DigiVAARTA Launched - The India Saga

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DigiVAARTA Launched

New Delhi:  Union Electronics and Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Friday launched DigiVAARTA, a multi-channel citizen engagement programme…

DigiVAARTA Launched

New Delhi:  Union Electronics and Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Friday launched DigiVAARTA, a multi-channel citizen engagement programme that can run on both feature and smartphones. 

ÂDigiVAARTA is a welcome addition to the governmentÂs drive to promote adoption and awareness on digital payments. It is an easy way to educate citizens on the use of digital tools for banking and payments, said Mr Prasad at the inauguration of the NIC Centre of Excellence for Data Analytics in the Capital which also saw the launch of the initial phase of the DigiVAARTA programme and is focussed on increasing awareness on digital payments.

The technology underlying the multi-channel engagement programme is SAMWAD   a platform for intuitive and interactive communication  supported by Centre for Digital Financial Inclusion (CDFI). 

Developed with an objective to increase awareness and familiarity of individuals on various financial products and services and to educate the unbanked and under-banked individuals, SAMWAD provides enabling engagement across multiple channels in the form of stories, images and videos in any chosen language. 

The learnings and insights from research studies commissioned by CDFI resulted in an idea of a larger engagement tool that could be used by the government to communicate with the citizens of the country. It is this that led to DigiVAARTA, which is customized and re-branded form of SAMWAD that is being deployed for MeiTY by CDFI.

The initial phase of DIGIVAARTA will help and promote learning in digital payments and empower users to draw content on topics as per their choice. DIGIVAARTA will initially be in Hindi and English languages and will engage with users through multiple channels – over Mobile App, SMS and OBD (Outbound Dialler).

To operationalise this programme, besides Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and CDFI, National Informatics Centre (NIC) has been a key stakeholder and has helped set-up, host and liaise with regulatory and telecom service providers. 

Speaking on the occasion, Krishnan Dharmarajan, Executive Director, CDFI said, ÂWe learnt from a pilot in rural Karnataka, that while the poor were happy to engage on the platform, they were worried about the money that was getting deducted as sms charges. So MeitY decided that such exchanges be kept toll-free, so that people could engage, learn and get empowered at zero cost. Â

ÂWe needed a special number from which Govt could broadcast at scale and where citizens could also respond. DOT and TRAI quickly saw the power of the idea, and extended their wholehearted support by granting us 14444 for the purpose,” Mr. Dharmarajan said.

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