Karnataka, which has nearly a million tech employees and is the country’s largest IT exporter, launched ‘Karnataka MobileOne’, a mobile governance application that integrates all services provided by the government into one unified platform.
The application that the government claims will be a leap forward in taking governance to the people, was launched by President Pranab Mukherjee on Monday in the presence of Governor Vajubhai R. Vala and Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.
The world’s largest multimode mobile governance platform will offer over 4,000 services to citizens from both the government and private sector.
An app is available for download on Android and iOS platforms, and all major mobile service providers are on board with the platform. Citizens can access services by dialing a unique 3-digit number 161.
These anytime, anywhere, anyhow services would be available round the clock throughout the year at any location in the State, on any mobile device.
Citizens can even take a simple picture of road potholes or streetlights and send it to the officials concerned for redressal. This initiative, named as ‘ICARE’, is also a one-of-a-kind government-citizen engagement model.
The President said the ‘Digital India’ programme, launched in August this year, envisaged the creation of a digitally-empowered society and knowledge economy by bridging the divide between digital ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’. “It is in this context that the ‘Karnataka MobileOne’ is an initiative of great foresight.”
He complimented the State for implementing other e-initiatives such as Bhoomi Kaveri and e-swathu, and said India has 93 crore cellphone subscribers with a density of 75 per cent.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah termed the occasion “momentous” and said the initiative was a tribute to the State’s intellectual capital and administrative creativity.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke about M-Governance; we have responded by making it a reality. Karnataka will be the flag bearer for Digital India,” he said.
