Report on

mGovernance:

Towards a more empowered society Date: 31st July, 2014 Venue: Mahatma Mandir-Gandhinagar

Organized By: Knowledge Partner: National Partner:

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INDEX

Table of Contents Background ................................................................................................................................................... 4

The event ...................................................................................................................................................... 4

Inaugural Session .......................................................................................................................................... 5

List of Dignitaries ...................................................................................................................................... 5

Sh. S.J. Haider, IAS: Secretary, Department of Science and Technology, ................................................ 6

Sh. J. Satyanarayana, (Retd.) IAS: Advisor (IT)- Government of Andhra Pradesh .................................... 6

Shri R.S. Sharma, IAS: Secretary, DeitY, Government of India .................................................................. 7

Shri Varesh Sinha, IAS: Chief Secretary, Government of Gujarat ............................................................. 7

Shri Bhupendrasinh Chudasama: Hon’ble Minister, Government of Gujarat .......................................... 8

Awards Distribution ...................................................................................................................................... 8

Winners ..................................................................................................................................................... 9

Mobile Application Launch ........................................................................................................................... 9

mGovernance Booklet Release ................................................................................................................... 10

Shri Gururaja Rao: Chairman and Managing Director, Gujarat Informatics Ltd. .................................... 10

Plenary Session 1: Leveraging the CSR amendments in Companies Act-2013 ........................................... 11

List of Panel Members: ........................................................................................................................... 11

Shri J Satyanarayana, (Retd.) IAS ............................................................................................................ 12

Moderator ........................................................................................................................................... 12

Dr. B K Gairola, IAS .................................................................................................................................. 12

Benefits and outcomes of mGovernance ............................................................................................ 12

Mr. Rajesh Agarwal, IAS .......................................................................................................................... 12

Developing mGovernance Strategy and Framework .......................................................................... 12

Shri Shekhar Agrawal .............................................................................................................................. 13

Key Barriers & Challenges in mGovernance ........................................................................................ 13

Shri Ramakant Jha ................................................................................................................................... 13

m-Enabled Next Generation Cities ...................................................................................................... 13

Session 2: Drivers of m-Governance ........................................................................................................... 15

List of Panel Members: ........................................................................................................................... 15

Smt Anju Sharma..................................................................................................................................... 15

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Moderator ........................................................................................................................................... 15

mGovernance for Women Safety and Empowerment ........................................................................ 15

Shri Manoj Dawane ................................................................................................................................. 16

Leveraging Technology to meet the needs of Citizen.......................................................................... 16

Shri Abhishek Parihar .............................................................................................................................. 17

Developing Government Mobile App Stores ....................................................................................... 17

Shri Shubranshu Choudhary ................................................................................................................... 17

Mobile Social Media for Participatory Governance ............................................................................ 17

Shri Nitin Dahiya ..................................................................................................................................... 17

mCitizen: A Step Towards a More Connected Society ......................................................................... 17

Session 3: Panel Discussion: Leveraging Social Media and mGovernance for Inclusive Growth ............... 19

List of Panel Members: ........................................................................................................................... 19

Sh. Shashank Ojha ............................................................................................................................... 20

Sh. Sanjay Swamy: .............................................................................................................................. 20

Sh. Manojit Bose: ................................................................................................................................ 20

Dr. Jaijeet Bhattacharya:..................................................................................................................... 20

Dr. Ravi Gupta: .................................................................................................................................... 21

Mr. Hasit Kazi: ..................................................................................................................................... 21

Smt. Neeta Shah: Director (e-Governance), Gujarat Informatics Ltd. .................................................... 21

Outcome/Suggestions by Panelists:............................................................................................................ 22

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Background There has been an exponential growth of mobile phone subscribers in the country over the last decade. There are around 910.16 million wireless subscribers in India out of which 54.5 million are in Gujarat. Mobile technology has today become an integral part of human life. It has provided a new paradigm for the delivery of Government services by removing the barriers of time and space empowering citizens to quickly and efficiently access Government for health, education, employment, public safety, financial, transportation, legal and other services “anytime, anywhere”. Besides improving responsiveness by better stakeholder participation, it is also helpful in reducing costs.

