to instantly read 150+ free stories & 250-word summaries of all our stories

App Sarkar

Government of India: The world’s biggest App Factory

The Indian government is on a massive mission to build apps. But our analysis of its efforts reveals that in its enthusiasm, it may be putting the app cart before the citizen horse.

17/10/16

Venkat Ananth

Given the structure of the government — horizontal at the central level (ministries, departments) and vertical at the state and the local government level — everyone wants to have their say

The government’s app push comes at a time when countries are looking the other way i.e. they have tried it and discarded it

Even a company with Flipkart’s scale and resources realized that going app-only was sacrificing user reach (which in the government’s case would be, citizen reach)

Apps, government officials believe, serve a completely different cause, or even a completely different audience. Apps even lead to easier recall.

IMG_7725-1920x932.jpg

Want to read a free 200 word summary?

Have you seen the television advertisements? A few village folk are beaming with pride on how they can now see progress of road construction in their village; peering into a smartphone and feeling like, yay, we have real time information on our fingertips. Well, that ad is all over the place. But, if you haven’t…

To access this post, you must purchase Monthly Recurring, Quarterly or Weekly Product.

Read the full story. Subscribe now.

Why subscribe? Let us explain.

Already Registered?

Related stories

More stories in /Reportage & /Technology

See all in Analysis & Reportage

This story is for subscribers only.
or

Read the full story. Subscribe now.

Why subscribe? Let us explain.

The selected story is available only for paid subscribers. Might want to change your mind!

Subscribe now

Already Registered?

Questions?

What is The Ken?

The Ken is a subscription-driven media site. We write one story a day (weekdays only). These stories have sharp, original insights on technology, business, science and healthcare from India.

Why do I have to sign up to read your stories?

Our stories are not free. Well, some select stories are. But, a significant part of what we write at The Ken is for subscribers only. We put in a lot of effort and resources in writing our stories and believe that you must pay for good journalism.
Hence, our three plans. 1) The annual membership
2) The free sign up
3) The recurring quarterly subscription

On journalism and why you should pay for it, if you haven’t already seen it, here’s a great explainer from John Oliver.

So, one must pay for journalism?

Yes.

How many stories will I get if I take an annual membership?

200+ stories.

And, in the free sign up?

Four stories every month.

Do I get a refund?

We allow you to sample our journalism for free before signing up, and after you do, we stand by its quality. But we do not offer refunds.

I am not getting my daily emails. Do I have to whitelist emails from The Ken?

An added benefit of your subscription (free/paid) are the daily personalised emails. These emails, at times, might end up in your spam/junk folder due to emojis, attachments or images. In case you’re not receiving these emails, it might help to whitelist us. If the problem still persists, write to us at [email protected].

Why am I unable to access the archives?

Full and unrestricted access to our archives is a feature of our annual membership.

My payment is not going through, what can I do?

Please write to us at [email protected] detailing the payment error or queries.

See all FAQs