NEWS

Civil Aviation Ministry’s “UDAN” scheme selected for Prime Minister’s Award for Excellence in Public Administration

ABOUT THE AWARDS

• Instituted a scheme in 2006
• Acknowledge, recognize and reward the extraordinary and innovative work done by Districts/ Organizations of the Central and State Governments.
• Revamped with a new approach in 2021 with the objective to encourage Constructive Competition, Innovation, Replication and Institutionalisation of Best Practices
• Under this approach emphasis would be on good governance, qualitative achievement and last mile connectivity, rather than only on achievement of quantitative targets.

UDAN SCHEME

• Full form – Ude Desh Ka Aam Naagrik (UDAN)
• Launched as a Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) under the Ministry of Civil Aviation in October 21 2016.

Objectives

• To develop the regional aviation market.
• To provide affordable, economically viable and profitable air travel on regional routes to the common man even in small towns.

Features

• Envisages providing connectivity to un-served and underserved airports of the country through the revival of existing air-strips and airports
• Operational for a period of 10 years
• Under-served airports are those which do not have more than one flight a day, while unserved airports are those where there are no operations.
• Financial incentives from the Centre, state governments and airport operators are extended to selected airlines to encourage operations from unserved and under-served airports, and keep airfares affordable.