On the coming 23 June, the government of Nagaland will be awarded the United Nations' Public Service Awards for bolstering community participation. This is because Nagaland has given up the ownership as well as overseeing responsibility of its schools, hospitals, electricity, water supply and tourism over its villager residents. 

 

A statement released by the CM’s office informed that the award will be presented to the Nagaland government on 23 June at New York in the category of boosting involvement in policy making decisions via innovative mechanism. Nagaland happens to be the only winner in the Asia Pacific zone. This particular UN award is among the 12 awards chosen internationally in varied sphere of public services.    

This new programme is the brain child of Union Steel Secretary and former Nagaland Chief Secretary R S Pandey. Instead of privatization, the communitization of public services was introduced in Nagaland in 2002 keeping in perspective that Naga society still nurtures a healthy community spirit. The introduction of the programme led to a marked enhancement in the delivery system in the rural zones.