An initiative of NATIONAL INTERNET EXCHANGE OF INDIA & DIGITAL EMPOWERMENT FOUNDATION

“Em-POWER KERALA” – Mobile Governance Project of Government of Kerala

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Description

The project M-Governance in Kerala is perhaps the first comprehensive project of its kind undertaken by any state in the country. The objective of the project is to make e-Governance services of Government of Kerala accessible to the masses, through mobile phones. An encapsulated and comprehensive integrated Service Delivery Platform is being created and integrated with the e-Governance infrastructure, for enabling m-Services of various Departments in a “Plug and Play” fashion. The three channels of mobile communication (Voice, Signalling and Data) and a wide range of technologies (Voice Applications, Applications using signalling channel and data service based Applications) are being used for this purpose.. The focus is to build a centralized platform into which the services/solutions for each and every Department can be integrated. The approach adopted is to identify services and design solutions, wherein the primary focus has been to leverage the existing networks and available wireless technologies As many as 90 Departments are using the m-SDP to provide their services and the portfolio of services is expanding. The services being provided currently can be broadly classified into: 1) Information Services: Services such as Doctor-Search, Price Alerts, Results on Mobile etc 2) Interactive Services: such as mobile- polls, surveys etc A major addition expected soon is 3) Transaction Services, such as paying electricity and water bills or traffic contraventions, from mobile-phones

What we deliver

The aim of project m-Governance is to create a Mobile Service Delivery Platform which would form the basis of running services for Government of Kerala. The use of mobile technology is envisioned to increase information quality, improve overall efficiency and effectiveness in the Government processes with convenience in operations. Broad objectives of the project include: Provide services on a “Any Time Any Where” basis • Streamline the processes to automate the information access by citizens. • Assess and develop a framework for legal, Regulatory & Security issues related to providing services on mobile platform. • Develop a self sustainable model for rollout of other services. The following benefits are envisaged from successful implementation of this project: • Dissemination of information to a larger number of people (mobile access) in a short time. • Reduction of average service processing time and cost for services. • Reduction in number of public complaints. • Increased transparency in the delivery system. • Releasing for bandwidth for public servants to focus on processing the information. • Increased Value Added Services and Information Services

Whom we deliver

The users of the services are a) Citizens with mobile phones b) Government employees c) Law enforcement agencies

Why is the project unique?

This is one of the comprehensive Mobile Governance framework that has been implemented in India, which provides Open Access, built on Open standards using Open Source solutions, and with an uniquely branded shortcode and with a robust business model and a revenue sharing model in which the Government actually earns money by provisioning services thereby ensuring perpetual sustainability of the project One of the major objectives of project M-Governance is the standardization of Open API syntaxes and paradigms. It is envisaged to tap the ‘wisdom of the crowd‘ – crowd sourcing for this objective. The Open APIs being used currently would be made available to the community of developers without compromising the security. The developers can use these APIs to develop unique applications catering to niche uses. These applications would be absorbed into the existing M-Governance repository after thorough testing. Such an initiative will also be a good test to measure the stability and reliability of the M-Governance platform. The User Centric Approach of Creating a Standards driven solution that is applicable to each and every service available across Departments is of tremendous advantage for citizens and reduces the learning curve steeply for citizens to use different services. Recognition and branding is also achieved by using the Short Code that reads KERALA on the keypad (537352) Creation of a single platform that would serve as entry and exit point for Citizens and Various Departments is the single biggest achievement of the Kerala mGovernance approach which has resulted in ◦ Reduced Cost with Economies of Scale ◦ Reduced Time Lines to launch new services ◦ Reduced Learning Curve to use solutions ◦ Uniform Service Levels and Quality ◦ Uniform User Experience across departments

Roadmap

Sailing with the wind to capitalize on the already established virtual connectivity across the Globe by mobile operators not leaving, far reaching remote locations, shall be the order of the day. Gradually all services / initiatives focusing on the public or mass shall follow suit, taking the M-path faster than the E-path. Mobile technology shall overtake the internet technology due to the following reasons Affordability at which mobile operators offer services, Reach and Cost-Far remote reach @ lowest possible cost, Less penetrated internet connectivity, High Cost involved in maintaining an internet connection, PC etc, Housewives, students community treating mobile services as boon for convenience, Awareness & Technical expertise is not required to use mobile phones as against computer / internet. Also, the developing nations would require at least more than two decades in realizing the dream of fully connecting its citizens over the internet . Hence the best medium of M-path shall drive the future & the entities that make use of this network shall tend to benefit over the others. The best solution to any problem comes from common man and Mobile Technologies are a great tools in establishing virtual global communities and “Wisdom of the Crowd” can be utilized for solving hitherto unsolved or difficult problems at ease. It also prevents “reinventing the wheel”, and with over 77% of world’s population connected to this wireless virtual electronic cobweb, it throws up many opportunities and will be able to transform this world to a Tofflerian “Global Village” How mobile technologies can be used for reaching masses through meaningful mobile applications/content/services? With the mobile users in India growing at a proliferating rate & the Mobile operators are offering services cheaper & cheaper, a very concrete & everlasting platform has been set to reach to the last rural corners of the country without any additional investment by the government. Every member of the Bottom of the Pyramid like low level trader / farmers, Fishermen etc is motivated to use a mobile phone for convenience considering the advantage he gains for the minimum amount it costs. If the m-Governance is driven in the right direction with loading all its services via mobile medium & planning for some subsidies for the poor people similar to Toll free numbers, will help realize the dream revolution among poor people of India.

Contact

Sabarish.K

Kerala State Information Technology Mission

ICT Campus, Vellyambalam,
Trivandrum, Kerala, India

695033

URL/Websitewww.itmission.kerala.gov.in

FINAL_Deloitte_ASSOCHAM_MVAS_Study(2)

 M-Governance Presentation.ppt

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