Brief write up about Asok Kumar.G
Asok Kumar G., is a 1991 batch IAS officer of Telangana Cadre, who superannuated from Government Service on 29 February 2024 while working as Special Secretary and Director General, National Mission for Clean Ganga, responsible for implementing Namami-Gange, a flagship program of Government of India to clean River Ganga and its tributaries.
During his tenure Namami Gange scaled new heights, made significant progress & won many accolades. It was recognized by the UN as one of the top 10 “World Eco- Restoration flagships” at the CoP 15 of Biodiversity at Montreal on 13th December 2022, after a UNEP-FAO led UN Decade consortium assessing over 160 eco restoration programs across the world, on "their effectiveness & success to halt environmental degradation, reverse environmental degradation, with people’s active participation", etc. Using innovative interventions, involving cutting edge technologies, effective decentralisation and people’s active participation, Asok Kumar achieved visible, well appreciated and acknowledged improvements in the rejuvenation and cleaning of River Ganga and its tributaries. He also conceived and setup many institutions like the District Ganga Committees (DGCs), Platform for Real-time Analysis of Yamuna and Ganga (PRAYAG), River Basin Management Cell, Permission Cell, Ganga Knowledge Centres, River Cities Alliance and Global River Cities Alliance, Jalaj Units and Jal Shakti Kendras etc which are now well established at the ground for sustained rejuvenation and cleaning of River Ganga and its tributaries.
While working concurrently as Project Director for the "National River Conservation Directorate", setup for conservation of other major rivers in the country, he signed MoU with 12 IITs/NITs to prepare the CAMP (Conditional Assessment and Management Plan) for 6 major river basins (Krishna, Godavari, Mahanadi, Cauvery, Narmada and Periyar), in the country, as was done for the preparation of NGRBM for the Ganga basin by a consortium of IITS in 2009. He also initiated and got completed ecological studies of the seven river basins by Wildlife Institute of India (He also for a brief period held the charge of the Chairman, Brahmaputra Board, as well.)
Though popular as "the Rain-man of India" for the very successful countrywide "Catch-The-Rain" campaign he initiated to save and conserve rainwater, he has left his imprint in many diverse sectors like water and sanitation, infrastructure, urban planning, civil aviation, power, sports, welfare, health, education and Information Technology etc also.
With a penchant for institution building to ensure sustainability, he has many initiatives to his credit, many of which have sustained for over 2 decades. As a part of the Catch-The-Rain campaign, he pioneered the concept of “Jal Shakti Kendras” (JSK) -a one stop resource and information centre for all water related data and activities- in all the 700+ districts in the country. The effective drive started in 2001 to ensure that no child is out of school in a highly child labor prone Tehasil- Veilpur in Nizamabad; elimination of Pothuraju and Joigini systems in Nizamabad district; reduction of stigma and discrimination of People Living with HIV AIDS (PLHAs) in Andhra Pradesh; setting up of 119 BC Welfare English Medium Residential schools in Telangana in 2017 etc are some other examples.
Shubrata” his initiative for construction of over 1,40,000 pucca Individual Sanitary Latrines for households and in 1000 schools in Nizamabad district in 2001-03 period and Providing Daily drinking water supply to over 3 million people in Hyderabad in 2008 are also some of his successful initiatives in water and sanitation sector.In Hyderabad he initiated/completed many infrastructure projects like the 162 Kms 8 lane Outer Ring Road: the 90 MGD Krishna Phase-2 Drinking Water project; the 90 MGD Godavari Drinking Water Project etc. As Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Civil Aviation, he was instrumental in setting -up India’s Aircraft Accidents Investigation Bureau; headed a committee whose recommendations resulted in vastly improved facilities for Passengers with Reduced mobility and also played a key role in helping to revive the ailing aviation industry when it was going through a very bad patch. As Director in Ministry of Power, he was in charge of R-APPRD the programs to modernize the power distribution entities and reduce their Aggregate a Commercial & Technical losses and RGGVY, the program for rural electrification. He is also the founder President of India Smart Grid Forum.
Asok Kumar G has won many awards, including the “Jal-Mitra” award from the Government of Andhra Pradesh in 2002, the first TEX (Telangana Excellence) Award of the Government of Telangana for "Outstanding work done in Public Administration in 2018; the "Governor’s Award for Excellence - 2023" for “outstanding contributions in Public Services” and the Skoch Award for "Public Service” etc.
As an appreciation of his services, there is a 190 acre lake Asok Sagar in Nizamabad District of Telangana and a village Asok Nagar in YSR Kadapa district, of Andhra Pradesh which are named after him!
He is currently engaged as Visiting Professor of Practice in IIT Kanpur and also lectures regularly in IIM, Ahmedabad.
For more details visit https://asokji.in ;
emails: asokji@yahoo.com , asok.kumar@nic.in, ashokkumarji@gmail.com
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