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Mana Mitra WhatsApp Governance launched

Unique AP facility offering 161 Services: Lokesh

Vijayawada:Education and IT Minister Nara Lokesh on Thursday launched the Mana Mitra WhatsApp Governance, reaching AP government services on people’s phones -- for the first time in the country.

Lokesh announced that the government has designated an official WhatsApp number, 95523 00009, to the WhatsApp Governance programme. It would streamline the delivery of citizen services, enabling the collection of public requests and sharing essential information with the residents.

“The governance is now in the hands of the people,” he declared.

Lokesh explained that 36 departments will be connected to WhatsApp Governance. “In the first phase, we are making 161 civil services available on phones. In the second phase, we will start 360 civil services. The government takes the responsibility of providing certificates in real-time with a special QR code on them. If you scan the QR code, the link will go to the AP government website and with this; there will be no room for fake certificates.”

He said, “I have done a 3,132km padayatra and this idea was formulated from that walkathon. These days, at the press of a button, we can watch a movie, food is delivered, and a cab is coming. So, a question arose why the government does not go down to the people. I accepted that challenge. That is why WhatsApp Governance is being launched.”

Lokesh stated, “During the last five years of rule, certificates were not issued. I thought that the flaws in the system should be corrected. Every house has a smartphone in their pocket. Some 60 per cent of people have a smartphone with WhatsApp. I met and spoke to Meta India Head Sandhya. And it happened.”

“On October 22 last year, an agreement was signed with Meta in Delhi. It was said that we would launch it by December. We are launching it three months and 9 days after the MoU. Nowhere else in the world have so many services been brought through a single platform.”

“We have also decided to bring blockchain technology soon. In the second phase, we will implement it through AI bot and voice. We will correct the shortcomings and make it even better. We also take information from all departments in real-time governance and codify it. We will create a data lake and provide seamless services,“ Lokesh added.

Meta India head Sandhya Devanathan, WhatsApp director and India head Ravi Garg, Bhaskar Katamaneni, secretary, IT and Communication department, RTGS CEO K Dinesh and others were present.

( Source : Deccan Chronicle )
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