The Hindu : New Delhi News : President’s website gets over 43,000 hits a day

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Tuesday, Jul 15, 2008
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President’s website gets over 43,000 hits a day

Smriti Kak Ramachandran

Emerging as the second most popular portal, after the CBSE site, designed and maintained by the Government

Offers a glimpse of what lies behind the gates of Rashtrapati Bhavan
Provides details of the President’s visits and a link to reach her

NEW DELHI: Bringing Rashtrapati Bhavan closer to the masses, the official website of President Pratibha Patil has emerged as the second most popular portal designed and maintained by the Government in the country.

The website, designed by National Informatics Centre, receives more than 43,000 hits everyday. Easy on the eye, it offers viewers a glimpse of what lies behind the imposing gates of Rashtrapati Bhavan. It lists the places of tourist attraction within the sprawling President’s Estate, provides updates on various official ceremonies and events, has speeches of the President, details of her visits and a link to reach out to the President herself.

Rashtrapati Bhavan sources say the President, who receives an astounding number of petitions, invitations and miscellaneous mail, gets more than 500 e-mails every month. “Since petitions seeking the President’s intervention form the bulk of these mails, Ms. Patil ensures that prompt action is taken and people’s voices do not go unheard,” says an official in the President’s Secretariat.

While 1.3 million hits have been registered since the website was designed this past year, the maximum number of times that the website was viewed this year was on January 25 (76,402 times) and later on June 26 when the hits numbered 55,517.

“The website is the second most popular website of the Government, the first being that of the Central Board of Secondary Education. The website is usually viewed more on some days like Independence Day or Republic Day. For instance, on August 15 last year the website was viewed 1.36 lakh times,” the official said.

While for the visitors the most attractive part of the website is the photograph gallery, the President herself is known to take interest in the e-mails that people from across the country send.

“There is a boy, Mohit, who is a winner of the National Bal Shree Honour-2007, who wanted to pursue his interest in painting but could not afford it. When the President learnt of it, she not only invited him to Rashtrapati Bhavan but also made it possible for him to have a computer that he needed apart from other aid that he had sought,” the official recounted.

Citing another example of how the President has been able to reach out to the people who turn to her for help, the official said: “A professor from Bihar who had been put to inconvenience by the Bihar police during the President’s visit sent us a letter of appreciation after Ms. Patil’s office forwarded his complaint to the Chief Secretary of Bihar. He wrote, ‘Please convey my thanks to the President for her concerns of ordinary men like me’.”

Visitors to the President’s website cut across geographical divides. “There are a number of visitors from overseas as well. The maximum number of hits from foreign nations are registered from Australia and the US.”

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