Redundant mobile apps of various govt agencies slowing Digital India drive

A majority of over 2,000 apps have seen downloads in single or double digits only

It’s raining mobile applications from various ministries and agencies, apparently to give a big push to the Narendra Modi government’s flagship Digital India programme. The problem is many of the over 2,000 apps are either redundant or overlapping, failing to find many takers. 

Digital India aims to transform the country into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy. 

It costs anywhere between Rs 5,000 and Rs 100,000 to develop an app. 

While companies like Amazon, Flipkart, Alibaba and Paytm are transforming their mobile apps into a one-stop shop, the government’s app initiative seems to be going in the opposite direction. For example, the National Institute of Electronics & Information Technology has created 20 different apps in more than 10 languages to teach people basic computer skills. It has one app for teaching Microsoft Word, another for Spreadsheet, a separate app for PowerPoint, and so on, instead of one app for all information on computer training with the option of interchanging between languages.

The agriculture ministry has more than 25 apps. Lack of coordination between various entities under the ministry has led to development of apps on the same topics with slight variations. 

“There are seven different apps on different aspects of rice production, made by the Indian Institute of Rice Research (IIRR). Similar apps have been developed by the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU). The agriculture ministry got specialised apps made on subjects such as hailstorm patterns in the country, when to sow ragi, wheat, etc. All these have seen downloads in low double digits,” said a senior official at the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC).

According to the data available on the National Mobile Governance Initiative (NMGI) website, apart from 30-odd apps, including BHIM payments platform that has been downloaded more than 10 million times, most others have seen downloads in low single digits. 

The Indian Railways has as many as 50 mobile apps, of which about 25 have been launched in the last two years. With so many apps for one organisation, many find it confusing and do not know which one to choose. 

Among the major applications managed by the Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS), IRCTC Rail Connect, UTS mobile (unreserved ticketing system), and NTES (National Train Enquiry System) hold a major chunk of users. The rest of the apps remain largely unused.

App experts who have been working with the government say they have pointed out redundancies to the officials concerned time and again, but in the race to show that their department is part of the Digital India initiative, such things get overlooked. 

“When I was working with the education department, one official told me they needed a learning app specifically for Bengali users; another asked me to make it in Tamil. I told them we can roll all languages into one app, which would help everyone. They disagreed, as they all wanted a different app,” said an expert. However, with space being finite on smartphones, not many people end up downloading these apps.

Government apps that are popular among mobile users include UMANG (Unified Mobile App for New age Governance), NAMO app, BHIM, ePathshala of NCERT, apps related to health Online Registration (ORS) of patient, Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojna (PMKVY) App and Prime Minister Aawas Yojna (PMAY) App.