Officials and experts at the 11th annual civil services day, held at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi on April 20-21, discussed inputs from 533 District Collectors on "Creating Value through Human Capital Management in Government." They also discussed suggestions from as many as 615 IAS officers of 2013-16 batches on implementation of priority programs The function was organized by the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG), Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances, and Pensions. Union Home Minister Rajnath Sigh was the Chief Guest in the Inaugural Session on April 20, 2017. Prime Minister Narendra Modi presented the awards for Excellence in Public Administration on the concluding day on April 21, 2017. On the inaugural day, on 20th April, a Plenary Session was held on the topic of "Creating Value through Human Capital Management in Government" on the basis of inputs received from district collectors. The session was chaired by the Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Development of North-Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr. Jitendra Singh. The panelists who participated in the session were B. P. Sharma, Secretary, DoPT, Ms. Aruna Sundararajan, Secretary, Electronics and Information Technology, Sandeep Chaudhary, CEO, Aon Hewitt and Ms. Roopa Kudva, MD, Omidyar Network India Advisors. The discussion focused on identifying human capital-related challenges, leveraging technology to improve processes and maximizing potential and fostering creativity and innovation. The DARPG had obtained feedback from District Collectors on the topic of "Creating Value through Human Capital Management in Government" and responses on a questionnaire on shortlisted initiatives of Priority. This was in pursuance of a PM's directive during a meeting held on March 10, 2017, to collect views of District Collectors/Magistrates of all States/ UTs on the optimum utilization of human resources and building a competent and well-functioning administrative structure which is geared to adapt to the changing needs and aspirations of the citizens of the country. A committee consisting of Secretary DAR&PG, Secretary DoP&T and Director MeitY, assisted by Additional Secretary DAR&PG and Joint Secretary DAR&PG, scrutinized the views and suggestions received from the DCs/DMs. These issues and suggestions were then discussed in the session on 'Creating value through Human Capital Management in Government.' During the assessment process of 'Prime Minister's Awards for Excellence in Public Administration 2017,' Screening Committees, chaired by Additional Secretaries, shortlisted 55 initiatives on the basis of parameters identified in consultation with Ministries/ Departments, presentations made by the applicants and citizen feedback sought through the call center. According to the PM's desire, the shortlisted initiatives were shared with IAS batches of 2013-16 through the DARPG web-portal (link: Department of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances) and their views invited. A total of 615 officers undertook this exercise and submitted their suggestions online. A total of 2,150 hours were spent by the young IAS officers in reviewing the case studies and submitting their responses. From the responses, it came out that agriculture-related priority programs are better understood by the officers, e-National Agriculture Market (e-NAM) being the best-understood program. The overwhelming response reflects the enthusiasm and motivation amongst the young officers. These were also discussed in the three breakaway sessions held on 20th April 2017. The breakaway sessions were held on the topics of Agri