Mobile Governance

1.          What is the purpose of setting up Mobile Services Delivery Gateway (MSDG)?

        The purpose of setting up MSDG is to provide a one-stop ecosystem for enabling the delivery of various electronic government services through mobile devices in an efficient manner with minimum effort for the participating Government Departments and Agencies. MSDG will also help in enhancing the interoperability of mobile-based services among various Government Departments and reduce the total cost of development and deployment of applications for m-Governance services.

2.         What are the functionalities that will be available in MSDG?

        MSDG will have functionalities such as hardware and software to test and deploy the m-Governance applications. It will have connectivity options for the citizens to apply for and receive public services through mobile devices irrespective of the network operators with which they are subscribed. It will also have an integrated system for delivering the IVR based services through mobile and fixed line. MSDG will support delivery of both voice and data services and content in a network and device independent manner to the extent possible and feasible. It will also offer shared tools like data collection, helpdesk services, APIs, SDKs to the agencies which wish to deploy mobile applications for public services. It will have a provision for metered access so that various agencies and partners of MSDG can account for fee based services based upon their actual delivery.

3.          Who will own MSDG?

      MSDG will be owned by DeitY, Government of India, or any of its designated agencies.

4.          How will MSDG account for fee-based services?

        It will have a provision for metered access so that various agencies and partners of MSDG can account for the fee-based services based upon their actual delivery.

5.        Who will be responsible for notification of the standards for mobile applications?

     The standards for mobile applications will be formulated and notified by the Department of Electronics & Information Technology, Government of India.

6.             Who will be responsible for service fulfilment?

            The responsibility for service fulfilment shall lie with the respective Government Department or Agency. MSDG will only serve as the channel between the citizen and the participating Government Department or Agency.

7.             Can the Participating Departments have an alternate mobile initiative?

            Any Government Department or Agency at the Central or State level interested in providing mobile services would be encouraged to provide its services through MSDG to avoid duplication of infrastructure.

8.          What are the various delivery channels envisaged to be supported by MSDG?

       MSDG shall support the following delivery channels for development and deployment of mobile-based applications for Government services. As the mobile-based technologies are constantly evolving, more channels may be added in future as the need arises.

•              SMS (Short Message Service)

•              IVR (Interactive Voice Response)

•              WAP (Wireless Application Protocol)

•              USSD (Unstructured Supplementary Service Data)

•              CBC (Cell Broadcast)

•              SIM Toolkit (STK)/Dynamic STK, 3G-Video

•              Others (WiFi/ WLan etc.)

9.             Is e-Governance a prerequisite for m-Governance?

        Even though m-Governance may be seen as an extension of e-Governance services, existence of e-Governance services is not a prerequisite for deployment of m-Governance services. The mobile-based innovative public services to be deployed under the ambit of this framework and implementation strategy are aimed at extending the access of public services to those sections of the society which are unable or unwilling to access public services through internet or those which simply prefer to use mobile devices. The key objective of m-Governance initiatives in the proposed framework is to enhance the bottom-up participation and empower the disadvantaged sections of the society, thus fulfilling the mission of anywhere, anytime services as envisaged under the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP).

10.   What are the steps to be followed by a Government Department to register services for m-Governance?

    DeitY will provide the necessary guidance and assistance to all Government Departments and Agencies to register their services for m-Governance. DeitY will also provide necessary integration support to help Government Departments in adopting m-Governance for delivery of public services.

11.         Who will be responsible for creation of mobile-ready content?

      The concerned Departments and Ministries will be responsible for creating and  updating mobile-ready content for their respective services. They may seek     appropriate inputs and feedback from users.

12.         What steps will DeitY take to promote m-Governance initiative?

      DeitY, or any of its designated agencies, will undertake awareness creation and  capacity building exercises for promoting Mobile Governance initiative among  stakeholders and potential beneficiaries across Government, Industry, and Civil      Society.