The National Anubhav Awards 2025 ceremony, held on August, 2025, in New Delhi, marked the 10th anniversary of the initiative. The awards recognized 15 retiring and retired central government employees for memoirs documenting their public service experiences. Notably, the 2025 awards featured several firsts, including expanded eligibility and a higher proportion of women among the honorees.
Key highlights from the 2025 awards
Expanded participation
- For the first time, employees from Central Public Sector Undertakings (CPSUs) and Public Sector Banks (PSBs) were eligible for the awards.
- First-time honorees included employees from the State Bank of India (SBI) and Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL), as well as the Department of Land Resources and the Ministry of Jal Shakti.
Awardees and recognition
- Fifteen awardees from 11 ministries and departments were chosen from nearly 1,500 submissions. Five individuals received the Anubhav Award and a ₹10,000 cash prize, while ten were given Jury Certificates. Their contributions spanned areas such as governance reform, technology, and public engagement.
Notable winners
- Notable winners included M. Venkatesan for his service during critical events, Hukum Singh Meena for digitizing land records, Shalini Kacker (SBI) for her work on Direct Benefit Transfer and pension reform, O. Virupakshappa (Department of Posts) for expanding rural postal schemes, and Saju P.K. (CRPF) for service in operational areas.
Diversity focus
- Women constituted one-third of the awardees, highlighting their growing role in governance.
Explanation of Exam Oriented Key Terms
01The National Anubhav Awards |
The National Anubhav Awards are presented by the Department of Pension & Pensioners’ Welfare (DoPPW) to recognize retired Central Government employees’ contributions to nation-building through their experiences. Recent developments include a marking system for evaluation and a three-year submission window for write-ups.
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PRACTICE QUESTIONS
With reference to the National Anubhav Awards 2025, consider the following statements:
I. The awards are conferred by the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions to honour retiring and recently retired Central Government and state employees
II. For the 2025 awards, employees of Central Public Sector Undertakings (CPSUs) and Public Sector Banks (PSBs) became eligible for the first time
III. To be eligible for the 2025 awards, a pensioner must have retired within a period of not more than two years
IV. The awards were instituted in 2019 at the behest of the Prime Minister, to document administrative history through personal memoirs
How many of the statements given above are correct?
a) Only one
b) Only two
c) Only three
d) All four
Answer: a
Explanation: Statement I is incorrect- The National Anubhav Awards are conferred by the Department of Pension & Pensioners’ Welfare, which is under the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions. The awards recognize outstanding memoirs written by retiring and recently retired government employees. Statement II is correct- The National Anubhav Awards Scheme, 2025, marked the first time that employees of CPSUs and PSBs were made eligible to submit their write-ups, expanding the awards beyond just Central Government employees. Statement III is incorrect- The eligibility criteria for the 2025 awards were updated to allow pensioners to submit their write-ups up to three years after their retirement. This was an extension of the previous time limit. Statement IV is incorrect- The Anubhav Portal, and the awards that followed, were launched in 2015 based on the vision of the Prime Minister to document institutional memory by collecting memoirs of retiring and retired officials.
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