It would be worthwhile to mention that Gujarat is the most eGoverned state, if we go by e-Taal (e Transactions Aggregation and Analysis Layer) Portal, with over 81.75 crore transactions since January 2013. It amounts to over 26% of the total transactions in the state’s project category. The state has won over 125 awards in governance projects at national and international level over the past decade.

Just as the decision to embark on the eGovernance was an important decision taken long back by the state government, the adoption of mGovernance is vital today for simplifying governance for the society.

The event

As a part of Vibrant Gujarat 2015 pre-summit events, Department of Science and Technology, Government of Gujarat and Gujarat Informatics Limited in coordination with Industrial Extension Bureau (iNDEXTb), Government of Gujarat, KPMG (Knowledge partner) and FICCI (Event Partner) organized the event “mGovernance: Towards a More Connected Society” at Mahatma Mandir, Gandhinagar

The event comprised of two plenary sessions and a panel discussion.

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Inaugural Session The event was inaugurated by Shri

Bhupendrasinh Chudasama, Hon’ble

Minister, Science and Technology,

Education (Primary, Secondary and

Adult), Higher and Technical Education,

Food and Civil Supplies and Consumer

Affairs, Government of Gujarat who was

the chief guest at the event. Dr. Varesh

Sinha, IAS, Chief Secretary, Government

of Gujarat and Shri R.S. Sharma,

Secretary, DeitY, Government of India

were Guests of Honors. Sri J.

Satyanarayan, (Retd.) IAS, Advisor,

Government of Andhra Pradesh, Dr. Subho Ray, President, IAMAI, Shri Rajesh Agarwal, IAS, Principal

Secretary (IT), DIT, Government of Maharashtra also graced the occasion along with other dignitaries.

List of Dignitaries

Name Organization

Shri Bhupendrasinh Chudasama

Hon’ble Minister, Science and Technology, Education (Primary, Secondary and Adult), Higher and Technical Education, Food and Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs, Government of Gujarat

Shri Varesh Sinha, IAS Chief Secretary

Government of Gujarat

Shri R.S. Sharma, IAS Secretary, DeitY,

Government of India

Sh. J. Satyanarayan, (Retd.) IAS Advisor (IT), Government of Andhra Pradesh

Shri Rajesh Agarwal, IAS Principal Secretary (IT), DIT,

Government of Maharashtra

Shri S.J. Haider, IAS Secretary, Department of Science and Technology,

Government of Gujarat

Dr. Subho Ray President, IAMAI

Shri K. Gururaja Rao CMD, Gujarat Informatics Ltd.

Shri Rajiv Vaishnav Vice President, NASSCOM

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Sh. S.J. Haider, IAS: Secretary, Department of Science and Technology,

Government of Gujarat

Welcome Address

Sh. Haider welcomed all the dignitaries and

audience present at the session. In his

welcome speech, he stressed on the duty of

the state to match up to the Millennium

Development Goals. He also highlighted the

importance of ICT to bridge the urban rural

divide. He also indicated that the state

government is all geared up to ensure the all-

round development and inclusive growth of

the state with thrust inter alia on the women

empowerment and youth. Sh. Haider also

acknowledged some of the state departments

which have already launched their mGovernance applications like Gujarat Police, Health and Family

Welfare Departments, Women and Child Welfare Department, Local bodies etc. He mentioned that

Gujarat will become a role model for the entire nation and will continue to lead India’s mGovernance

initiatives.

Sh. J. Satyanarayana, (Retd.) IAS: Advisor (IT)- Government of Andhra

Pradesh

Sh. J. Satyanarayana in his address

acknowledged the fact that Gujarat has been

leading the way on the eTaal portal since its

launch till date indicating the readiness of the

citizens for eGovernance initiatives.

Indicating the power of ICT in transforming

the society, Sh. Satyanarayana stressed on

the need of a set legal structures and

frameworks for the same at a national level

for validating all kinds of transactions. He also

highlighted the need to empower and to

connect the field workers. HE also indicated

the need for strengthening of mobile

networks and removing mobile pockets.

