Nagarik App has created a buzz with a motto of “Sarkari sewa haat haat ma” since its release on May 2, 2021. This is an app developed to ease delivery of governmental services to the general public. Most of the governmental services are to be linked in its system so that one does not need to carry the required documents and place it in each of the offices they visit.
On Asadh 15, Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers released the Nagarik App (Operations and Management) Guidelines- 2078, thereby cancelling the Nagarik Mobile App Operations Guidelines- 2076.
The guidelines has some updates regarding the delivery of services via Nagarik App, the responsibilities of concerned authorities in operations and management, and some guidelines to the public too.
Integrated Governmental Units and Departments
As of now, Nagarik App can integrate the services of following governmental units and departments:
- Offices of Nepal Government’s Ministries, Departments and Units and Offices
- Courts, Constitutional Bodies, Commissions and Secretariat Offices
- State Government and units
- Local Government
- Universities
- Offices, units, authorities, corporations and councils having full or partial ownership of Nepal Government
These units can integrate their services in Nagarik App. Any other private entity must grant a permission from the Ministry of CIT to integrate its service in this app’s system.
Guidelines for Registration and Service Delivery
Every citizen using Nagarik App must make sure that their SIM card is registered under their own name. It is because Nagarik App does not verify your ID with the number which is not issued in your name by the telecom authority.
The users should proceed for the registration as below:
- They must enter the mobile number registered by their own name for registering in Nagarik App
- The users would get an OTP after entering their mobile number which they need to enter for verification
- Then they must fill up their details from any of the identity documents among Citizenship ID, Voters Card or Passport
- Nagarik App forwards this user information to match with the KYC in their respective telecommunication service providers for further verification
- The verification status would be notified to the users through this app. If not verified, the process would be stopped and the user must follow some other procedures mentioned there for verification.
The joint team of Ministry of Communications, Information and Technology; Nepal Information Technology Centre; Office of Ministers and Council of Ministers; along with PM’s IT Consultant- Asgar Ali has developed this app for all the citizens of country. These units have their own role in ensuring the smooth operation and management of this app.
The Office of Prime Minister is liable to play a role of facilitator in the operations of Nagarik App. It would lead in ensuring the privacy of citizens by coordinating and guiding the ministries and departments in this.
The Ministry of Communications, Information and Technology is the prime authority to handle operations, data management, technical maintenance and data security. This guidelines has indicated about a rule for conducting technical audit of the system of Nagarik App in every 6 months to ensure data security.
Similarly, an action plan for Nagarik App would be prepared and presented to the PM’s office in every four months.
Any Updates for the Service Providers?
Yes, there are some of the guidelines for the service providers who integrate their services with the system of Nagarik App. In this regard, they should make online services in Nagarik Mobile App accessible for 24 hours by the users if possible (especially the governmental bodies). In addition to that, telecom companies should issue SIM cards only to the users who register the SIM in their own name.
Likewise, this guideline has also indicated the members of coordination committee which would be led by the Minister of Communication, Information and Technology. This committee would be operable whichever becomes the ruling party in the leadership.
Nagarik App is a game changer in delivery system of governmental services in Nepal. This would be more effective after the integration of all the governmental services into its system. Though the issues during ID verification may arise in the beginning, the team of Nagarik App has aimed to solve this process by cross checking and cleaning the data within a year. This would rectify the wrong entries and verify the ID of citizens. On one hand, we citizens also should be cautious while registering and entering our details so as to ease in verification. To register and verify, you can take a look at this article.
