PM Awards for Excellence in Public Administration 2026 Portal Opens

The Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances, under the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, opened the web portal for the Prime Minister's Awards for Excellence in Public Administration 2026 and began the registration process. The launch was held through video conferencing and drew more than 2000 officers joining from 750 locations, among them officials of central ministries, Principal Secretaries dealing with administrative reforms in States and Union Territories, and District Collectors and District Magistrates.

How the awards are organised

The scheme recognises the work of civil servants and carries 16 awards in all, spread over three categories. The period taken into account runs from 1 April 2024 to 30 November 2026.

The revamped district category

The first category has been rebuilt for this round. Nine schemes have been newly added to the assessment of districts: Swachh Bharat Mission Urban together with AMRUT, Gyan Bharatam, PM Matsya Sampada Yojana, TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan, crop diversification covering three components, PM SHRI, Swachh Bharat Mission Grameen, the National Mission on Natural Farming, and capacity building through the integrated government online training platform. Three schemes have been carried forward from the previous round, namely Har Ghar Jal Yojana, PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana, and Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0. The schemes cleared for this edition will continue into the next edition as well.

Who competes and what the winners get

• Districts that contain aspirational blocks compete in the second category, which covers 513 aspirational blocks spread across 331 districts.
• Central ministries and departments, State and Union Territory governments and districts take part in the innovation category in their own groups.
• Ministries were asked to send their quantitative, qualitative and governance parameters to the department by 17 November 2026 so that the application form could be prepared and put on the portal.
• Each award carries a trophy, a scroll and an incentive of Rs 20 lakh for the winning district or organisation.
• The money must be spent on carrying out a project or filling resource gaps in any area of public welfare.

The awards are among the highest recognitions available to serving civil servants in India, and the shift of the district category towards fresh schemes shows which programmes the government now wants district administrations to push hardest.