Newly-elected Umreth MLA Harshad Parmar takes oath as Gujarat Assembly member
Gandhinagar, May 26
Harshad Govind Parmar, who was recently elected to the Umreth assembly seat in a bypoll, on Tuesday took oath in Gandhinagar as a Member of the Gujarat Legislative Assembly before Speaker Shankar Chaudhary.
A release said that Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel was present during Parmar's oath-taking ceremony.
Chief Whip of the Legislative Assembly Balkrishna Shukla, Minister for Legislative and Parliamentary Affairs Rushikesh Patel, and other members of the State Council of Ministers and MLAs were also present on the occasion.
Meanwhile, under the leadership of Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, the state has taken an important step towards realising Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of "Nagrik Devo Bhava" by advancing from One Day Governance to WhatsApp Governance, a release said.
Towards this objective, an MoU was signed in Gandhinagar between the State Government and Meta Platforms Inc, in the presence of the Chief Minister.
Under the guidance of the Chief Minister, the state government, in accordance with the recommendations of the GARC, has made approximately 20 citizen-centric services from five major departments available via a WhatsApp chatbot through the Sugam Digital Gujarat Initiatives.
The MoU between Meta and the State Government will play an important role in making these services simpler and faster for citizens while also ensuring last-mile delivery, a release said.
Accordingly, through a WhatsApp-based chatbot available in English and Gujarati, citizens across the state will soon be able to avail nearly 20 important services directly on their phones from home through a single WhatsApp number.
Also, citizens will be freed in the coming days from navigating multiple web portals or standing in queues at government offices for such services.
The services that will be made available by the State Government on WhatsApp include important facilities such as grievance redressal assistance, income, caste and EWS certificates, ration card updates, revenue records and official affidavits.
— ANI
Reader Comments
One Day Governance to WhatsApp Governance... sounds nice in theory, but let's see how it works on ground. Many villagers still struggle with basic smartphone usage. Hope the government also provides training and helpline support. Otherwise it'll just be another fancy announcement.
Finally some tech-driven governance! I'm from Gujarat and I remember my father spending entire days at the talati office for a simple income certificate. If this WhatsApp chatbot works, it'll save lakhs of man-hours. Meta partnership is big - let's hope data privacy is taken care of.
20 services on WhatsApp is good start but we need more - like passport applications, land records, pension schemes. Also, what about the rural areas where internet is patchy? Hope the state works on connectivity too. Good move overall but implementation is key 🔑
As someone who works in tech, I appreciate the digitization push. But WhatsApp is a Meta product - our government data will go through a foreign company's servers. We need to ensure data localization and security. Otherwise it's like giving the keys of our house to a neighbor.
Great step! E-governance initiatives like this really empower the aam aadmi. My cousin in Surat says they've been using WhatsApp for property tax payments and it's smooth. Hopefully caste and income certificates will be equally easy. Proud of Gujarat leading the way 🇮🇳
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