5-Jan-2021: Union Minister for Women & Child Development and Textiles and Union Education Minister jointly launch the Toycathon-2021

Union Minister for Women & Child Development and Textiles Smt. Smriti Zubin Irani and Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ jointly launched the Toycathon 2021 here today. This Toycathon is aimed to conceptualize innovative toys based on the Indian value system which will inculcate the positive behaviour and good value among the children. Shri Praveen Kumar, Secretary, Prof. Anil Sahasrabudhe, Chairman, AICTE and Dr Abhay Jere, Chief Innovation Officer, MoE were present during the launch event of Toycathon-2021. The Union Ministers also jointly launched the Toycathon Portal on the occasion.

Addressing a press Conference on the occasion Smt. Smriti Irani stated that India imports 80 per cent of toys and the government is working towards promoting the indigenous toy industry for making the country self-reliant in this sector. She said that the collaboration with Ministry of Education paves the way for the participation of students, faculties from all schools, colleges and universities of the country with regards to needs of the MSME industry in our country. Appreciating the initiative the Minister said, “This is the first time when school children will innovate, design and conceptualize toys also for specially abled ‘Divyaang children’. She informed that students and faculty members participating in Toycathon can get prizes upto 50 lakhs. The minister further stated that Commerce Ministry and MSME Ministry have taken various steps to protect the toy manufacturing industry and to make it competitive. “To create awareness about safe toys which are not harmful chemically, Ministry of Education and Ministry of WCD will adopt special measures,” she added. Smt. Irani also thanked those industries participants who have responded to the clarion call of the Hon’ble Prime Minister and supported Atmanirbhar Bharat  with regard to this segment of  toy manufacturing.

Speaking on the occasion, Shri Pokhriyal said that Toycathon is being organized to develop India as the global Toy manufacturing hub. He said size of toy market in India is about one billion USD but unfortunately 80% of the toys are imported. The launch of Toycathon today, is an endeavor by the government to create an ecosystem for the domestic Toy industry and the local manufacturers, tapping the untapped resources and utilizing their potential. Recalling the vision of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi of 5 trillion-dollar economy and considering the huge potential of our toy market, he exhorted all to make India ‘Atmanirbhar’ in Toy industry. He further stated that National Education Policy-2020 also lays emphasis on innovation and research in learning, starting from the primary education. Aligned with the goals of National Education Policy, the Toycathon aims to capture innovative prowess of 33 crores students across the country, he added.

About Toycathon 2021:

Taking a giant leap in the path of becoming ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD), Ministry of Textile, Ministry of Commerce and Industries, Ministry of MSME, Ministry of I&B and All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) have jointly launched Toycathon-2021.

This is a special kind of hackathon where students and teachers from schools and colleges, design experts, toy experts and startups will get together to crowd source ideas for developing toys and games that are based on Indian culture and ethos, local folklore and heroes, and Indian value systems. While this will greatly help India develop into a global hub for toys and games, it will also help our children to understand the ethos and values of Indian culture as envisaged in the National Education Policy 2020.

The Toycathon is based on nine themes viz. Indian Culture, History, Knowledge of India and Ethos; Learning, Education and Schooling; Social and human values; Occupations & specific fields; Environment; Divyaang ; Fitness and sport; Out of the box, creative and logical thinking and Rediscovering/redesigning traditional Indian toys

The Toycathon will have 3 variants of tracks of Junior Level, Senior Level and Start up Level and will allow participation of students and teachers from schools, colleges and universities apart from startups and toy experts. Participants will have two options for idea submission; they can either submit ideas for the published problem statements or under novel toy concepts category. This is the high time we utilize brightest creative minds and carve out games based on our Indian culture, tradition and heritage and stories of ancient India showcasing the beliefs and traditions of people.

