Day 2/ Session 8

M-powering Kerala

Dr. Ajay Kumar highlighted the importance of Mobile Governance in Kerala

Dr. Ajay Kumar, Government of Kerala explained how the state is using the mobile as a service delivery platform

Dr. Ajay Kumar, Principal Secretary (IT), Government of Kerala, began with a quote from R. Chandrashekhar, Secretary IT, Government of India, "If one considers government services in their entirety, my guess is that one to five percent will still require a visit to a Government office, around 30-40% will be available through the CSC or government service delivery centers and 50-60% could be provisioned on the mobile devices."

Kerala is leading the race to touch 100% Literacy and 100% Teledensity. It is expected that Kerala will breach 100% Teledensity by 2011. Almost 79% of the population in the state has access to mobile phones. Citizens already use mobile phone services through multiple delivery channels including SMS, voice and packet data. So, there is obviously a lot of potential for mobile based services.

The m-governance service delivery platform works on the citizen-department-operator model. The state data center serves as the database server reservoir for application delivery. There is a unique short code 537252 "Kerala" for all kinds of applications. E-SMS is considered as the official SMS gateway for the Government of Kerala. It acts as an exclusive Bulk SMS Gateway with user accounts for all departments and delivery reports or audit trails.

“Leveraging the m-governance model by all departments will help attain uniformity in services across govt. departments for citizens. Reduced timelines for launching new services and wastage of resources by duplication of efforts can be avoided. There can be overall expense reduction with economies of scale,” said Kumar.

Mobile users can get their lottery results on the phone. SSLC/ Entrance/ University of Kerala/ Kerala Public Service Commission students can get their results in the same way. Students are also informed of changes in exam dates or venues and can view the status of their application.

Citizens can get their vehicle details over SMS. They can get their KSEB, KWA and KFC bills, balance, due date notification on the mobile. They also get payment confirmation via SMS.

Farmers can get agricultural and rubber prices over SMS. Farmers have a choice of a pay-per-use or subscription model. Advisory Service is also covered along with weather forecast.

Blood donation can also be facilitated by making blood requests over voice and SMS. There needs to be only one time registration by donors. Citizens can also send their complaints as SMS to the police. They can also complain about overcharging or eve teasing, auto rickshaw not plying etc. There is an online system for monitoring and internal police departmental messaging.

Citizens can also book movie tickets on the mobile. They can select movies over IVR and a ticket will be delivered as SMS. Citizens can also get bus routes and timings over SMS. Audio guide and 3G portal are also enabled at Hot Spots and Bluetooth kiosks at airports are also enabled.

Citizens are charged for using these services paying nominal fees of Rs. 1, 3, 5 or 10. SDP will provide common infrastructure and TRAI compliance with networking capabilities of SMS Gateways, Voice Platforms, MMS - GPRS, 3G and Bluetooth.