Doesn’t matter if you live hundreds of miles away from the Ganga: the postal department might soon deliver water from the river — considered holy by the Hindus — to your doorstep, thanks to the initiative of the Centre.
“I used to get several requests on whether the vast network of the posts can be used to get Ganga Jal. I have directed the Department of Posts to utilise e-commerce platform so that pure Ganga Jal from Haridwar and Rishikesh can be provided to the people. They have assured me that they will take proactive step to address the cultural needs of the people of India,” Communications and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad told a news conference on Monday.
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During the conference, called to highlight the achievements of his Ministry during the past two years, Mr. Prasad also said the government was working on a single mobile application through which citizens would be able to access over 1,000 e-governance services provided by the Centre, State governments as well as local authorities. The new application UMANG — short for Unified Mobile App for New-age Governa-nce — will be available in 12 Indian languages, besides English.
“This application will be a game changer... a common mobile application for all government services,” the Minister said.
He also said that by March 2017, all postmen in urban centres will be given smartphones, while those in around 1.3 lakh rural post offices will be given handheld devices.
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“About 4,000 handheld devices have already been given. It will help in financial inclusion,” the Minister said.