Dear
Shri Aggarwal ,
Thank
you for your invite to partner with / attend this conference
While
regretting my inability to attend due to poor health , I reproduce below , some
of my past suggestions to various Central Government Ministers , re e-Governance and Digital India
If
found relevant , you may consider including prints of these in the delegate
hand-outs
If
there are any questions , feel free to contact me
with
regards,
hemen
parekh
Mumbai
/ 0-98,67,55,08,08
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sunday, 18 August 2013
VotesApp
Here is a suggestion to
IIT-Bombay , to develop a voting app , to be called VotesApp. Highlights of
VotesApp :
Ø An Android app
which can be downloaded from Google Play / Android Zoom / GetJar and the
official web site of Election Commission of India
Ø It will be
pre-loaded on 220 million Aakash tablets which Govt of India plans to
distribute to students
Ø It will also be
pre-loaded on those Smart phones ( to be called, “ Dharati “ ? ), which Govt of
India plans to distribute free to 400 million “ poor “ Indians , before 2014
National elections
Ø All tablet /
smart phone manufacturers will be encouraged to pre-load VotesApp
Ø Using this app ,
a voter can register at Election Commission web site, where he will enter the
same data which he has submitted for his Aadhar card, including Aadhar card
number (Unique Identification No)
Ø All of these
details will be verified by Aadhar database
Ø Obviously ,
those who have not obtained their Aadhar card , will not be able to use
VotesApp . They will need to visit nearest polling booth
Ø Upon correct
verification , Aadhar Database will permanently link the person’s Aadhar number
with the mobile number from which registration is done, and issue a
Password
Ø An under aged
person will not be allowed to register
Ø A person will be
able to vote only from that mobile number
Ø After login on
first screen, user will be asked to select one option from > Panchayat
Election > Municipal Election > State Assembly Election > Lok-Sabha
Election
Ø Upon selection,
user will be presented with the list of candidates contesting , from which , he
can select only one by ticking a checkbox. There will be also a choice ,
labeled “ None “
Ø A long press on
a candidate’s name will display details of his declared assets as also his
criminal record
Ø After ticking /
selecting a candidate, voter will click on “ VOTE “ button,
whereupon his vote gets registered and VotesApp gets inactivated
Ø Once a voter
registers on Election Commission web site , he cannot go to a poling booth and
vote physically
Ø In less than one
year , Govt of India will recover the cost of 220 million Aakash tablets and
400 million” Dharati “ smart phones , through this customized / personalized /
shrinking of EVMs ( Electronic Voting Machines ) to a hand-held device. And
imagine the millions of man-hours saved !
Ø And the beauty
is , no one can capture this booth , or conduct exit polls ! What will “
experts “ discuss on TV channels ?
Ø What next ?
Election Commission “licensing “ this App to other countries ?
* hemen parekh
( 18 Dec 2012 )
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sunday, 18 August 2013
That could be the name of an android app ( I Seek It Now
> < U Solve It Now )
To be developed by India’s Central Home Ministry for
successful implementation of proposed,
“ Delivery of Services Act “
The app will come pre-installed on those mobile phones
which Government of India plans to distribute FREE , to some 400 million “ Poor
People “ of India , before the 2014 National Election ( and on those 220
million Aakash Tablets )
Issuer will enter the Mobile No and that person’s Aadhar
Card No, in a computerised central database , before issuing the phone
Hence , no need to login to the App , whose screen will
read,
“ I wish to send my complaint to the following department
:
National Commission for Women
Garbage Clearance
Water Supply
Electricity Supply
Roads Repair
Rationing ( Food Distribution )
Police
Bus Transport
Railways
Post
Employment
Education
Irrigation
Building Permits
Revenue / Land Records
Anti Corruption
Other ……………………………………….etc
(List should not exceed 50)
Touching name of any department name will open a SMS
message box where the user will type out his complaint ( in a language of his
choice )
There will be option to speak-out and record voice
message , for illiterate users
Touching SEND button will transmit the complaint and
within minutes, user will receive SMS reply , giving,
Name of Officer responsible
Office Landline No
Mobile No
Email Id
Complaint No
Expected date of solving
Bingo !
Then publish online , a tabulation of departments ,
arranged in the descending order of the no of complaints received / cleared /
pending!
