Bhopal, Mar 20: Madhya Pradesh has been awarded with the Special Innovation Award for the Learning Guarantee Programme by the Marico Innovation Foundation. Commissioner, Public Instructions, Madhya Pradesh Shri B.R. Naidu received the award at a special function held in Mumbai yesterday.

'The Learning Guarantee Programme' a joint initiative between the Azim Premji Foundation and five state governments - Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Uttarkhand, Rajasthan and Gujarat.

The Innovation for India Award 2008 - has been institutionalized by the Marico Innovation Foundation with an objective to recognize and propagate innovations done in the Business an Social sectors in India. A distinguished jury panel, consisting of eminent leaders from the Indian industry evaluated the 206 entries in the two sectors. Based on the criteria of uniqueness of the Innovation, the impact of the Innovation on the organization and environment and the leverage of resources, the jury has declared some as 'India's Best Innovations' in each of the sectors.

After a very exhaustive round of in-depth debate and dialogue. 'The Learning Guarantee Programme' a joint initiative between the Azim Premji Foundation and five state governments - Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan and Gujarat has been selected as a winner of the Special Innovation Award.

The Jury comprised of Dr. Ramesh Mashelkar, Chairman, Marico Innovation Foundation and FRS, CSIR Bhatnagar Fellow, NCL, Mrs. Rama Bijapurkar, Marketing and Strategy Consultant, Mrs. Anu Aga, Director, Thermax, Shri Sam Balsara, CEO, Maison, Shri Ranjan Kapur, Executive Chairman, O & M, Shri Dorab Sopariwala, Consultant and Shri AshwinDani, Vice-Chairman and Managing Director, Asian Paints.