Govt to soon accept SMS as official document for e-governance services

Various government departments will soon start accepting mobile SMS as a valid official document while using e-governance services, according to a PTI report. This move comes months after IRCTC, the tourism and catering arm of the Indian Railways, started accepting ticket booking SMSes as official travel document allowing passengers for train journey.

Various services, including Right to Information (RTI), health, Aadhaar and education, will come under the initiative, called Mobile Seva. The government has already completed pilots with around 100 departments.

Launching the service, Department of Electronics and IT (DEITY) secretary J Satyanarayana said: "Like Railways, we have to bring in a system wherein by showing (transaction) SMS or, whatever be the case (like e-mail), the proof on mobile is accepted as a valid document. To increase our reach, we need to bring this kind of practice in mobile and e-governance."

According to Rajendra Kumar, joint secretary at DEITY, the department is ready with digital signature for mobile phones. This can be used in messages that need to be sent to those applying for various services.

(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)