NeGD draft paper on mobile governance

If internet/web has created a global village, mobile technology has a promising potential to transform this global village into the next levelcompetent and all-pervasive village. Mobile phones are no more restricted to be communication tools only. These can cater to service and information oriented needs of every segment of society. Despite the undaunting competency of mobile technology, India is struggling to tap its dynamism and provide access to all services viz health, education, agriculture, entertainment, financial, governmental on a single mobile platform. But in recent years, government bodies are actively focusing on mobile governance. They are intending to integrate mobile technology with various government departments to create cost effective, efficient, and round-the-clock government information systems.

As part of this drive, National e-Governance Division (NeGD), a division of Department of Information Technology (DIT) has formulated a draft consultation paper on Mobile Governance Policy Framework. This paper intends to harness the potential of m-governance for inclusive development, to build mobile service delivery infrastructure consisting of a Mobile Service Delivery Gateway (MSDG). The consultation paper elucidates a feasibile and tentative mode of execution of mobile governance in India.

Policy Strategies

The consultation paper has set a time frame till March 2012 for initial groundwork for the rollout of m-governance. M-governance has to work at 4 stages for developmentinformation, interactive, transaction, and transformation. Two-way communication should be established. The draft proposes interaction between the user and the service provider. Reliable and secure infrastructure for mobile payments should be worked out.

The framework proposes 10 prominent recommendations:

• Making all government websites mobile compliant/mobile site access should be promoted. All government agencies should use mobile optimized content as a primary method for device support.
• It should work towards creating an ecosystem of stakeholders to enable delivery of mobile based public services including Mobile Network Operators (MNOs), value added service (VAS), and application service providers (ASPs), Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), government ministries and departments, equipment manufactures, and citizens/users. It is proposed that the entire process of consultations with the stakeholders will be completed by May, 2011 and the final policy framework for mobile governance shall be notified by June 2011.
• Creation of Mobile Service Delivery Gateway (MSDG) along with integrated spoken web portal and developing standards for interoperability of applications. It is proposed that development and deployment of MSDG along with a basic suite of applications for delivery of public services through mobile devices to be completed by December 2011.
• Creation of mobile application store and it should be integrated with MSDG. It is proposed to complete the development of the mobile applications store by March 2012.
• Creation of Mobile Governance Innovation Fund in order to provide adequate financial support to encourage creativity and innovation in developing appropriate applications for mobile based delivery of public services. It is proposed that DIT shall take the initiative in creating the Mobile Governance Innovation Fund by March 2012.
• Connecting global experts, VAS providers, application developers and government departments and agencies through web and social media platforms by developing a knowledge portal. It is proposed to complete the development of the knowledge portal and knowledge management framework by March 2012.



• Universal codes for government services is very important, the draft proposes to have pre-designated numbers, long and short codes that will be uniform across the telecom operators and states. A long code for various government services will be designated for IVR based access across various government services. This process is proposed to be completed by September 2011.
• To ensure proper co-ordination among all stakeholders, a regulator regime has to be setup. It is proposed that DIT shall complete the establishment of the regulatory regime by March 2012.
• Mission Mode Projects (MMPs) have to be integrated with MSDG for delivery through mobile devices. It is proposed to complete this integration by December 2011.

The prominent technologies which are considered for deploying mobile services include SMS, Unstructured Supplementary Services Data (USSD), bluetooth based services, Wi-Fi, WiMax, wireless LAN, GPRS, 3G and LAN based connectivity.

Success Facets

Mobile governance enables effective, efficient, transparent, responsive accountability and strategic governance vision. M-governance can be a reality soon due to the level of mobile penetration in India. The telephone subscribers in India are 826.25 mn by the end of February 2011 as per Trai data. There is an availability of low-cost handsets. Other components include rapid adaptability, scalable solutions, remote availability, and a very low penetration of internet as low as 11% of web access in India, whereas teledensity is around 69%.

Being a late entrant, India can learn the pros and cons of the implementation from the early adopters. India can shortlist the potential verticals like railways, aviation, and logistics which can benefit immensely from m-governance, and accordingly it can focus better on those things. Language is a main barrier. If m-governance has to reach every segment and remote areas, localization of content is essential. Data should be provided in regional languages. Spoken web should be integrated on to m-applications to assist the illiterate rural masses. Government should focus on encouraging the development of mobile applications for m-governance.