Mobile-government: much needed, but still alien

This innovative technology is deeply applicable to a country like Pakistan.

KARACHI: The concept of an m-government, an increasingly popular phenomenon in the West, still seems to be an alien idea in Pakistan. On one hand, the West has adopted mobile technologies successfully and is utilising them on a daily basis; on the other, we Pakistanis have still not arisen above our basic problems to pay attention to such innovative technologies.

So, what is m-government? M-government is basically ‘Mobile Government’, which uses wireless technology and allows the government to engage citizens actively in real time information. With exponential growth in the number of mobile phone users worldwide, m-government is becoming a crucial part of developed countries’ government’s service delivery model to serve citizens. Through this technology, the government can contact citizens and update them about recent innovations and emergency situations.

This technology has the power to revolutionise citizens’ access to digital services, and has changed the way government officials perform their tasks and duties. Most of the states in the West and even in Asia have adopted mobile governance technologies in emergency situations, whereby the government informs its citizens about emergency updates via mobile phones, PDAs and pagers.

Citizens are informed by the government about emergency updates like natural disasters, wildfires and traffic jams, so that citizens prepare themselves in advance and are able to cope with emergency situations. After the 9/11 attacks, governments of Western countries have paid attention to different ways mobile technology could be used to benefit citizens.

But where do we, as Pakistanis, stand? Our country is going through such turmoil that our government hardly pays attention to cutting edge technology, especially when it has to be dealt with by the government itself. Rather than keeping citizens updated about emergency situations like bomb blasts and strikes in our country, our mobile networks are switched off. What kind of example is our government trying to portray?

While it seems that our government repeatedly fails to fulfil even basic needs, and expecting such wonderful initiatives from them seems like a pipe dream, I still have not lost hope. I believe that one day, I will live in a country that genuinely cares about my well-being, to the point of going out of its way to ensure that it keeps me in the loop when it comes to the dissemination of important information.

THE AUTHOR WRITES ON POLITICS, MANAGEMENT AND BUSINESS, AND HAS WORKED IN THE IT INDUSTRY

Published in The Express Tribune, April 1^st, 2013.

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