25-Nov-2020: iOS version of the Nyaya Bandhu App and its onboarding on UMANG platform to be launched on Constitution Day

Committed to fulfil its mandate of Free legal aid and Access to Justice as enunciated under Article 39A of the Constitution of India, Secretary (Department of Justice) would be launching the iOS version of the Nyaya Bandhu Application and its onboarding on UMANG platform (MeitY), on Samvidhan Divas 26th Nov, 2020. The UMANG platform would also enable to make pan India easy accessibility of this mobile based legal service to approx. 2.5 Cr registered users. Nyaya Bandhu mobile application was launched by Union Minister for Law and Justice and IT Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad in February, 2019 to ensure empowerment of common man by popularizing technology to a level that it becomes an instrument of change.

In securing the Justice as mentioned in the Preamble, Department of Justice has been giving primacy to infuse and deploy technological solutions to realize and make justice accessible to all in India. Especially to address the challenge of lack of effective legal representation and assistance to the needy and disadvantaged population by the advocates, Department of Justice envisages the need to create a database of such advocates, who have agreed to volunteer their time and services as Pro Bono Advocates.

Launched in 2017, Department of Justice has come up with India’s first endeavour to institutionalize a framework for pro bono dispensation in the legal arena. In its maiden attempt, to firstly connect the registered litigants/applicants with the registered Pro Bono Advocates, Department of Justice is leveraging technology to remove any geographical barrier in availing access to justice. In this regard, Department of Justice has partnered with CSC e- Governance Services and developed Nyaya Bandhu Mobile Application on Android platform.

To deliberate on highlighting the prevalent pro bono practices and its scope in India, an experience sharing session has also been envisaged where in speakers from multifaceted background have been invited. This includes representatives from National Legal Service Authority, Law firms and Civil Society Organizations. Other key participants of the event would include representatives from Legal Service Authorities (State &District), CSC e-Governance Services India Limited, UMANG, Bar Council(National/ State), Law Schools, Law Firms, and CSOs  etc.

The webcast of the event will be available on https://webcast.gov.in/molj/doj/at 12 pm on 26th November,2020.

Constitution Day or Samvidhan Divas is celebrated every year on 26th November to commemorate the adoption of the Constitution of India and to acknowledge the unprecedented efforts of the Founding Fathers in the making of the Indian Constitution, amid historic challenges and events. In taking forward this novel ideas, principles and values enunciated in this Fundamental Law of the Land, in 2019, Department of Justice was nominated as the Nodal Coordinating department and the forerunner for the execution of pan Indian awareness programme on Citizens’ Duties including Fundamental Duties as enshrined under the Indian Constitution.  Even amidst the effect of Lockdown due to Pandemic, Department of Justice has been able to spread the key message on Fundamental Duties, leveraging different technological tools.

21-Nov-2020: Online conference under chairmanship of Union IT Minister to be organized to mark 3 Years of UMANG

To mark the occasion of 3 years of UMANG and 2000+ services milestone, an online conference is being organized under the chairmanship of Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad, the Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology, Communications and Law & Justice on 23.11.2020 at 16.00 Hrs. with the objective to take suggestions/feedback from about 20 partner departments. The key partners of UMANG are Employee Provident Fund Organization, Direct Benefit Transfer scheme departments, Employee State Insurance Corporation, Ministries of Health, Education, Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Staff Selection Commission (SSC). In coordination with Ministry of External Affairs, UMANG’s international version will be launched during the conference for select countries that include USA, UK, Canada, Australia, UAE, Netherlands, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand.  It will help Indian international students, NRIs and Indian tourists abroad, to avail Government of India services, anytime. It will also help in taking India to the world through ‘Indian Culture’ services available on UMANG and create interest amongst foreign tourists to visit India.

The UMANG mobile app (Unified Mobile Application for New-age Governance) is a Government of India all-in-one single, unified, secure, multi-channel, multi-lingual, multi-service mobile app. providing access to high impact services of various organizations of Centre and States.

UMANG was developed by National e-Governance Division (NeGD), Ministry of Electronics & IT. It was dedicated to the Nation on November 23, 2017, by our Prime Minister with 163 services. Within a short period of its successful implementation, UMANG attained four illustrious awards including ‘Best m-Government service’ award at the 6th World Government Summit held at Dubai, UAE in Feb 2018.

