MyGov.in & Google Annouce PMO Mobile App Development Contest [Updated]

Updated: March 3rd, 2015

As announced last year, Google and MyGov have got together and now have announced a contest for mobile app developers to build a comprehensive PMO mobile app. The content will go live today at 5pm on MyGov.in

This mobile app development contest will be held across the country at different institutions and colleges and will invite participation from people throughout India.

While speaking at the NASSCOM event on Sunday, PM Narendra Modi mentioned that he was planning to invite ideas from the public for developing a mobile app for his office.

Rajan Anandan, Vice President and MD, Google India & South-East Asia has said, “We are very excited to be a part of the Prime Minister’s vision and would urge every Indian to come forward and participate in the app development contest and become a cohesive part of governance and decision making in the country,”

Gaurav Dwivedi, chief executive officer, MyGov said, “Through the PMO app contest we wish to use technology effectively to encourage innovation, aspiration and enhance connectivity. We want to provide every citizen access to the PMO through a mobile device. And since this is an app for the people, we are inviting people to submit ideas on the features they would like to see in their PMO’s mobile app”

So if you wish to take part in this contest, make sure you log on to MyGov.in later in the evening today.

Earlier…

MyGov, the recently launched crowdsourcing platform to bring in good governance and Google have collaborated with each other to launch a nationwide contest for developing a mobile application for Prime Minister’s Office (PMO). This is an initiative to support the much talked about “Digital India” program which is also a dream project for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The aim of this collaboration is to develop an app that will bring PMO to every citizen and the contest will showcase mobile app development prowess of Indians.

Under MyGov platform, Government of India is running various crowdsourced initiatives that encompass Job creation, Skill development, Green India, Swachh Bharat Yojana, Girl Child education and many more where they want normal citizens to not only participate but also suggest ways on how these initiatives could be implemented. The central to all of this is the umbrella Digital India program.

On the other hand, Google is working closely with Department of Information Technology (DeITy) and other state governments to make contribution in the Digital India vision. Google has also been continuously working on localizing digital content so that it can create a ecosystem that can reach to various part’s of India.

Obviously, internet and mobile will play a key role in achieving the objective – The contest will essentially try to bring all the MyGov initiatives closer to Indians through mobile apps that will be developed through this contest.

Google India Vice President and Managing Director Rajan Anandan said, “Yet, there are more than a billion people who will need to be brought online for India to realise the vision of a digitally connected, knowledge economy. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Digital India programme will play a transformational role in achieving this”

R.S.Sharma, Secretary of the Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY), said, “I’m happy Google is coming forward to roll out initiatives that will contribute to the Digital India vision. I’m sure others will come forward and join this movement”.

Our Take

The collaboration between Google and MyGov is a win-win for both. Latter can use Google’s prowess in tech as well as get benefited from Google’s reach, while on the other hand, Google will benefit immensely because they will be integral part of Digital India giving them exposure to millions of Indians who have still not joined the internet bandwagon.

The details of the contest have not been put up on MyGov portal or on Google, but we will update you as soon as the details are out!