eGovWatch: Mobile numbers to become defacto identity of a person

Mobile numbers will soon become an integral part of a person’s identity as the Narendra Modi government moves ahead to provide government services using the digital platform.

By Avinash Nair

In his tweet address to the 18th National Conference on eGovernance, Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrote, “While we look at eGovernance, let us think about ‘mobile first’ and thus give importance to m-Governance (mobile governance),” he tweeted.

“I urge you to explore ways to provide as many services as possible through mobiles. Let us bring the world into our mobile phones!,” Modi said in another tweet.

Speaking at the event, RS Sharma, secretary, Department of Electronics and Information Technology, GoI, gave further clarity on the NDA government’s future plans. “India is a mobile country. Mobile both in terms of the mobility of it’s population and it’s mobile connectivity.

There are about 900 million mobile connections. Therefore, if we have to take ICT (Information and Communication Technology) to the people, mobile must be one of the foremost medium to carry the e-governance initiatives.

“Every citizen also need to have a mobile and a mobile connection. This mobile number will enable him to access the services, and more interestingly this digital identity (read Aadhar Card), which is biometric, will be linked to this mobile number and so the mobile number will become a defacto identity of the person. And therefore he or she will be able to conduct transactions through the mobile.

Sharma said that 700 million Aadhar Cards have been issued so far. “The government seeks to provide digital identity to each citizen of the country. An identity which is unique, on-line and authenticable. Every citizen in the country will get his or her own digital identity through Aadhar Card by the end of next year,” he added saying that Aadhaar card, mobile and bank account will be the three numbers of “empowerment” for a common man.

He also talked about his government plans to provide “digital lockers” of one gigabyte capacity to each citizen for stroring data, creation of cloud-based software that are cost effective, real-time and on-line, game-changing e-signatures and leveraging GIS (Geographical Information System) for eGovernance.

Sharma also talked about launching e-books for schools and starting the country public wi-fi at Taj Mahal in the coming weeks.