Facilitating people's engagement in governance, the Union government on Saturday launched the portal myGOV.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who released the portal, stated that success of democracy is impossible without participation of the people.
The portal is for people, including the youth, to connect with the government actively and facilitate their engagement towards nation's development. Content featured on the portal can be reproduced free of charge, says the website.
Modi pointed out that in the past, there used to be a big gap between the people and the processes of governance. The Prime Minister added that from the experience of his government in the past 60 days or so, it was understood that there were many who wanted to contribute towards nation-building, and devote their time and energy on it. And the only thing they required was an opportunity to shine and showcase their contribution.
The Prime Minister said that myGOV is a technology-driven medium, which would provide the opportunity to contribute towards good governance. Modi expressed confidence that the people would welcome this initiative. He also invited suggestions to strengthen and improve the platform.
The PM hoped that everyone would join hands through this platform to take the country forward, and to meet the aspirations of the poor. Modi said he was confident of succeding in this mission, because he recognized the strength and capability of 125 crore Indians.
Modi stressed that he looked forward to receiving suggestions, views and ideas of the people.
myGOV presents an opportunity for the citizens to both 'discuss' and 'do'. There are multiple theme-based discussions on myGOV, where a wide range of people would share their thoughts and ideas. Further, any idea shared by a contributor will also be discussed on these forums, allowing constructive feedback and interaction.
For those who wish to go beyond discussions and wish to contribute from the ground, myGOV offers several avenues. Citizens can volunteer for various tasks and submit their entries. These tasks would then be reviewed by other members and experts. Once approved, these tasks can be shared by those who complete the task and by other members on myGOV. Every approved task would earn credit points after completion.
myGOV portal would be maintained by the National Informatics Centre (NIC), Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY). The platform has been divided into various groups, namely Clean Ganga, Girl Child Education, Clean India, Skilled India, Digital India and Job Creation. Each group consists of online and on ground tasks that can be taken up by the contributors. The objective of each group is to bring about a qualitative change in that sphere through people's participation.
Portal can work as a public audit platform: RS Sharma
Over a period of time, the number of groups, tasks and discussions on the portal will increase, and myGOV would be used as a comprehensive knowledge repository, giving insights from the sharpest and brightest minds across India, said RS Sharma, Secretary of the Department of Electronics and IT.
myGOV portal empowers people to contribute towards good governance through various tasks and discussions, he added.
Sharma said citizens can upload documents, case studies, pictures, videos and other work plans on the platform. People can volunteer for various tasks and submit their entries. Sharma said that his department has plans to have a mobile app for myGOV, wherein citizens will have the flexibility to take pictures from mobile, upload on the forum and report in-context problems and issues while on the move.
He said that the portal may even be extended to act like a public audit platform for government projects like submitting feedback to the government on status of completed infrastructure projects, on availability of various social sector programmes etc.
