Om Prakash Choudhary
Personal Details[edit]
Born: 02 June, 1981, Bayang, Raigarh district, Chhattisgarh, India
Residence: Raipur, Chhattisgarh, India
Education: Indian Administrative Services (IAS) Officer
Alma Mater: Kalyan College, Bhilai
Occupation: Civil Servant
Years Active: 2006 – present
Employer: Government of India
Organization: Indian Administrative Service
Om Prakash Choudhary, IAS, (born 02 June, 1981) is an Indian Administrative Service officer who is currently serving as the District Collector of Raipur District in Chhattisgarh, India. He has previously served as the District collector of Janjgir-Champa district in Chhattisgarh, India.
Early Life and Education[edit]
Choudhary was born and brought up in a small village called Bayang in Raigarh district of Chhattisgarh. His grandfather had been a farmer for over 50 years. His father was a school teacher. Choudhary lost his father when he was just 8 years old. His mother is a homemaker.
He completed his entire school education till class 12 from various village government schools and completed his Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics from Kalyan college, Bhilai. Choudhary was one of the youngest to clear the IAS examinations in 2005. He has been serving in his home cadre Chhattisgarh ever since.
Career:[edit]
He is a 2005 batch IAS officer of the Chhattisgarh cadre. He has served in key positions for his home cadre like SDM, Zila Panchayat CEO, Assistant Collector, District Collector and Municipal Commissioner.
Assistant Collector, Korba[edit]
O.P. Choudhary was appointed as the Assistant Collector of Korba. He assumed office on June 15, 2006 and demitted it on August 24, 2007.
Sub Divisional Magistrate, Bemetara[edit]
O.P. Choudhary was appointed as the Sub Divisional Magistrate of Bemetara. He assumed office on August 31, 2007 and demitted it on April 30, 2008.
Zila Panchayat CEO, Janjgir-Champa[edit]
O.P. Choudhary was appointed as the Zila Panchayat CEO of Janjgir-Champa. He assumed office on May 02, 2008 and demitted it on June 18, 2009
Zila Panchayat CEO, Surguja[edit]
O.P. Choudhary was appointed as the the Zila Panchayat CEO of Surguja. He assumed office on June 22, 2009 and demitted it on October 22, 2009
Municipal Commissioner, Raipur (State Capital)[edit]
O.P. Choudhary was appointed as the Municipal Commissioner of Raipur, the state capital of Chhattisgarh. He assumed office on October 24, 2009 and demitted it on March 30, 2011
District Collector, Dantewada[edit]
O.P. Choudhary was appointed as the District Collector of Dantewada. He assumed office on March 31, 2011 and demitted it on April 05, 2013
Director, Department of Public Relations
O.P. Choudhary was appointed as the Director of the Department of Public Relations, Government of Chhattisgarh. He assumed office on April 18, 2013 and demitted it on May 26, 2014
District Collector, Janjgir-Champa[edit]
O.P. Choudhary was appointed as the District Collector of Janjgir-Champa. He assumed office on May 29, 2014 and demitted it on April 01, 2016
District Collector, Raipur (state capital)[edit]
O.P. Choudhary was appointed as the District Collector of Raipur, the state capital of Chhattisgarh. He assumed office on April 04, 2016
As District Collector, Raipur[edit]
On April 04, 2016, O.P. Choudhary was appointed as the District Collector of Raipur, Chhattisgarh. During his present tenure, he has successfully implemented a number of initiatives for the benefit of Raipur as a city.
Nalanda Parisar[edit]
Nalanda Parisar is a sprawling six-acre campus for the youth. Equipped with a library having a repository of over one crore books, high-speed internet connections, public-access computers, an e-library, a cafeteria, ATM services, stationery and study material shops, the campus will be functional and accessible 24x7. A large chunk of books in the library were collected through a city-wide book donation drive called ‘Pustak Daan’. Over and above all these facilities, Nalanda Parisar is an eco-zone with a growing green cover, man-made lakes and open-air reading zones. The concept of community learning in the lap of nature is an ancient practice in the Indian educational system — over 2,700 years old — and Nalanda Parisar tries to recreate the same environment. The location of Nalanda Parisar has been chosen as one with proximity to educational institutions such as NIT, AIIMS, Science College and the Ayurvedic College.[1]
Oxy Zone[edit]
Several government buildings, houses, shops of municipality, private structure, government offices among other constructions falling in the project area have been dismantled and removed to make space for the city to breathe free.[2]
Creating ‘Lungs’ for the city. Located at a prime location, the 19-acres of land is worth around 1000 crores.
Rejuvenation of water bodies[edit]
22 ponds including Katora Talab have been rejuvenated in the district under his supervision with a vision of sustainability in the long run.
Pollution control[edit]
PPM went down drastically from 300 (approx.) to in-between 50-100.
Transparency in RTE (Right to Education)[edit]
CHHATTISGARH will be the first state in the country to digitise its RTE (Rights of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act) admission process from ensuing academic calendar. In fact, buoyed the success of the pilot project introduced last year in Raipur district in 2017-18, the State Government decided to replicate the hi-tech system in the remaining districts to bring more transparency in the system.
