Friday, 4 September 2015

E-GOV and DIGITAL INDIA SUMMIT


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




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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   )

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Sunday, 18 August 2013


I SIN><U SIN


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 “


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  )

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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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