This frugal innovation will bring in Good Governance all
over India
Request Nandan Nilekani / Sam Pitroda to
help out , even though they may be busy implementing my earlier suggested app
,
“ VotesApp “
“ VotesApp “
I have no doubt that the political party which promises ,
“ I SIN >< U SIN “ , will get voted to power in 2014
* hemen parekh ( 29 Dec 2012 )
* hemen parekh ( 29 Dec 2012 )
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
25
May 2015
Digital Locker Project
Dear Shri Ravishankar Prasadji :
Business
Standard ( 23 May 2015 ) writes about an initiative of Department of
Electronics and Information Technology , to create " Digital Lockers "for Indian Citizens ,
where they can store their important documents on internet
This
crowd-sourcing project is supposed to work as follows :
*
Citizens scan their documents on a scanner and then upload those
images in personal Digital Locker ( User ID / Secure Password ? )
*
Special S/W will break-up each document image into hundreds of mini
images ( of a few characters each )
*
Each mini-image will be SMSed to 2 persons ( having Smart phones ? ),
who will type out the characters in TEXT ( WORD format ? )
*
These typed TEXTs will get uploaded into document-owner's Digital
Locker
*
If both these " typed texts " match perfectly ( like CAPTCHA ), it
will
replace that mini-image in the document
Apparently
, the idea is to crowd-source the Smart
Phones / human resources of millions of Indian Citizens - much like the 30 year
old SETI project
But
before taking a final decision to go ahead , I feel following questions need to
be answered :
*
How much will it cost to develop / deploy the required software ?
*
Let us assume that there are only 10 documents
per citizen ( on an
average ) , taking the total to 12.5 BILLION
documents to be scanned
If each document-image has to be broken-up ( again , on an average ),
into just 10 mini-images , that would mean 125 BILLION
mini-images !
*
Now , if each mini-image has to be sent to 2 smart-phones , that
would require , 250 BILLION smart phones !
Now , of course , there are no more than 250
million smart phones
That would require Govt to send to each smart phone owner , 1,000
mini-images !
And let us assume that each mini-image contains , just 10 characters,
( most likely , it will contain 50 characters )
That would require each smart phone owner to type out 10,000
characters !
*
Why would ordinary Indian smart phone owner take time and trouble to
type out 10,000 CAPTCHA-like characters ?
*
How will you motivate them ? By paying ? How much
? Total cost ?
*
How many years will it take to implement entire project ?
*
Do our 1.25 Billion ( document-owning ) citizens have easy access to
scanners ( to scan their own documents ) and
to broadband ( to upload
into personal Digital Locker ) ?
*
On the other hand , is it not far easier for these citizens to use the built-in
camera of their
smart phones to take photos ( essentially , " images " ) of their
documents and directly
upload to their Digital Lockers ? After all , with built-in
mega-pixel camera , every smart
phone has become a " Personal Scanner " !
*
Why not take help from Global Software Companies to automatically
convert those scanned document images into WORD texts , using OCR
technology ?
Latest OCR soft ware have better than 95 % accuracy
Then let the document-owner access OCRed documents in his personal
Digital Locker and EDIT the documents thru his mobile / PC / Tablet ?
Let the onus for accuracy be with the document owner
I am sure , you are aware of the GOOGLE-BOOK project , under which ,
Google has scanned and OCRed and converted to text , billions of pages !
*
Or , why not get Indian Software Giants to develop a Mobile App ( to
be called , DigiDoc ? ) to enable a
document-owner to simply read
out aloud , each of his document , into the smart phone , to convert it
into a TEXT , using " Speech-to-Text " technology ?
Let the document be in any official Indian Language
And ask the Software Company to make the " Speech-to-Text " software
,
" Self Learning " as millions of document owners " correct
" online thru
" Editing " , all those words , mis-spelled by the software !
I believe , the " Bye-Product " of this " Self Learning "
software could well
re-define concepts such as > E Governance > National
Integration !
The document owner will speak out , his :
> Digital Locker Number
> Aadhar Card Number
> User ID
> Password
> Document Name
> Meta-tags / Keywords
When Mobile App acknowledges these details and connects him with his Digital
Locker , he will be prompted to " read out " his document
Later
on , he will be enabled to " View " his document online and EDIT it ,
wherever " Speech-to-Text " software has made any mistakes
Dear Ravishankarji ,
I
urge you to evaluate the alternatives suggested by me , before taking a final
decision
with
regards,
hemen
parekh
Mumbai
(M)
0 - 98,67,55,08,08
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