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M-Governance : Service On-the-go

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VoicenData Bureau
New Update

Transparency and accountability are the key mantras of a

successful government. Today, India is moving towards m-governance after its

foray into e-governance. It's a well known that information and communication

technology (ICT) is very critical for processing, storing, organizing, and

presenting data and information. The new growth driver now is the mobile phone.

It has emerged as an effective tool for good governance in not only facilitating openness and transparency, but also in creating a flow of information between departments, institutions, and various layers of the government.

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The reasons for the keen interest in governing through mobile

are not tough to guess. As the Indian telecom subscriber base reaches the

astounding figure of 500 mn, mobile phones have become the most accessible tool

of communication available to such a large population. Thus, making it the best

way for delivery of information at the citizens' doorsteps-that too in a

personalized way.

While e-governance is more effective in the European nations,

this is not the case in Asian countries, mainly because of high teledensity and

low PC penetration. This is especially true for India, where PC and Internet

usage is comparatively low as compared to mobile phones. The government realized

a long time back that mobile is no longer a tool meant only for information and

communication. Instead, it's a medium for empowering the citizens and a powerful

enabler of good governance.

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M-governance can be defined as a 'strategy and its

implementation involves the utilization of all kinds of wireless and mobile

technologies, services, applications, and devices. It improves upon the benefits

for those involved in e-governance, including citizens, businesses, and all

government units'.

Worldwide e-government programs, till date, have established

user-friendly approaches to access the enormous amount of content that is now

available for citizens on an online mode. E-government has done the groundwork

for m-government in terms of the fundamental taxonomies.

Equitable Development



On the one hand, m-governance programs have increased the efficiency of

governments and on the other they have bridged the difference between the masses

and the classes. So, how and what has led m-governance to become the method

above the stereotypical government management system? Why is it fast grasping

the minds of administrators?

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Divyam Srivastava, special secretary, IT and

electronics,Government of Uttar Pradesh says, "During the past ten years, we

have witnessed how mobile phones and simple functions of voice and text

messaging can empower citizens and effect the way citizens interact with each

other and with the society as a whole."

The last decade has seen a phenomenal growth in the

subscriber base. We have crossed the 500 mn mark with respect to telephone users

and adding nearly 12 mn users every month. In the developing nations like India,

inarguably, it is the best form of communication application. Managing and

buying PCs and laptops is still too expensive for our masses.

Says Anoop Kumar Srivastava, principal secretary, IT,

Government of Meghalaya, "There are still areas in our country where even

newspapers do not have a reach, while the mobile technology is becoming all

pervasive. Moreover, any information sent through mobile is directed to each

individual and appears to be giving a personal touch."

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Agrees Ajay Kumar, principal secretary and director, IT,

Government of Kerala, ""M-governance is an amazing technology as it offers

government services on-the-go to its citizens. It extends services from office

premises and regular office hours to an anywhere anytime mode."

The fact that citizens are already using a mobile phone on a

daily basis makes the learning curve

Ajay Kumar, principal secretary and director, IT,

Government of Kerala

The growing mobile market of India means the government can

now connect to its citizens using m-governance

Dr A Jayathialak, executive director, rural water

supply and sanitation, Kerala

M-Governance is the easiest and the quickest form of

governance

Divyam Srivastava, special secretary, IT &

Electronics, Government of Uttar Pradesh

The scope of m-governance is tremendous which can bring

immense convenience and benefits to citizens

Anoop Kumar Srivastava, Principal Secretary, IT,

Government of Meghalaya

Growth Drivers



In India m-governance is still at a nascent stage. While many innovative

applications are underway in both private sector as well as government domains,

it may be a little premature to celebrate its success. However, embracing the

possibilities and opportunities that this technology provides will only lead to

an effective and cost-efficient way of exploiting the same.

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SR Rao, additional secretary, IT, Government of India, says,

"One of the biggest driver for m-governance is its outreach. One can, now

potentially enhance the outreach to millions of citizens simultaneously at the

touch of a button."

Dr A Jayathialak, executive director, rural water supply and

sanitation project, Kerala, who pioneered innovative projects like Dr SMS

agrees, "Mobile phones travel with citizens, and people have an instant access

to services and information through them while on the move."

When designing m-governance applications, another important

aspect of the architectural framework is to understand and capture the existing

knowledge about processes and workflows. Next step is to map the solutions that

can be translated into applications. Too often a mobile 'solution' is designed

for a problem that never existed in the first place, and there are too many

solutions that are looking for problems. Applications should be developed having

the end users' point of view.

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Another factor that has immensely contributed to the upsurge

in m-governance is that the initial investment in acquiring a mobile is less as

compared to PCs and laptops. Other than this, mobile phones make it possible for

real-time, two-way dialog as opposed to traditional modes of communication such

as radio, brochures, posters, public speeches, etc. Thus, making the

implementation and dialog process easy between subscribers and the government.

M-governance Initiatives by Bharti Airtel

  • Traffic Automation: Bharti Airtel was the first service provider to

    provide traffic automation solution. It is the world's largest BlackBerry

    supported law enforcement network. The Bangalore Transport Information

    System (BTIS) is governed by the state-of-the-art technology that is based

    on recording traffic densities in real-time. Equipped with case history of

    past offenders, the solution helps traffic police to punish errant drivers

    on the spot and track offenders. This solution also assists in determining

    if the vehicle was stolen or whether the driver has a pending fine on his

    name. It's quick in generating an offense ticket (bill) and prints it on

    the spot with the help of a held printer, helping in streamlining the

    process of revenue monitoring and collections.
  • Tax Collection: It has also developed a solution facilitating property

    tax collection by Chennai Corporation, via BlackBerry. The system

    expedites the process of collection. Bill collectors need not carry loads

    of documents anymore. Data is uploaded to the main server immediately and

    the tax payers get to know details of their arrears. Further, tax payers

    get a computer generated receipt soon after payment through a Blackberry.

