Karnataka to go live with mobile governance soon

BANGALORE, INDIA: Taking one step toward good governance, the Karnataka government is all set to roll out its m-governance project in the state. The objective is to create a mobile service delivery mechanism and help citizens access all the government services on their mobile devices.

During a session in the state's flagship annual IT event, Bangalore ITE.biz, Srivatsa Krishna, IT-BT and e-governance secretary, Karnataka, said the project will be implemented through the public-private partnership (PPP) mode with a global mobile services partner. This is one of the ambitious e-governance projects of the Karnataka Government till date.

Before the statewide roll-out, Karnataka government had launched an m-goveranance pilot for some of its exisiting and popular e-governance services such as utility bill payment, traffic and information services, etc. An integrated mobile service delivery platform was provided to the residents of Bangalore, Hubli-Dharwad and Mysore, allowing them to access these services on their mobile phones, through voice or the Internet.

This is in line with the Government of India's extensive e-governance vision, that is: to bring the government at people's doorstep. This includes the creation of a mobile services delivery gateway (MSDG) to reach the vast mobile phone subscriber base in the country, especially in rural areas, where mobile devices are ideally suited as alternative access and delivery channels for public services.