The government will develop 100 mobile applications (Apps) to ensure people’s easy access to public services through handy devices like mobile set and tablet, officials said.
They said a total of 1000 ideas—700 individual and 300 group ideas — will be collected from ministries, directorates and departments for developing 100 Apps to deliver public services, including all information about social safety programme, women’s personal safety, agriculture, health, education, old age allowances, utilities through mobiles and tablets.
As part of the move, the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has launched Mobile Apps Development Project involving Tk 8 crore in October this year to develop mobile Apps, officials said.
They said the government has already received over 150 ideas generated by various departments of Ministry of Cultural Ministry and Social Welfare Ministry so far by holding several workshops in Dhaka.
“This time we want to take public services to people’s hands. The government officials will generate ideas of their services and the ICT Ministry in collaboration with Multimedia Content and Communications Ltd. (MCC) will develop Apps to reach those services to the people,” said ICT Secretary Md. Nazrul Islam Khan.
He said alongside the mobile Apps development, some 2000 university graduates of 64 districts who have knowledge about Java programme would be made as mobile Apps developers under the project.
The government cannot sit idle at a time when the number of smart phone users is 30 percent of about 110 million mobile phone users who are purchasing Apps from different Apps stores like Google, Nokia, Nazrul Islam Khan said adding, “We’ve planned to open our own Apps store so that people could easily purchase Apps of their livelihood and needs.”
Mobile Apps Development Project Director Dr. Abul Hasan said the project has been designed to set up seven boot camps in seven divisions of the country to involve the IT industries and companies in the process of developing Apps and making 2000 developers.
A series of workshops will be held jointly with different directorates and departments of the government to collect the ideas on various public services including education, health, banking and financial services from the officials for developing mobile apps, he said adding that a book containing 5,000 ideas of mobile Apps will also be published under the project.
Source: UNBConnect