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Shri R.S. Sharma, IAS: Secretary, DeitY, Government of India

Guest of Honor

Sh. R.S. Sharma, IAS congratulated Gujarat for the

wonderful initiatives taken by the state government

and also the proactive participation of its citizens. He

indicated the power of mobile phone to help us reach

out to over 700 million citizens in real time. He also

indicated the importance of ICT in Banking Sector for

financial inclusion and thereby achieve the vision of

Digital India. Mr. Sharma also indicated the importance

of mGovernance in information and service delivery.

He highlighted the need of re-engineering our current

platforms for a seamless access of these platforms on

a mobile interface.

Shri Varesh Sinha, IAS: Chief Secretary, Government of Gujarat

Guest of Honor

Sh. Varesh Sinha deliberated the fact that mobile

phones require just basic literacy, and therefore can

be used by a larger segment of population than

computers which usually demand higher skill sets.

Highlighting the achievements of Gujarat in

eGovernance and mGovernance initiatives, Sh. Sinha

stressed upon the need of speed in service delivery.

Sh. Sinha indicated that within governance, mobile

technologies can offer new means for empowering

citizens and stakeholders by opening and enhancing

democratic processes and mechanisms. M-

governance initiatives that expand access to

information and communications channels are

creating new venues for people’s participation and

giving new voice to those who have historically been marginalized. He wished the conference success and

urged all the speakers to have focused discussions and come out with a way forward of the daylong

seminar.

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Shri Bhupendrasinh Chudasama: Hon’ble Minister, Government of

Gujarat

Chief Guest

The Hon’ble minister congratulated the

Department of Science and Technology for

organizing the seminar and indicated that

mobile technology is significantly expanding

governments’ capacity to produce benefits

and deliver outcomes for governments,

citizens, businesses, and to impact positively

national overall economic growth. He also

deliberated that the objective of the event is

to integrate the advancements in mobile

technology with various Government

departments with an aim to create cost

effective, efficient and round the clock

Government information systems. He

congratulated all the winners of the mobile application making competition organized by Gujarat

Informatics Ltd. with Department of Science and Technology.

Awards Distribution Hon’ble minister also gave awards to the winners of the competition.

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Winners

Prize Name of Winner Application Organization

1st Prize

(Student Category) Mr. Bhumit R. Shah We Bhavnagar Nirma University, Ahmedabad

2nd Prize

(Student Category) Ms. Shagufta S. Sheikh Full Governance Dharamsinh Desai University, Nadiad

3rd Prize

(Student Category) Mr. Harsh Duttani e-Power Gujarat Forensic Science University, Gandhinagar

Appreciation Prize

(Professional Category)

Mr. Nitin Rola Darshan Institute of Technology, Rajkot

Mobile Application Launch The Hon’ble minister also launched a mobile application called “SUGAM” (Services Using eGovernance

Applications on Mobile). SUGAM is an Android based application for citizens to get information about

status of application filed and schemes pertaining to the collector’s office.

The collector of Junagarh, Shri Alok Kumar, IAS also gave a presentation on the functioning of the mobile

application.

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mGovernance Booklet Release The Hon’ble minister also released a booklet on mGovernance initiatives of various state government

departments.

Shri Gururaja Rao: Chairman and Managing Director, Gujarat

Informatics Ltd.

Thank You Address

Sh. Gururaja Rao thanked the Hon’ble

minister for attending the event. He also

thanked all the central and state

government secretaries attending the

event for sharing their valuable suggestions

and thoughts. Thanking all the panelists

and other delegates for attending the

event, he wished the event success.

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Plenary Session 1: Leveraging the CSR amendments in Companies Act-

2013

List of Panel Members:

mGovernance for Enhanced Public Service Delivery

Name Organization

Shri J. Satyanarayana, (Retd.) IAS (Moderator)

Advisor (IT), Government of Andhra Pradesh

Shri Rajesh Aggarwal, IAS Principal Secretary

Department of Information Technology,

Government of Maharashtra

Shri B.K. Gairolla, IAS

Mission Director, DietY

Shri Shekhar Agarwal National Head, Government Vertical, Vodafone India

Shri Ramakant jha Managing Director and Group CEO,

GIFT City, Gujarat

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Shri J Satyanarayana, (Retd.) IAS

Moderator

Sh. Satyanarayana spoke about how m-governance transforms the life of people. He spoke that today we

can apply for important documents through mobile like Driving license, land record etc. This is the time

to take one step further and create new category “service less service” in which we should eliminate all

unnecessary services and convert communication between government departments seamless. Second

point is that we should consider mobile handset more than an instrument which can provide several

services from healthcare to generating livelihood.

