In a bid to increase accessibility via mobile platforms, the Press Information Bureau, India’s official government press agency, recently launched the mobile version of its website. The URL of the mobile website is http://pib.gov.in/mobile. Mobile users who prefer the full functionality and display of the regular website can access it from pib.gov.in.
The new mobile site has been customised to display the latest press releases on its home page. The site also offers links to other matter on the website. In addition, to make the website accessible to users with poor or slow internet connections, the mobile site does not display ‘heavy’ content such as photographs and videos on the homepage. Instead, a ‘Photos’ tab displays a basic photo gallery page.
The mobile version currently displays content only in English. In due course, content in Hindi and Urdu from the main website will also be available on the mobile site.
PIB’s website is one of the most popular information websites in India and is updated many times a day. It offers information on policies and programmes of the government of India besides official events, announcements, alerts, features and other information.
An increasing number of government sites are going mobile, what with the increasing popularity of the platforms. The Indian government in January this year came out with a Mobile Governance Framework to deliver public and citizen-centric services over multiple mobile platforms.
The Mobile Governance Framework report states, “The m-Governance framework of Government of India aims to utilise the massive reach of mobile phones and harness the potential of mobile applications to enable easy and round-the-clock access to public services, especially in rural areas. The framework aims to create unique infrastructure as well as application development ecosystem for m-Governance in the country”.
The government, following the Framework, will make all websites of government departments and agencies mobile-compliant using a 'One Web' approach to ensure compatibility across platforms. In addition, all government departments and agencies shall develop and deploy mobile applications for providing all their public services through mobile devices to the extent feasible on the mobile platform. They shall also specify the service levels for such services.
The government will also set up an app store to facilitate the process of development and deployment of suitable applications for delivery of public services through mobile devices. The app store shall be integrated with the Mobile Services Delivery Gateway (MSDG) - the core infrastructure for providing public services through mobile devices - and it shall use the MSDG infrastructure for deploying apps.
It is proposed that the app store will be based upon a service-oriented architecture and cloud-based technologies using open standards as far as practicable. The open platform will be developed and deployed in conjunction with the MSDG for making the additional value added services available irrespective of the device or network operator.
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