UMANG: Govt seeks to know impact of 3-year-old Unified Mobile Application for New-age Governance app

More than three years after launching the all-in-one UMANG (Unified Mobile Application for New-age Governance) app, the government wants to know its impact and why some citizens have not downloaded the app.

The app provides over 2,000 government services on a single platform and has around 25 million registered users. The app was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in November 2017 with an idea to provide all government services on a single platform. But despite the thrust from the government, the app apparently has not got the desired usage by the over 712 million wireless broadband users in the country. Despite being in the market for over three years now, the app has seen 39 million downloads so far.

Now, the Ministry of Electronics and IT (Meity) has come out with a request for proposal (RFP) to select an agency that will do the impact assessment of the app from the citizens’ point of view as well as that of government departments. According to the RFP, the agency will find out UMANG apps impact on different segments of society and also reasons why some citizens have not downloaded the app. The agency will also find out its influence on the participating departments like service reachability, efficiency, financial impact etc.

The idea behind the app was that citizens should access pan-India e-governance services of the central government, state governments, local bodies and their agencies on a single mobile platform. The app provides a unified approach, where citizens can install one application to avail multiple government services.

As on November 30, UMANG has on-boarded 194 departments, which offer over 2,000 services in 27 states of the country. Total downloads of the app stood at 39 million and it has 25 million registered users. The app is available in 13 languages and provides most of the government services like Aadhaar, Digilocker, Bharat Bill Pay, gas booking, Vahan, Passport Seva, PAN card, Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), pension services, among others. The app is available on Android, iOS, Windows mobile and Kai OS.

Last month, minister for IT and communications Ravi Shankar Prasad had also launched the international version of the UMANG app. The international version of app would help Indian international students, non-resident Indians (NRIs) and Indian tourists abroad, avail services of the government of India, anytime. UMANG would be available in the US, the UK, Canada, Australia, the UAE, the Netherlands, Singapore and New Zealand.