutions strengthen trust in public institutions.
He also stressed that Chhattisgarh will continue to champion innovation as a core value of public service to ensure measurable, positive impact for every citizen.