Dr. B K Gairola, IAS

Benefits and outcomes of mGovernance

Dr. Gairola spoke that mobile technology is easily available and everyone is using it to communicate. There

is problem with data bandwidth but as 3G, 4G and LTE are coming existing problem of bandwidth can be

resolved in coming years. He said that mobile is most user friendly device and can be transformed in more

user friendly by upgrading them with voice command recognition, icon recognition etc. but still there is a

challenge that mobiles does not gel well with existing IP infrastructure due to which large number of

services are ruled out. There is need to upgrade the data system as mobile technology is very radical and

keep on changing so conventional data systems can’t survive more than five years if we want to achieve

service less service. There are many other dimensions which needed to be upgraded from mobile system,

data base, intermediate interfaces etc. but most importantly need to update the process engineering.

Through process engineering we should look towards citizen side rather than government side he

mentioned, most of the services are upgraded having government in centre where it should be done by

focusing more on citizen. If we want to use mobile technology than we should first integrate all back hand

information then only it is possible to execute m governance efficiently. In the end he said that cyber

space is becoming more proactive than reactive where it provide answers of the requirement of user

rather than react to query.

Mr. Rajesh Agarwal, IAS

Developing mGovernance Strategy and Framework

Mr. Agarwal spoke about electronic transaction and gave new name to it said that it should be called

“eliminated transaction”. He mentioned that still most of the rules we are following are 100 year old and

now there is need to change these rules and look towards e-governance, m-governance and BPR.

Systematically government is eliminating affidavits from processes to provide any service. Giving an

example of village “Latur” and named it as “Dakhila Mukt” where government has provided all the

required documents to the citizen at their home and they don’t have any need to go to any oofice for

application. He told that more than 80 percent of sales tax is come through RTGS and about 90 percent of

transaction from treasury is done through RTGS in Mumbai. Rather than using Master & Visa platform for

transaction we should use “rupee platform” so that 1.4 percent of transaction money which is going out

of country will remain here. Mobile is most talked instrument in this seminar and most of the status check

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are available on it from driving license to PNR status of your travel. To change your name previously it

take 3-4 months but now we have changed the system you need to tell done your UID verification at the

counter and tell new name to officer and by evening you will get the certificate of name changed. One

more example where we have eliminated transaction is for verification of tenants through “EKYC” in which

landlord has to do e payment and download form through internet and submit it. We are focusing on

“SMACK” where S stands for Social Media which is playing a major role in governance, M for mobile, we

are launching new service in Lonavala (near Pune) in which you can apply for driving license through

mobile to “EKYC” and officer will come to your place and complete all the formalities. “A” for analytics

this is very important point as we have different databases and there are lot of irregularities in them, if

we centralized these databases and remove duplication and irregularities than huge amount of subsidies

can be saved, “C” stand for cloud computing it makes process smoother and fast to execute

Shri Shekhar Agrawal

Key Barriers & Challenges in mGovernance

Mr. Agrawal told that in last decade mobile technology has become bridge between people and

government. For any efficient G2C initiatives dependent on parameters like access, reach, adoption and

cost effectiveness. The e-governance and m-governance platforms compliment each other. Thus mobility

becomes very important to take e-governance initiative to common man. The government of India

launched “Mobile Seva” with higher penetration in rural areas for m-commerce, m-governance etc. The

focus of m-governance is to provide information and services to people through mobiles, these services

will reach people through SMS’s, IVR or through Smart phone application. Vodafone has collaborated with

society to work on m-governance. We have initiated e classes where current ly around 50,000 students

are studying.