Under the hi-tech method, applications of the underprivileged rightful beneficiaries were received online for their admission in the private schools across the districts against 25 per cent quota reserved under the RTE Act.[3]
Disha Express[edit]
In this program, youths and school children of rural areas are taken for ‘Exposure Tours’ to reputed educational institutions. Around 1 lakh children have already benefited from this.
Emphasis on Education[edit]
Choudhary has always emphasized on the importance of education and therefore has undertaken and executed various educational projects on priority. Armed with a self-realization that education is the most important factor that changed his own course of life, OP Choudhary lays utmost emphasis on education to bring about positive change in society.
Innovative Projects & Initiatives[edit]
Fighting Naxalism with Education[edit]
O.P. Choudhary placed the education of Dantewada's tribal children at the heart of an innovative programme. Under this programme, students are trained for medical and engineering entrance exams — over a hundred of them are transported from remote tribal villages and given free boarding and coaching.[4]
He also launched the project ‘Education City’ in which one campus, spread in more than 100 acres of area, with all state-of-the-art facilities could accommodate 5000 students. Global audit major KPMG had selected the Dantewada Education City as one of the 100 most innovative urban infrastructure projects in the world.[5]
He started 500-seater residential schools (more than 44 in number) for children who were initially deprived of education also known as Out-of-School Children. These are known as ‘Pota Cabins’. The percentage of Out-of-School Children saw a drastic decrease from 50.3% in 2011 to almost 13% in 2013.[6]
Choudhary, the then collector of the district received PM Award for Excellence in Public Administration for ‘Educational Innovation in Dantewada’.[7]
He also started the project ‘Tamanna’. Under this project, more than 35000 rural tribal children visited district head quarters. ‘Nanhe Parinde’, a project targeted towards most deprived tribal children to ensure their selection in Navodaya Vidyalaya.
‘Chhoo Lo Aasmaan’ project was launched with the objective of breaking the vicious circle of employee-employment dearth in various sectors (majorly education) of the area. The area has seen slower rates of development due to a shortage of local talent, which is a result of the snowball effect of a lack of mentors and teachers. With an aim of providing quality education to students of classes XI & XII and therefore taking a step towards breaking this vicious circle, this project was executed.
In the year 2012, project ‘Livelihood College’ was launched. This project was targeted towards unemployed and unqualified youths. Those who could not attend college due to any reason and are now unemployed due to lack of qualification are provided with free of cost vocational education. Admission to these colleges doesn’t require any educational qualification and it’s a role model project for Skill India mission.
After its success locally, this project has later been replicated and launched in all 27 districts of Chhattisgarh by Chief Minister Dr. Raman Singh.[8]
Major Acts of Establishing Fair Practices and Progressive Thinking[edit]
Enforcing Fair Recruitment of Teachers[edit]
Thousands of aspiring teachers got jobs in a fair way due to steps taken by Mr. O.P Choudhary as Collector of Surguja-Bemetara to expose the brewing ‘Teachers’ Scam’
Making Career Guiding Classes Compulsory & Mock Recruitment Tests for Armed Forces[edit]
In the role of a Collector, OP Choudhary made it compulsory for the schools of the district to conduct ‘Career Guidance Classes’ every Saturday. He also inculcated a culture of preparing for the armed forces’ entrances through a series of mock recruitment sessions. Thousands of youths have benefited from this initiative.
Abolished Copying[edit]
A racket that assisted school students in copying during examinations had a nexus that was incredibly strong and former SDMs who attempted at busting this racket were unsuccessful at each step. O.P Choudhary first weakened the nexus and then busted it thereby abolishing the unfair practices.
Awards & Recognition[edit]
PM Award for Excellence in Public Administration for ‘Educational Innovation in Dantewada’.
‘Education City’ listed by KPMG amongst 100 innovative infrastructures across the globe.
‘Livelihood College’ recognized as role model project for Skill India mission. This project has been replicated and launched in all 27 districts of Chhattisgarh by Chief Minister Dr. Raman Singh.
Media References[edit]
➢ THE WALL STREET JOURNAL INDIA
➢ ZEENEWS
➢ ANI : ASIAN NEWS INTERNATIONAL
➢ Quora
References[edit]
- ↑ Ghose, Dipankar (June 3, 2018). "Raipur - Nalanda Parisar". The Indian Express.
- ↑ Kaiser, Ejaz (June 4, 2017). "Urban raipur to breathe clean air with a replica of New York's central park". The New Indian Express.
- ↑ "State first to fully digitise RTE system". The Hitavada. 7 March 2018.
- ↑ "Flicker in Dantewada". The Indian Express. January 20, 2012.
- ↑ "Dantewada Education City among top 100 infrastructure projects". The Indian Express. July 9, 2012.
- ↑ "Young IAS officer selected for PM's award". The Times of India. 21 April 2013.
- ↑ "Young IAS officer selected for PM's award". The Times of India. April 21, 2013.
- ↑ Dhar, Aarti (November 7, 2012). "Where hope resides". The Hindu.
This article "Om Prakash Choudhary" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Om Prakash Choudhary. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.
