The great vision that the CEO of MyGov, Shri Abhishek Singh laid out for us at the NASSCOM XperienceAI Virtual Summit is about changing the age-old perception of availing government services or communicating with them is fraught with challenges that impact the overall “customer experience”. And he reasons most powerfully - why should individuals run from pillar to post or portal to portal or app to app, to get benefits which are legitimately theirs? He cited numerous examples from diverse areas such as agriculture, healthcare, financial inclusivity, etc. and how the government is using AI-enabled technology to make life easy through seamless delivery for its citizens, and it can be made possible for the entire nation in the future. 

That’s right for 1.3 billion Indians residing in 28 states and 8 Union Territories if we set our goals right and collaborate efficiently. It’s a known fact that some states have a population that is greater than many of the European nations. Also, not shying away from an equally compelling piece of information – i.e. the sheer number of regional languages spoken. If we consider the dialects, then there may be thousands of different ways a machine can be queried for the same information. From an Indian context, NLP has to approach this vast expanse called diversity. 

Citizens love to interact with the government if they know how to, and the digital channels provided make things a lot easier. In the last five months, online traffic on interactive platforms has simply exploded, and there’s been a 4-fold rise in participation. Citizens are keen to provide feedback and feel a need to contribute to policy-making while doing so. 

Not only are the data in an unstructured format, but the responses have great variation too due to socio-economic factors and changing demographics. Often, the urban-rural divide is pronounced too and reflects in the responses. In so far, the education levels of respondents play an important role as well. All this information is channelled by the government through sentiment analysis tools (including on social media) to discern the mood of the nation concerning specific topics/issues. 

To most people, the government is one monolithic structure, and often, they don’t or can’t appreciate how it functions. When a query is raised, the embedded AI tools can guide it to the concerned department. Moreover, an individual can be a beneficiary of multiple schemes of the government, and this information should be easily available. And, without having to follow up, the respective services should be delivered proactively. It’s a citizen-centric approach to government services delivery and a major step forward in creating the WOW factor! This approach will also enable a better user experience and seamless delivery.

The COVID 19 page saw a massive increase in traffic during these last few months. It is being used to answer numerous queries about the disease, quell myths and distil correct information from the barrage of fake news that often does rounds. These queries are in different languages, and there’s no uniformity in the way they’re posed. For instance, the same question is being asked in multiple ways, but the AI algorithm can guide the user to correct information. Through NLP, the queries can be answered in the same language that is used by the participant to log in. 

It is a participative approach to governance where technology is used to have real-time interactions with citizens and gather a better understanding of the nation’s mood. Advanced analytics is being used to push the right amount of information on time and for people to remain engaged with the platform. 

The time is ripe for the private sector to partner with the government and transform a nation of 1.3 billion people. This is what will bridge the divide and empower citizens.