Question : Government Functionaries on Social Media

Will the Minister of Electronics and Information Technology be pleased to state:

(a) the number and the details of Government functionaries including Ministries, Departments and Government officers who have signed up for the social media platform Koo in their official capacity;

(b) whether the Government had issued any directive requiring the aforementioned Government functionaries to sign up on the said app and if so, the details thereof;

(c) the level of involvement and the nature of support given by the Government to such apps and other indigenously developed apps; and

(d) whether any incentives over and above the cash awards are provided by the Government to these apps and if so, the details thereof?

a): Key organisations from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) have set up accounts on Koo, India’s own micro-blogging platform. The handle details are as given below:

Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology: @Meity

MyGov: @MyGovindia

Digital India: @Digitalindia

Umang App: @Umang

The information with regard to other Ministries / Departments and officers who have signed up Koo is not maintained by the MeitY.

(b): No, Sir.








(c) and (d): MeitY in partnership with Atal Innovation Mission (AIM)-Niti Aayog launched Digital India AatmaNirbhar Bharat Innovation Challenge. The innovation challenge was a joint initiative of AIM, MeitY Startup Hub (MSH) and MyGov. All stakeholders were involved from Conceptualization to evaluation stage. A total of 6,940 applications under various categories as given below were received:

S. No. Category Individual Organization Total Applications
1 Business 610 532 1,142
2 Health & Wellness 517 384 901
3 E-Learning 579 483 1,062
4 Social Networking 780 375 1,155
5 Games 244 82 326
6 Office & Work From Home 355 307 662
7 News 166 71 237
8 Entertainment 201 119 320
9 Others 487 648 1,135
Total Applications 3,939 3,001 6,940

Salient features: The shortlisted Apps will be put up on leader board for the information of citizens. Apps that are found to be suitable for use of Government will be adopted and guided for maturity. The relevant Apps may also be listed on GeM. To give a push to India App ecosystem by identifying the best Indian Apps that has the potential to become leaders in their respective categories.

It was decided that the winners in each category would be monetarily awarded. The award amount for First was INR 20 Lakh, Second was INR 15 Lakh and the third was INR 10 Lakh. A total of INR 3.80 Crore has been awarded to 24 winners.

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