The Digital Czar
Forget the file clearing Babu, meet IAS officer Ravi Bhagat who wants to revolutionise the system by conceiving mobile applications that make life easy for the common man
His office is like that of any other civil servant. Huge, comfortable furniture and walls that house pictures of leaders. On one wall are numerous awards for the different mobile applications he has facilitated.
Ravi Bhagat, Chief Administrator with Mohalibased Punjab Urban Development Authority (PUDA), may have an M Phil degree from JNU (2006) but what really draws him into a conversation is how technology can bridge the gap between common man and the government. “Over the past decade, we have witnessed a digital hurricane in this country. However, it has clearly missed the social services sector, especially those rendered by the government,” says the 41-year-old. And that is where he comes in. The person who conceived 14 mobile applications and four customised software solutions which deal with diverse sectors ranging from health, education, hygiene, environment, elections, food deficit, revenue, urban development and planning, talks about how he started conceiving these applications. “Once my daughter missed her yearly immunization, and I immediately felt the need for a reminder system on phone which would alert the parents timely about a child’s pending immunization. “I was also shocked to see the high rate of maternal and infant mortality in rural areas due to lack of vaccination.” Thus was born i-sehat, which registers an expectant mother by creating a U-ID and the child, when born, is added to it. The application sends timely SMS alerts to the beneficiary for vaccinations.
It didn’t stop there for Bhagat, who went on to conceive different applications and gave a shape to them by bringing together software developers and CSR departments of different companies. “If you have your heart in the right place, people do come forward. I keep getting requests from technocrats and CSR departments to involve them in projects that would benefit the people at large,” he says.
Talking about his most notable achievement, the Eci360 application that he developed for elections, which also got him a National Award from the Indian President this year, Bhagat elaborates, “This was made to ensure free and fair elections, increase voter
awareness besides easing out the monitoring of the sensitive polling processes. In fact, the Election Commission of India has officially adopted the RO Network (Returning Officers Network) application and the Eci 360 mobile app to be replicated in all states of India to be used in future elections.”
When Bhagat was the Deputy Commissioner of Ludhiana in 2016, he realised that the common man would often stand for hours in his and other government offices for information. “In the West, everything was available on the click of a button on the mobile. I realised that even in India, the mobile phone wave was strong, so why could not we make life easier?” he says, adding that whenever he conceives a mobile application, he ensures that it is simple enough for everyone to operate.