Shri Ramakant Jha

m-Enabled Next Generation Cities

Mr. Jha spoke that this is the era of smart applications in various things and people are trying onvarious

fronts. At GIFT city we are trying to add smartness at planning, design and execution level. GIFT is

developing as global financial hub and as it will be a financial hub expectation of people rise for the

services that are available in these kinds of hub. GIFT city is planned to be better than the best, we are

competing with the world. City has all the smart applications which are available as of now and talked

here. GIFT city is strategically located and magnitude of the city is so large that it will create 1 million job

in coming years due to huge amount job creation population add to Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar will be

around 3-4 million. City is first of its kind as both financial as well as IT sector will work together, many

other smart applications and technologies are present in the city to support the businesses and many of

these services are implemented first time in the world. I few will look at the master plan, city has built up

area of 62 million sq. ft and this is all vertical space, 67 percent of occupancy of city is commercial, 33

percent residential. The infrastructure of the city is so integrated that it will be command and controlled

from single control centre. Each and everything in the city is smart from transport, streets to landscape of

the city.

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Session 2: Drivers of m-Governance

List of Panel Members:

Drivers of mGovernance

Name Organization

Smt. Anju Sharma, IAS

(Moderator)

Secretary, Women and Child Development, Government of Gujarat

Shri Manoj Dawane VP, Head - Technology, Govt & Industry Relations, Sustainability, Ericsson India

Shri Abhishek Parihar Head, Chang You Limited (MoboGenie)

Shri Shubhranshu Choudhary Founder, CG Net SWARA

Shri Nitin Dahiya Head Sales – Mobile Broadband, Nokia

Smt Anju Sharma

Moderator

mGovernance for Women Safety and Empowerment

Smt Anju Sharma, Convenor of the second session on “Drivers of m-Governance” welcomed everyone.

She highlighted that the foremost task at hand is to convert the need to demand and then equalize this

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demand to supply. Right now, there is a significant amount of latent need to improve the quality of life,

which needs to be captured. With reference to m-Governance, it is of utmost importance to develop apps

and technologies so that the demand of enhancing quality of life can be met even for the poorest of the

poor in the most effective manner.

She stressed on the fact that mobile is an important devise especially for women as it gives a sense of

connection to the world, makes them feel secure and helps in their empowerment. She then highlighted

to major initiatives of the Government of Gujarat in this sphere. First, 181 Abhayam Women Helpline. It

provides guidance and also deliver the details of women-oriented schemes. It has helped at several

occasions rescue women from traumatic situations. Second, 1091 PoliceHeart for Women which stores

your details of residence, relatives, etc and sends across emergency messages when need be. Besides

security of women, there are several apps which help in empowerment of farmers like e-Kisan, maternal

health and connects health workers through CUG, forestry, etc

Mobile technology has made services of the Government more accessible and delivery services more

effective. But there is a huge potential in this sector, one of them being connecting the women to the

market, while still being at home thereby empowering them. Even in the fields of health and nutrition,

many more sophisticated and detailed apps are required which can help bring hospital and treatment on

mobile.

Shri Manoj Dawane

Leveraging Technology to meet the needs of Citizen

Mr Dawane’s presentation focused on: Current Trends & their drivers and the future of m-Governance &

what is the roadmap. He began his presentation with a video on the networked society of 2020 and how

it will affect us. Trends such as increased penetration of smartphone, rapid urbanization, shifting of global

consumption towards emerging markets, world becoming smaller, new services governed by the network

society will define our future. Out of the 6.4 billion people of the world, nearly 5.2 billion have basic mobile

connection with little bit of broadband. Such demand is driven by 3 sides: people, industry and society.

They have a need for instant services, enhanced connectivity and accountability. He was amazed by the

efforts of the Government of Gujarat in using m-Governance for health, farmers, women and everyone

else. The state has done a lot and is willing to further invest in innovations and m-Governance for

enhanced service delivery.

He christened mobility, cloud and broadband as Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh and the country will benefit

a lot from these. All these were the domains of engineers, but due to increased demand for these services,

they have become an order of the day for even the layman. This is he said is our present and anticipates

that in future this will be coupled by terms like industrial biotechnology, augmented body, internet of

things and smart materials used in defense, mind reading, etc.

A key component here is an active network facility which is omnipresent. The time has come where we

need to go ahead to 4G and 5G. The presentation ended with a brief video presentation on the future 5G

society.

