Prevalence of open OS in smartphones has greatly facilitated inclusion of vernacular languages: ICEA
With the widespread adoption of smartphones running on open operating systems (OS) like Android, there are currently more than 300 government applications, which are facilitating essential citizen services, including information dissemination, direct benefit transfers, education and healthcare. The prevalence of open OS in smartphones has greatly facilitated the inclusion of vernacular languages and reduced the time taken to build supporting mobile applications, feels the Chairman of Indian Cellular Electronics Association (ICEA).
Industry body ICEA represents mobile and component manufacturers such as Motorola, Xiaomi, Oppo, Nokia, Foxconn, Apple, Wistron, Flextronics, Lava, Vivo and others.
“This momentum towards Digital Governance has various benefits such as increase in efficiency, reduction in processing time and most importantly access to citizens. The prevalence of Open OS in smartphones has greatly facilitated the inclusion of vernacular languages and reduced the time taken to build supporting mobile applications,” Pankaj Mohindroo, Chairman, ICEA, told reporters through a video conference.
“With the goal to digitally equip and connect every citizen in the coming years, India is utilizing smartphones and technologies to stride towards a truly digital nation,” Mohindroo added.
To celebrate the “Fifth Anniversary of the Digital India” program, Indian Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA) recently released a detailed report on “Contribution of Smartphones to Digital Governance in India”, capturing various steps and initiatives taken by the Government to encourage and leverage the rising popularity of smartphones for digital governance.
“With over 450 million smartphone users in India, mobile devices play a significant role in India’s socio-economic development. The affordability of mobile devices driven by open operating systems and low mobile data rates have led to widespread adoption and use of digital governance services in India,” the ICEA said.
A key finding of the report is that smartphones and e-services can be leveraged by the government to unlock 80 per cent improvement in efficiency and 8x reduction in processing time.
The growth in internet users in India is expected to be driven by rural users, many of whom will use these devices in local languages. The report finds that the essential elements for digital governance apps and portals include local language capabilities, offline functionality, low storage requirements and integrations with other governance platforms.
All of these features are enabled by open operating systems like Android, with more than 300 essential government services being made available through mobile applications on the Play Store. India is the fastest growing app market in the world and #1 in app downloads as of 2019. Key services such as education, healthcare, finance, utilities, justice and transport have become more accessible to the general public through mobile applications.
Several state governments are also accelerating digital initiatives through select government apps. Smartphones have also been vital to the government’s response to the COVID-19 crisis, enabling the government to reach citizens across the country through apps like Aarogya Setu, which has more than 13 crore downloads and is available in 12 Indian languages.
“Smartphones have facilitated access to a rapidly expanding range of digitally delivered services through apps like Umang, Digilocker and Bhim and also through mobile-friendly websites,” said Ajay Sawhney, Secretary, Meity.
“Smartphones are helping transform the lives of Indian citizens, both urban and rural, through communication and assimilation of information. They are essential components for delivery and improving the effectiveness of e-governance initiatives,” Sawhney added.
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