Twitter launches e-governance initiative #TwitterSamvad

With a tweet, Prime Minister Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) launched #TwitterSamvad, a service where 16 government accounts (including that of PM and various chief ministers, Indian Railways, The Indian Army, etc) will now be able to send their tweets as an SMS to Indian citizens. It is aimed to boost the nation’s e-governance plans by helping government bodies and leaders communicate directly with citizens on a daily basis via tweets and SMS on their mobile devices. With Twitter Samvad, every day, a set of curated tweets will be delivered from the government and leaders’ accounts to mobile users across the country as SMSes. 

Updates on government services, policies and activities will be delivered to any user with a mobile device who signs up for the service with each of the 16 launch partners. Anyone with a mobile phone, with or without an internet data plan, can register for the service by giving a missed call to a unique number for each of the 16 partners. Twitter Samvad can also be used during emergency with the ability to deliver live updates by government bodies, including time sensitive information like law and order situations as well as details about any rescue efforts.

Twitter, launched 9 years ago, was invented on SMS to begin with. So, in a way, it’s going back to its roots in India with the launch of Twitter Samvad.

Image: Naresh Sharma
Twitter CEO Dick Costolo speaking at the launch of #TwitterSamvad

Twitter CEO Dick Costolo, said, “Based on Indian technological innovation, Twitter Samvad is dedicated and specially built for the largest democracy of the world. The 2014 Lok Sabha elections were the first-ever ‘Twitter Elections’ in India and we want to continue contributing to the development of digital governance in India. As part of the Prime Minister’s Digital India initiative, this tweet-powered service enables citizens to be the first to know about the government’s actions by receiving political content real-time on their mobile devices anywhere in the country.” Twitter Samvad will act as a mobile microphone for people using it, believes Costolo. 

In his first-ever visit to India, he said India is the fastest growing market for Twitter and he is ready to take the acquisition route to ramp up innovation for the platform. Twitter had recently acquired an Indian company ZipDial which has led to the Twitter Samvad initiative launched yesterday. Rishi Jaitly, Twitter’s Market Director for India and Southeast Asia, said, “We are proud to have launched a service here that is for the people and of the people. This can eventually give every political leader and every government organisation a mobile microphone to connect with each Indian, whether in Imphal or in Diu or in Leh or in Puducherry.”
 
Here is a list of a 16 government partners who have participated in the launch of Twitter Samvad:

Accounts	Description	Phone Number
@NarendraModi	Personal account of Indian Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi	011 3006 3006
@PMOIndia	Official account of the Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi	011 3006 3007
@adgpi	Official account of Additional Directorate General of Public Information, IHQ of Ministry of Defence	011 3049 6116
@RailMinIndia	Official account of the Ministry of Railways	011 3049 6222
@anandibenpatel	Personal account of Anandiben Patel, Chief Minister of Gujarat	011 3049 6050
@CMofKarnataka	Official account for the Chief Minister of Karnataka, Siddaramaiah	011 3049 4737
@CPBLR	Official account for Mr. M N Reddi, IPS, Commissioner of Police, Bengaluru City	011 3049 5141
@BlrCityPolice	Official account for Bengaluru City Police	011 3049 5242
@blrcitytraffic	Official account for Bengaluru City Traffic Police	011 3049 5464
@ncbn	Personal account of N Chandrababu Naidu, Chief Minister, Andhra Pradesh,	011 3049 5767
@TelanganaCMO	Official account of Chief Minister of Telangana, Kalvakuntla Chandrashekar Rao	011 3049 5868
@YadavAkhilesh	Personal account of Akhilesh Yadav, Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh	011 3008 3380
@UPGovt	Official account for the Government of Uttar Pradesh	011 3049 6353
@NitishKumarJDU	Personal account of Nitish Kumar, Chief Minister of Bihar	011 3008 2828
@MamataOfficial	Personal account of Mamata Banerjee, Chief Minister, West Bengal	011 3008 3333
@MeaIndia	Official account of Ministry of External Affairs, India, Syed Akbaruddin	011 3049 5969

 
How Twitter Samvad will work for users:

• Users will have to give a missed call to each of the numbers listed above to follow each of their Twitter accounts. For example, for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the number is 011 3006 3006.
• Immediately after placing the missed call, users will start to receive a curated set of Tweets throughout the day keeping them in touch with leaders and government agencies.
• In case of emergency or urgent public announcements, account owners (leaders, government agencies, disaster management cell) can instantly send an update on a given situation to all registered users.