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Shri Abhishek Parihar

Developing Government Mobile App Stores

Mr Parihar works at MoboGini, which is third party store for Android apps. On an average almost 10

million downloads take place from this store. He highlighted that as we speak more than 40 per cent of

searches on Google are happening on our mobile phones, the 25 – 34 years old dominate over 60 percent

of the customer space of the mobile phones. The mobile space is changing at a rapid pace, but there are

certain aspects which are missing or lagging in some of the applications. These include ease of installation,

user friendly interface, pace of innovation to reach to a bigger mass, crowdsourcing and constant re-

engineering of platforms. He suggested that we need to make the websites more mobile friendly and

should encourage the talent pool of developers in India. These initiatives need to be propagated in rural

areas where government can help.

Shri Shubranshu Choudhary

Mobile Social Media for Participatory Governance

He is trying to decode if with the help of new technology they could democratize journalism, where the

last person will have equal right to be heard. Almost 100 million people live in indigenous areas in India

and have no voice, no newspaper, no radio, no TV and they are the poorest of the poor. In such areas,

internet penetration is less than 1 per cent. Due to this, his company started looking at mobile phones as

a way of hearing the voices and stories of these people in their own language. His company then approves

of the news content, which is uploaded on various websites and on social media. The impact is

revolutionizing. He said that in the age of smartphones, there is a huge per cent of the population which

still functions on “dumb” phones and sadly they form the majority of the mobile phone users. The scope

of work for these people is immense and needs to be given more impetus.

Mobile gives us an opportunity that we partner with the most destitute and the richest in our growth

journey. It gives an opportunity to connect and learn from each other and have a dialog with the last

person in the economic strata.

Shri Nitin Dahiya

mCitizen: A Step Towards a More Connected Society

He started by saying that mobile has penetrated faster than any other technology and is something that

appeals to the masses, both the most educated and less educated. Due to this it has become easy to

integrate various apps and enhance service delivery. However, he expressed concern about the network

that can handle wider coverage. The data traffic in India is growing at 100 per cent every year and hence

network which can deliver such huge amounts of data is imperative. It is anticipated that with this

increased traffic, the network needs to deliver 1GB of traffic/ user/ day in a cost efficient manner. There

is also a need to provide bespoke services at the same time. This requires more investment, more power

coupled with technologies like cloud and automation. Efforts need to be put for delivering data at an

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optimum cost to the rural areas and not just concentrate on urban areas. This is where m-Governance

becomes crucial. We should also focus on bundled services and with such a huge population, the cost of

operations is bound to come down. He concluded his presentation by saying that we need to create a cost

effective environment, reasonably better power facilities to reduce the cost along with innovation, we

can make mobile technology go places.

After these presentations, the forum broke into a Q&A round. The questions revolved around the security

of data and how innovative ideas of the citizens can be shared with the government.

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Session 3: Panel Discussion: Leveraging Social Media and mGovernance

for Inclusive Growth

List of Panel Members:

Leveraging Social Media and mGovernance for Inclusive Growth

Name Organization

Shri Pankaj Gupta IL&FS

Shri Shashank Ojha Senior E Government Specialist, World Bank

Shri Sanjay Swamy Ex-Chief Executive Officer, mChek, UIDAI

Mr. Rajiv Vaishnav Vice President, NASSCOM

Dr. Jaijit Bhattacharya Partner, KPMG

Dr. Ravi Gupta Chief Executive Officer, Elets Technomedia Pvt. Ltd

Shri Hasit Kaji VP, Special Initiatives, Tata Consultancy Services Pvt Ltd

Shri Pankaj Shah President, GESIA

In the third session, the panel discussed on the topic “Leveraging Social Media and mGovernance for

Inclusive Growth” In this session, Ms. Sushma Oza from Adani Foundation emphasized on networking and

sharing knowledge and experiences through CSR. She said, “Corporates can not only bring finances but

also professionalism, Knowledge, expertise into the whole system.” Ms. Prerana Langa from Yes

Foundation gave impetus to the idea of working to improve the existing infrastructure for the society as

a part of CSR activities.

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Sh. Shashank Ojha

o eGovernance picked up strongly over the last decade and has become a pillar in the developed

world. However, in the developing world it has not made a big progress. Major reason for this is

“Low Internet Penetration”.

o mGovernance can help you remain always connected. Mobile phone through the medium of voice

and reach cuts through the main challenges of language and literacy.

o Mobile Applications have been used as an instrument of social revolution. This tool is available.

