India points the way | Bangkok Post: tech

M-GOVERNMENT

ISLAMABAD : Rohan Samarajiva, standing in for Professor Subhash Bhatnagar who was unable to attend because of visa issues, spoke of research done on m-government.

Rather than citizens accessing government services through the mobile phone, Professor Bhatnagar's research in India was focused on the use of mobiles services by government officials to provide services.

Using a mobile interface requires less training than a computer. For some tasks, such as issuing ID cards, electoral cards or work certificates, the Internet kiosk has the advantage but mobile phones can play a significant role such as alerting the user when documents are ready to be picked up.

On the other hand, invoicing can be sent directly to the phone anywhere at any time. The kiosk model does not work as people do not sit around in front a kiosk all day waiting for an invoice to arrive.

In India, one of the most complicated tasks is government pension payments for the rural population. The government, in cooperation with the Zero Mass Foundation, has a mobile phone based system serving 1.6 million pensioners using a wireless fingerprint reader and a wireless printer linked to a 3G phone. Everything runs off batteries and can work without electricity.

Zero Mass Foundation acts as an agent for a bank and opens accounts for rural pensioners by capturing photographs, fingerprints and other details via a mobile phone.