New Delhi: The Gujarat government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with tech giant, Meta, to provide several government services directly through WhatsApp. The pact was inked in Gujarat's capital Gandhinagar in the presence of Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel. The move will enable government services to be more timely, convenient and accessible to citizens throughout the state.
The new initiative will see approximately 20 citizen-centric services offered by five government departments soon be accessible via a .WhatsApp chatbot.
These services will be available to citizens in both Gujarati and English, and they will have a single WhatsApp number to use.
Services to be provided are grievance assistance, income certificate, caste certificate, EWS certificate, updated ration card, revenue documents and official affidavits. This will eliminate the need for citizens to make multiple trips to government offices, or to look in various online portals for these services. Rather, they can enjoy them straight from their smart phones from home.
The Gujarat government says it is implementing the “Sugam Digital Gujarat” programme as recommended by the Gujarat Administrative Reforms Commission (GARC). The agreement with Meta will provide greater support for “last-mile delivery” of services, particularly in rural and remote locations where government services can be hard to reach, officials said.
The government also intends to increase the transparency and accountability by tracking each application and request in real-time. The system will continue to grow and more services will be added in the near future. The project was a significant advancement towards “WhatsApp Governance” – a new model that goes beyond the current implementation of “One Day Governance” by the state, officials said. Its purpose is to cut down on paperwork, time and simplify public services for regular people.
In urban areas, Gujarat currently offers a variety of digital services at Jan Seva Kendras and in rural areas at Village Computer Entrepreneur (VCE) centres. As per the new partnership with Meta, the state is now aiming to offer service applications, keep people abreast of updates, and even deliver certificates via WhatsApp on their phones.
The MoU was signed by the senior officials of the Gujarat Government and representatives from Meta like Aman Jain and A. Srinivas. It is hoped that the initiative will provide greater ease to lakhs of citizens and will also further enhance the digital governance system of Gujarat.