There are challenges but with a structured approach, we can leverage on this.

Sh. Sanjay Swamy:

o New apps like Zip Dial can help people connect to the masses on social media without actually

using facebook/ linkedin/ twitter

o Voting on particular ideas via social media can help create localized maps on views of people

o Aadhar provides a platform that enabling paper free governance and helps provide services that

will be mass available and cost efficient

Sh. Manojit Bose:

o Inclusive Growth is not only about the pace of growth but also the pattern of growth

o There is a need for business process engineering, integrating the databases and leveraging the

technological advancements

o Unless the growth is broad based, it is not sustainable

o Currently mGovernance is being used largely for disseminate information. But mobile as a

platform can be used significantly to engage the masses in a lot of development programs

o The reliability of these applications is an important aspect. The telecom network and support

mechanism to address that is something that needs to be taken care of.

Dr. Jaijeet Bhattacharya:

o For inclusive governance, it needs to be understood that at what level, who the stakeholders are.

what are the different needs at various levels of the society

o A mixed platform cannot solve the problem. The social media channels have to be target audience

specific, in the local language and at a platform that is accessible by all.

o Localization of content is important, i.e. data needs to be provided in regional languages.

Developing an m-government application does not necessary means that it will be used by all

citizens. The success of mobile governance would largely depend on our ability to focus on

reaching the maximum number of mobile users. Thus, the M-Government application must serve

a specific purpose. Awareness should be made to the citizens about these applications and citizens

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need to be educated on the use of these applications and services. For this, the benefits of these

services should be highlighted

o Besides this, considering the huge population if India, there is a need for analytics to be put on top

of all this in order to channelize the responses

Dr. Ravi Gupta:

o There is a huge potential for eGovernance and mGovernance in India. The huge presence of Indian

community on the social media platforms can be leveraged for various aspects of governance

o But unless government mandates use of these platforms amongst their offices, there are less

chances of mGovernance initiatives taking a center stage

Mr. Hasit Kazi:

o The ultimate agenda of e-Governance is inclusive growth

o Education and Skill development of Rural people is very important for their inclusion in

governance

o There is a need to mobile enable the websites, but in the long run we need to create specific user

scenarios

o Strong Back end support systems are required to enable effective systems that we are looking

forward to

Smt. Neeta Shah: Director (e-Governance), Gujarat Informatics Ltd.

Thank You Note

Smt Neeta Shah summarizing all the speakers and panel discussions talked on how mGovernance can help

aggregate the efforts, leading to a bigger impact. She also added that m-Governance is an extension of e-

Governance to make Government services and information available to the citizen “anytime, anywhere”.

He congratulated all the organizers, speakers and participants for their respective contributions to make

the event a success.

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Outcome/Suggestions by Panelists:

In India, Government can start implementing m-government in three different phases:

o Firstly, applications should be developed to reach citizens in time of crisis such as earthquakes,

fire, floods, disease outbreaks etc. These types of services are mainly government to citizen (G2C)

and the flow of information is one way.

o Secondly, more interactive m-government applications can be developed to allow citizens’

participation in government activities. This will encourage citizens’ participation and enhance

democracy and brings accountability.

o Thirdly highly interactive government applications can be developed. These applications range

from simple transactions such as payment of taxes, bills and inquiries to mobile identification

cards where a citizens’ mobile phone functions not only as device for making calls but also an

identification card, payment wallet, driving license and health insurance card.

The mobiles have the ability to push information rather than the user needing to pull information. The

Unique Identification (UID) project is a perfect example for the use of mobile technologies, where the

services can be targeted to a specific set of citizens such as those eligible for Mahatma Gandhi National

Rural Employment. Guarantee Scheme (MG-NREGS) or Below Poverty Line (BPL) benefits. In fact, with

a combination of International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number, phone number, and voice

biometric authentication, mobile device itself can be used as an identification device.

Localization of content is important, i.e. data needs to be provided in regional languages. Developing

an m-government application does not necessary means that it will be used by all citizens. The success

of mobile governance would largely depend on our ability to focus on reaching the maximum number

of mobile users

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