    The online tax collection has helped in bringing down the queues in front

    of payment counters at the zonal offices.

D Srivastava comments, "Government ministries and agencies

related to m-governance application should be involved in the planning and

implementation phase. This will ultimately lead to a change in attitude towards

provision of services and transform their models of providing public information

to citizens."

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Creating Awareness



Today, mobile devices are being used to disseminate a wide variety of

messages across a varied spectrum of services. Rao says, "In the delivery of

messages related to activation of a particular service or for a public awareness

campaign, m-governance can provide a speedy and cost-effective solution."

The idea is supported by Kumar who says, "Due to the high

levels of mobile phone penetration (like in Kerala where it is over 70%, source:

Trai), and the PC and mobile ratio at 1:4, informational and promotional

services intended to create awareness to a large number of citizens can be

pushed within no time."

Nivedan Sahani, VP, government and PSU enterprise services,

Bharti Airtel, says, "Mobile services have helped in developing citizen centric

services. It is acting as a catalyst in empowering the masses and creating

awareness at the grassroots."

BK Agarwal, principal secretary, IT, Government of Himachal

Pradesh has also unleashed a number of m-governance programs in the state

pertaining to driving license, arms license, and vehicle registrations on their

cellphones.

Transformational Initiatives



Someone has rightly claimed that no plan is a good plan until it is followed

by action. M-governance has come to be seen as a successful phenomenon with some

key deployments that have helped the government and the bureaucracy.

Bharti Airtel setup the telecom infrastructure linking 13,716

village panchayats and common service centers (CSCs) located in the remotest

corners of Gujarat to ensure high quality and cost-effective video, voice, and

data services in the areas of agriculture, e-governance, health, education, etc.

The connectivity will also facilitate point to point and point to multi-point

videoconferencing services, VoIP services and both intranet and Internet

services from these village panchayats and CSCs.

Kerala is poised for a huge success in m-governance as it

would be one of the first states in India to complete 100% literacy and 100%

financial inclusion. It is heading towards 100% e-literacy and 100% teledensity

too. The state has used this advantage to its fullest by deploying various

services on mobiles.

In Uttar Pradesh, m-governance initiatives are at a nascent

stage. A few companies and banks are using messaging services to communicate

with both employees and consumers. In a few citizen-centric services, an IVRS

interface is being added in G2C services at the state level.

In Meghalaya, efforts are being taken to integrate the

services that are being provided in the CSCs in a manner that is deliverable

through mobile phones as well.

Limitations to Overcome



To facilitate the deployment of m-governance services at the doorsteps of

citizens, it is essential to critically examine the challenges that have

traditionally being the 'entry barriers'.

Rao examines, "Some of the challenges in m-governance include

low levels of literacy, lack of knowledge of English language, computer

illiteracy, cost of computing, and inadequate power supply."

Even though in India the cost of mobile devices as well as

cost of calls are perhaps the lowest in the world, in order to effectively

deliver government services on mobile devices, a lot more simple text messages

are required. For example, if a person has to put details in a form, etc, he/she

cannot do so as such facilities are not available in the current devices.

Therefore, the immediate option is to look at mobile devices that combine

computing with mobility and are affordable. Another challenge is to develop

applications that can be offered in local languages.

AK Srivastava says, "The main challenges of m-governance are

typically the same as those of e-governance, such as low levels of

computerization of government operations at the back-end, lack of digitized data

or content, change management, etc."

Another set of hurdles that is obstructing better governance

is, as Jayathialk says, "A lack of clear cut agenda about: who should pay for

these services? Who should produce and update content? Can this also be done by

ordinary citizens? These factors are hampering m-governance. Generally, people

tend to be consumers of available services and applications, rather than provide

and create content themselves."

Prospects



Mobile and wireless network tech-nologies are now the main channels of

communication for hundreds and mil-lions of users worldwide. Agendas for better

performance of local authori-ties should prioritize the creation of mobile

extensions to well-established programs of e-government. D Srivas-tava says,

"Sustained enhancements to the functionality of mobile devices and the growing

deployment of wire-less broadband networks is a major factor in expanding the

scope of m-government." The pursuit of seamless interoperability across the

range of mobile and wireless network systems is a priority across the industry.

For commercial service providers, it prom-ises high-speed broadband downloads of

data-heavy audio-visual content. In m-government, seamless broadband

interoperability will allow marked enrichment of online resources and heightened

levels of user interaction. Given the extent of global interest in utilizing

mobile and wireless technolo-gies for local government, the business

opportunities that arise in the markets for devices, systems hardware and

software, and outsourced services, and staffing are considerable.Jayathilak

observes, "The use of mobile technology in the government sector not only

provides an alternative channel of communication and public service delivery,

but more importantly, it can transcend the traditional gov-ernment service

delivery model." The road ahead for m-governance is a challenging one, but it

has a sure shot opportunity to enhance delivery of government services. M-Gover-nance

will surely steer the govern-ment to a 'service oriented' mindset and make it

more agile, responsive, accountable, and action-oriented.

Archana Singh



archanasi@cybermedia.co.in

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