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New Delhi: The government’s WhatsApp chatbot, launched last year to book vaccination slots and download inoculation certificates, will become a one-stop-destination to access a slew of official documents. This will mean downloading a driving licence, income tax certificate or PAN card will become instantaneous over WhatsApp for citizens.
The pilot project has already been rolled out for tests, according to officials. The service is expected to be formally launched in the next few weeks. The WhatsApp chatbot interface will provide access to documents stored on a citizen’s DigiLocker.
The government has also changed the name of the MyGov Corona Helpdesk to MyGov Helpdesk to denote the expansion of services beyond just Covid-19 related resources. “The interface will have the option of unlocking DigiLocker services,” said a senior government official. “When you choose the DigiLocker option, it will authenticate with your Aadhaar and OTP and will inform you of the documents available.”
The interface will ask for the OTP and mobile number to which the certificate is linked and will provide it immediately. “It takes around 30 seconds to get the certificate,” the official said. About 100 million people use DigiLocker currently and it has also become the national academy depository with access to all certificates of Class 10 and 12, the official added. “In future, it will also become the health locker with all the health documents being made available there,” the person said.
Close to 80 million people have accessed the MyGov Corona Helpdesk for Covid-19 related information and around 32 million have downloaded Covid-19 vaccination certificates through WhatsApp chatbot so far. The prevalence, convenience and use of WhatsApp will bring down entry barriers and will make DigiLocker accessible to more people, said Amit Ranjan, who was one of the architects of the national DigiLocker project.
“Sometimes, people have problems signing in, forget their passwords etc. So, it might be a way to sidestep some of those problems as well. It’ll just make it accessible to a wider cross section of people,” he said. When vaccination details of travellers are sought, it is a cumbersome process – especially for the elderly – to log on to government portals and download the certificates. The WhatsApp chatbot is a conversational interface and since the instant messaging platform is used by over 500 million Indians, accessing these documents becomes easy.
Currently, the interface is available in English and Hindi, but there is a plan to put out more regional language versions in partnership with states. Around 14 states have enabled a similar chatbot in regional languages, but the central service is available only in English and Hindi, the official said.
Already several states had adopted the WhatsApp chatbot for citizen services. Several other use cases have also made it to the WhatsApp chatbot. These include a 24×7 helpline of the National Commission for Women for expectant mothers, West Bengal’s chatbot for citizens and farmers to access services like ration cards, lodge grievances and get information on paddy procurement, and Mumbai municipal corporation’s MyBMC Assist to provide administrative services to citizens and tourists. More than 400,000 common services centres (CSCs) also use the WhatsApp chatbot, which can be programmed to respond in several local languages along with Hindi and English.
Ranjan says it is quite safe from a security perspective. “The risk of carrying things in your mobile phone is there with any app on the mobile phone. I don’t think this is any different. So, it does not introduce any new security factors.”
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