Participative governance must reach panchayat level, says Prasad

nNEW DELHI: The central government’s e-governance feedback initiative, Mygov, is now likely to be extended right up to the panchayat level to help improve local participative governance.

Mygov platform provides an opportunity to citizens and all stakeholders from across the world to share their views on key governance issues across all stages by directly engaging with the government departments, policy makers and implementers.

Speaking at the eve of the completion of six years of Mygov, which was launched on July 26, 2014, information technology (IT) minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Sunday commended the efforts of the team involved with Mygov in improving participative governance across the country.

“The Mygov movement must go forward,” Prasad said. “12 states have already joined it. It represents a model of participative governance that must reach the gram panchayat level.” He added that the intiative should act as a be catalyst for giving a platform to the most talented minds to share their ideas.

Mygov also launched the Saathi Chatbot this April, in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, that allows people to provide inputs and solutions to the government, thereby participate in policymaking. The chatbot also answers any queries people have with regard to the Covid-19 pandemic. Mygov also has state intiatives, which provides access to the e-governance initiative in local languages, 12 states. These include Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Chattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Tripura, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.

Officials in the ministry said that they are also ready to launch chapters in nine other states, once the chief ministers inaugurate the same.

The next phase will include Kerala, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Puducherry, Goa, Andhra Pradesh and Daman and Diu.