Sakaala services to go online

If all goes well, Mission aims to launch the project on a pilot basis next month

After a three-month roller coaster ride marked with success stories and impediments, the Sakaala Mission is all set to take the scheme up a notch higher.

If all goes well, citizens will be able to access online applications to avail any of the 151 services presently in the offing by the 11 government departments. The Mission, aiming to launch online services on a pilot basis by next month, hopes to also introduce the online payment facility, where applicants can make payments for services sought through mobile phones, credit or debit cards, or through net banking.

Citizens in the rural areas, who, despite being the largest service seekers, have no access to electricity, let alone internet facility and in this backdrop, the feasibility of the project is a big question mark.

The Mission plans to seek the support of cyber centers across the State, to help applicants scan, upload and process the documents, online. DistrictOne centers too will be roped in to assist the applicants.

Munish Moudgil, Additional Mission Director, Sakaala Mission told Deccan Herald that the department had sought technical assistance of the National Informatics Center (NIC), and had instructed the 11 departments to help Mission build the interface.

He said that applicants will be asked to attach minimum number of relevant documents, while applying online. Soon after, the system will generate an acknowledgment number, which should be produced by the applicant at the department concerned. Moudgil said that though the applicant makes the submission online, he/she will be required to avail the processed document in person.

During the processing period, the citizens can even check the status of their application or track the status of the service sought online.

The officer said that this security measure was pertinent to rule out the possibilities of impersonation. Moudgil said the objective behind this facility was to give the citizens more choices, apart from making the scheme more people-friendly.

However, implementation of the scheme by itself is a “Herculean task” as Moudgil himself puts it. The Mission needs to seek co-operation from all the departments to commit to the upgrading process.

Some of the departments don’t even have computers, let alone the capability, manpower or resources to process applications online.

School to promote facility

A City-based school has adopted the promotion of Sakaala, as part of its curriculum.
In a bid to expose students to work on development campaigns, Aditi Mallya International School will work with Sakaala Mission group to promote the scheme in Yelahanka constituencies. As many as 37 students of class XI have been divided into four groups.

While the first group will work on developing the publicity material - like making posters, billboards, video films, jingles and articles - the second group will focus on new media. This group will open a Facebook page on Sakaala, get onto to twitter, write blogs and create chain mails to popularise the scheme and concept. The third group will create street plays, hold door-to-door campaigns and go to other schools and campaign with other children about the scheme. The fourth group will assess the impact of the publicity campaign by developing questionnaires, data collection and research.