Egm report e-Government and New Technologies: Towards Better Citizen

Session Five: Creating an Action Agenda for Better 

Citizen Engagement through ICT for Development  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As has been pointed out there is a serious issue regarding strategies to cope with the 

growing digital divide. Much of the conversation however, has been based primarily on either 

or both Internet access and or broadband access. It is important to recognize the growing 

popularity of basic mobile phones – especially in developing countries or areas where there is 

a preponderance of poverty and or rural isolation. Rajkumar Prasad reported on several 

innovative mobile applications that are in operation today in India. One of the government’s 

m-Government projects took place beginning in 2007 in the Tiruvallur district in Tamil Nadu, 

India. This project allowed the public, for the first time to send petitions through SMS using 

their mobile phones to obtain government services such as birth, death, income, and 

community certificates. The project also provided agricultural and veterinary services through 

mobile phones. Citizens could send general grievance petitions to the various government 

departments for other types of services too. This project proves that SMS can serve as a very 

substitute for those who lack access to the Internet. And for those who do not own mobile 

devices there are several NGOs and self-help groups that operate in villages to help people 

transact business using SMS on the citizens’ behalf. 

Another interesting dimension to this project is that it was created as a partnership 

between the government and the leading public telecom service provider (BSNL) in India. It 

was BSNL that developed the software for sending SMS messages received as emails to the 

district administration. In 2008 the project began allowing users to pay the required fees for 

some of the services using their mobile phones. The charges are deducted by BSNL from the