'MyGov' portal: NaMo model for 'participative governance' and 'Surajya'

New Delhi: While campaigning for 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Narendra Modi had promised to the electorate that if he takes over as the Prime Minister of the country, he will ensure that the common man gets a chance to participate in the decision making process so that they feel like active partners in nation building.On July 26, Modi government completed 60 days in office and on this occasion, Prime Minister Narendra Modi dedicated to the people of India a brand new portal named “MyGov”. This portal (http://mygov.nic.in ) offers a unique platform to the citizens of the country to share their ideas with the government departments so that they could formulate policies with inputs from the grass root.The platform provided by this portal consists of multiple expert groups, with each expert group focusing on a particular aspect of governance.For a citizen, there are two ways through which they could contribute to the nation building. One option is “Do” while the other is “Discuss”.By “Doing”, one can take up a series of online and onground tasks. The “Discuss” option revolves around specifically created discussion forum for each group. At present, there are six groups on the platform -- Clean Ganga, Girl Child Education, Clean India, Skilled India, Digital India and Job Creation. It is expected that over a period of time, the number of groups, tools to engage, tasks and discussions will increase thus enabling wider participation.In his message on the newly created portal, Prime Minister Narendra Modi reminds people that we, the people of India, attained Swaraj after Mahatma Gandhi launched a historic mass movement around seven decades back.Modi goes on to emphasise that India today needs another movement which could help us achieve the goal of Surajya.“Surajya is not possible until each and every citizen will be an equal and integral part of the decision making process. The times of formulating policies from air-conditioned Government chambers are over. Policies must be made among the people, empowering every citizen to express him or herself on a wide range of issues.This would be a paradigm shift towards Surajya,” says Narendra Modi in his message on the portal.Terming “MyGov” portal as a significant effort towards ushering in “Surajya”, Prime Minister Narendra Modi says, ‘MyGov is an online platform that celebrates people's ideas and suggestions. ‘MyGov' stands for participative governance and pertinent ideas that will create a powerful India.”‘MyGov' is a golden opportunity to contribute in the journey towards nation building, becoming an agent of change,” added Modi. Youths have always been one of the main target groups for Prime Minister Narendra Modi.Inviting the people to share tasks and inputs in addition to enriching the discussions with experience and invaluable insight, Modi exudes confidence that the young citizens would be active contributors in this initiative.“Our entire nation sees the youth as a ray of hope. It is on the shoulders of the youth that India will attain its destined role of a nation that will show the way to the world, says Narendra Modi.In a democracy, the elected representatives are supposed to convey the message of the common man to the government of the day but in a big country like India this system develops many lacunas and very often, numerous gaps are found between what the people at the grassroot aspire for and what the government offers to them. This initiative of Narendra Modi will definitely go a long way in filling the gaps."In the past, there used to be a big gap between the people and the processes of governance... in the past sixty days, the experience of our government is that there are many people who want to contribute towards nation-building, and devote their time and energy," said Narendra Modi. What has to be understood, however, is that this portal is not intended to serve as a grievance redressal mechanism, but an initiative that is aimed at encouraging people to engage with government at a larger scale.The portal has also got interactive elements like tracking time spent and credits earned. These initiatives are aimed at keeping the audience engaged and encourage them to spend more time on a regular basis."The platform presents an opportunity to the citizens to both 'Discuss' and 'Do.' There are multiple theme-based discussions on MyGov where a wide range of people would share their thoughts and ideas," an official statement from PMO clarified."Further, any idea shared by a contributor will also be discussed on these discussion forums, allowing constructive feedback and interaction". Citizens can volunteer for various tasks and submit their entries. These tasks would then be reviewed by other members and experts. Approved task would earn credit points for completing the task," the statement added. This can also be looked upon as Narendra Modi's answer to Sonia Gandhi led NAC (National Advisory Council). During UPA rule, it was alleged by opposition parties that the NAC was functioning as a parallel government.The NAC consisted largely of social activists but it got teeth from the fact that UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi Sonia Gandhi was also heading the National advisory Council. Since the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was seen as a nominee of Sonia Gandhi, he had to listen to the diktats of the NAC.“MyGov” portal could be Narendra Modi's answer to Sonia's NAC with a wider platform. While NAC was limited to a few of social activists and NGO players, this portal, on the other hand, offers equal opportunity to all citizens to come up with innovative ideas and share them with the government and its departments.Any citizen can register himself on the portal after providing some basic information about himself/herself. Once that person is registered he gets a ‘Username' and ‘Password' and he is ready to either “Do” or “Discuss”. This portal will be managed by National Informatics Centre (NIC) of the Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DEITY). "Citizens can also volunteer for various tasks and submit their entries. These tasks would be reviewed by other members and experts. Once approved, these tasks can be shared by those who complete the task and by other members on MyGov," DEITY Secretary R S Sharma said."It is also an initiative to build a digital knowledge library. We will guide the people on the topics of national importance on which the government would like to know their views and ideas," Sharma added."We will review the working on MyGov in three months and over time the number of groups, tasks and discussions will increase. The platform will also be used as a comprehensive knowledge repository," Sharma added, Sharma further added.