Government of India is all set to launch a master application, which has been hailed as ‘Mother of all App’. This single app will consolidate 200+ services offered by Central Govt., State Govt. and Local Govt.; and offer them under one single platform.
Aptly termed as Unified Mobile Application for New-age Governance or UMANG, this app has been conceptualized by the Union Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, under the National e-governance Division (NeGD).
Leveraging the massive smartphone boom experienced all over the country, this single app has the potential to transfer the power of Information directly to the end-user.
One official from NeGD said, “Everyone is carrying a smartphone and using the internet on mobile. So we want to provide services wherever the citizens are.”
What Will UMANG Do?
NeGD is attempting to bring 50 major services on-board by the end of this year itself. In the second year 70 new services and in third year 80 more new services are planned to be implemented on UMANG.
Some of the services which can be introduced under UMANG are: National scholarship, Healthcare applications, Passport Seva, Women Safety (Nirbhaya), E-Post, Crime and criminal tracking, Network and systems, Commercial tax/GST, Income tax, CBSE/State education boards, E-Municipality, IRCTC, Utility bills, Mother and child tracking, Public distribution system, Transport – Vahan/Sarathi, e-Court, m-Kisan, Land records, PF/NPS.
Besides, all these services would be available in 13 languages; and incase the user doesn’t have a smartphone, then the same can be accessed via feature phone using SMS based menu and a toll free number.
Aadhar Card, PayGov and DigiLocker shall also be included within this platform, thereby making it even more powerful.
However, as per officials, the integration of state and central departments into this platform would be the biggest challenge, as bureaucratic challenges & politics may make the process slower.
UMANG has called for partnership with private players to develop and deploy this massive platform. Invitation for bidding has already been shared by the Govt.
As per the document, Govt. of India will “select a Partner Agency which would be responsible for development, implementation, enhancement and operations & maintenance of Unified Mobile Application for New-age Governance (UMANG) platform for a period of 3 years with a possibility of extension to another 2 years and again for 2 years subject to mutually agreed terms and conditions. Major Central/State government services are expected to be provided through UMANG. “
This documents enlists various components and features like voice based command, analytics, supporting software, hardware and other requirements.
