Govt to redesign Sugamya Bharat App to incorporate AI features: Official

The government will redesign the Sugamya Bharat App to incorporate artificial intelligence features to make it a one-stop point for people with disability, said Disability Affairs Secretary Rajesh Aggarwal on Monday.

The app -- a crowdsourcing mobile application -- is a means to sensitise and enhance accessibility in the built environment, transportation sector and ICT ecosystem in India.

"In AI, the features we aim to add are information from annual reports, various schemes, recent district-wise data and important judgements of the Supreme Court and High Courts," Rajesh Aggarwal, Secretary in the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, told PTI.

For this, an agreement has been signed between the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities under the chairmanship of Aggarwal with NGOs Mission Accessibility and National Association For The Blind (NAB Delhi) and research institute I-STEM.

"The objective of this MoU is to deliver a fully accessible, multilingual Sugmaya Bharat Application and incorporate AI technology to disseminate relevant and targeted information. The new app will have features like AI Chatbot, complaint register and feedback, and multilingual and accessible interface, among others," Aggarwal said.

He said these features will empower thousands of people with disabilities across the country.

"We will redesign the app, making it accessible. So we want Sugamya to become like a one-stop centre for people with disabilities six months down the line," Aggarwal said.

He said a second MoU was signed in association with Vision Divyang Foundation, Delhi, to provide reliable and up-to-date details of various schemes of the state and the Centre that can be beneficial for persons with disabilities.

A third MOU was signed with NAB-Delhi, a leading organisation working for the welfare of persons with visual disabilities.

"It is intended that about 10,000 pages of documents including government schemes, guidelines, CCPD orders, legal reliefs to persons with disabilities, annual reports, etc will be made available to persons with disabilities in an accessible format and same will be integrated with the mobile app for the overall benefit of persons with disabilities," Aggarwal added.