Delhi To Launch WhatsApp Governance — What Is It?

The Bharatiya Janata Party-led Delhi government is planning to launch an initiative, called 'WhatsApp governance', aimed at providing residents with online access to a range of services. From a marriage certificate to a driver’s licence, the residents will have the option to request these services via the Meta-owned platform, according to an Indian Express report.

"Through this service, citizens of Delhi can avail multi-departmental services from the convenience of their WhatsApp account, without the need for additional applications or physical visits to government offices," a senior official told The Indian Express.

Following the implementation of the initiative, the residents of the national capital will be able to apply for services, verify documents and download certificates from the comfort of their homes.

This follows after the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government had launched a similar 'doorstep' delivery scheme, offering over 30 such services. However, it’s been inactive for over a year and may soon be officially discontinued.

"For the past year, people have struggled with long queues and touts just to get basic certificates. To ease this, the government is working to launch the ‘WhatsApp Governance’ initiative," the report cited an official as saying.

The project will use WhatsApp's API and Generative AI to offer 25-30 services initially. These include district and departmental services. More services will be added in the later phase.

Explaining the model, the officials said that a dedicated WhatsApp number will be launched for the initiative. Users will be able to send a ‘Hi’ to start the conversation. Then, they’ll be guided to the concerned department and asked to proceed by filling out forms and completing verification. Once these formalities are completed, they can download certificates via a QR code and all of this will happen within the WhatsApp chat.

The platform will include an AI-powered multilingual chatbot. Initially, the services will be available in Hindi and English. This will help in the automation of the initiative, saving time and enhancing user experience. The bot will be designed to recognise user intent and assist the users accordingly.

Under the initiatives, updates on government schemes through texts, images and videos will also be directly shared with the public via WhatsApp.