National Anubhav Awards 2025: Celebrating a Decade of Honouring Retired Employees' Contributions

On 11 August 2025, the Department of Pension & Pensioners’ Welfare (DoPPW) announced the celebrations for the 10th anniversary of the National Anubhav Awards, a unique initiative to document India’s administrative history through personal memoirs of retired government employees.

Launched in 2015, the Anubhav Portal was envisioned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to preserve the rich experiences and institutional memory of retiring officials. The portal invites write-ups from employees up to eight months before retirement or within three years post-retirement, which are then published by the concerned ministry and evaluated for awards.

Growth and Evolution of the Scheme

Since its inception, the National Anubhav Awards Scheme has seen multiple reforms to encourage participation and ensure fairness:

2015: Introduced 05 National Anubhav Awards.
2022: Launched the ‘Anubhav Awardees’ Speak’ webinar series for awardees to inspire soon-to-retire employees.
2023: Introduced 10 Anubhav Jury Awards in addition to the main 05 awards; reserved awards for three pay scale groups (Levels 1–6, 7–12, and 13+).
2024: Implemented a marking system for objectivity; expanded eligibility to 12 Public Sector Banks and Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs).
2025: Added marks for feedback and suggestions in the marking criteria; notified the National Anubhav Awards Scheme 2026.

Impact and Recognition

Over the past decade, the scheme has achieved significant milestones:

12,500+ memoirs published on the Anubhav Portal.
59 Anubhav Awards and 19 Jury Awards conferred over 7 ceremonies (except 2020–21 due to COVID-19).
Top contributors: CRPF, CISF, DRDO.
Top award winners: DRDO, CRPF, Ministry of Railways.

National Anubhav Awards 2025 Highlights

In the 8th ceremony, to be held on 18 August 2025 at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi, Dr. Jitendra Singh, Minister of State (PP), will felicitate 15 awardees from 11 Ministries/Departments.

Participation Base: 42 ministries/departments/organisations.
Total Entries: ~1500 write-ups published in 2025.
Award Selection: 15 outstanding memoirs selected after detailed scrutiny.

New Firsts:

Employees from State Bank of India (SBI) and Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) among awardees.
One-third of awardees are women, reflecting increasing female participation in governance.