Subhash Chandra Bose Aapda Prabandhan Puraskar for '22 declared

New Delhi: The Gujarat Institute of Disaster Management (GIDM) and Sikkim State Disaster Management Authority's Vice Chairman Vinod Sharma have been selected for the Subhash Chandra Bose Aapda Prabandhan Puraskar for 2022 for their excellent work in disaster management.

A Union Home Ministry statement said while the GIDM has been selected in the Institutional category, Sharma was named in the individual category. The central government has instituted the annual award -- Subhash Chandra Bose Aapda Prabandhan Puraskar -- to recognise and honour the invaluable contribution and selfless service rendered by individuals and organisations in India in the field of disaster management.

The award is announced every year on January 23, the birth anniversary of freedom fighter Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose. It carries a cash prize of Rs 51 lakh and a certificate in the case of an institution and Rs 5 lakh and a certificate in the case of an individual. For the award this year, the nominations were solicited from July 1, 2021 onwards and 243 valid nominations were received from institutions and individuals, as per the statement.

The GIDM was established in 2012 and since then it has been working to enhance the disaster risk reduction (DRR) capacity of Gujarat.

Through a series of strategically designed capacity building programs, the GIDM has trained more than 12,000 professionals on diverse issues concerning multi-hazard risk management and reduction during the pandemic, the statement said.

Sharma, a senior professor at the Indian Institute of Public Administration and vice-chairman of the Sikkim State Disaster Management Authority, was the founder coordinator of the National Centre of Disaster Management, now known as the National Institute of Disaster Management, it said.

He has worked tirelessly towards bringing disaster risk reduction (DRR) to the forefront of the national agenda, the statement said.