Union Minister Jitendra Singh on Tuesday lauded retired civil servants as “partners in nation building even beyond superannuation,” while presenting the 8th National Anubhav Awards at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi.
Instituted in 2015, the awards honour retiring officials and aim to build an institutional memory of governance through their recorded experiences.
Singh said candid reflections from retirees provide valuable insights for enhancing 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 policies and ensure better service delivery,” he noted.
The minister also announced plans to use artificial intelligence to analyse memoirs posted on the Anubhav portal, identifying systemic gaps in areas such as transfers and grievance redressal.
“We are moving towards a hybrid model, where human intelligence and artificial intelligence together will guide policy reforms,” he said.
Encouraging retirees to remain engaged in public life, Singh cited examples of senior citizens contributing through startups, advisory roles, and social service.
This year, 15 awardees from 11 ministries were recognised, including first-time honourees from public sector banks and a central public sector enterprise. Notable awardees included civil servant M. Venkatesan, Administrator Hukum Singh Meena, and Shalini Kacker of SBI, known for pioneering work in DBT, pensions, and digital certificates. Others represented DRDO, ISRO, BHEL, CRPF, postal, telecom, CWC, and ITBP.
According to the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, more than 12,500 memoirs have been published on the Anubhav portal in the last decade.