In complete resonance with Digital India’s vision of “Power to Empower”, the aim to develop UMANG was to enable ‘Ease of Living’ for Citizens by facilitating simple and effortless access to major Government services from a single mobile app.

UMANG has now grown to provide 2039 services (373 from 88 Central departments, 487 from 101 departments of 27 States and 1179 services for utility bill payments) and the count is galloping ahead!

The UMANG Mobile app is available on Android, iOS, all web browsers platforms and select 80 services on KaiOS (available on Jio feature phones). UMANG has reached a level of more than 3.75 crore downloads and ~2.5 crore registered users while maintaining an average Play Store rating of  >4 from more than 136 K users.

28-Sep-2020: EPFO services most accessed on UMANG App

The Unified Mobile Application for New-age Governance (UMANG) has been a big hit among EPF subscribers enabling them to access services during COVID-19 pandemic from the comfort of their homes in a hassle free manner. Adding to the 16 services already on the Umang App, EPFO has now started another facility enabling EPS members to apply for Scheme Certificate under Employees’ Pension Scheme, 1995.

Scheme certificate is issued to members who withdraw their EPF contribution but wish to retain their membership with EPFO, to avail pension benefits on attainment of retirement age. A member becomes eligible for pension only if he has been, cumulatively, a member of the Employees’ Pension Scheme,1995 for at least 10 years. Upon joining a new job, Scheme Certificate ensures that previous pensionable service is added to pensionable service rendered with the new employer thereby, increasing the amount of pension benefits. Further, Scheme Certificate is also useful for family members to avail family pension, in case of untimely death of the eligible member.

The ease of applying for Scheme Certificate through UMANG App will now help members avoid unnecessary hardship of physically applying for it, especially during pandemic times and will also eliminate unnecessary paperwork.  The facility shall benefit over 5.89 crore subscribers. For availing the service on Umang App, an active Universal Account Number (UAN) and a mobile number registered with the EPFO is required.

By successfully bringing state-of-the-art technology to the doorstep of its subscribers, EPFO has remained to be most popular service provider on UMANG App. Out of the 47.3 crore hits clocked by the app since August 2019, 41.6 crore or 88% of them were meant for EPFO services. With India witnessing massive growth in digital connectivity through mobile phones, EPFO is making more and more services digitally accessible to members even in remotest locations through UMANG App.

About UMANG: UMANG (Unified Mobile Application for New-age Governance) is developed by Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and National e-Governance Division (NeGD) to drive Mobile Governance in India. UMANG provides a single platform for all Indian Citizens to access pan India e-Gov services ranging from Central to Local Government bodies and other citizen centric services.

26-Aug-2020: MOU signed between NeGD and CSC E-Governance Services India Limited making services on UMANG app available to citizens through the network of 3.75 lakh CSCs

With an objective to realise Digital India’s vision of “Power to Empower” and to enable Digital Inclusion across the length and breadth of India, the National e-Governance Division (NeGD), Ministry of Electronics & IT (MeitY) has signed an MOU with CSC (Common Service Center) e Governance Services India Limited on August 26, 2020 to facilitate delivery of UMANG services at CSCs, in an assisted mode, thereby making services on UMANG app available to citizens through the network of3.75 lakh CSCs. The CSC operators Village Level Entrepreneurs (VLEs) will enable citizens to avail e-Governance services of 140 Departments through the UMANG App. This will benefit those citizens who either do not have access to smartphones or are not comfortable accessing App based e services on their own. For the masses, this will not only enhance access to government services significantly, but also expand the gamut of services that VLEs offer citizens, thereby increasing their income and viability. All these UMANG services are being enabled on CSCs without any additional cost and NeGD is making all services available to CSCs at zero cost.

Common Services Centres or CSCs, set up under the CSC Scheme of MeitY, are a strategic cornerstone of the Digital India programme and key access points for delivery of various electronic services to villages in India. UMANG (Unified Mobile Application for New-Age Governance) is the common unified platform for delivery of services of various Government Departments through the mobile platform. This invaluable synergy between UMANG and CSCs, will make available over 1000+services from 140 departments on the UMANG platform to CSCs. This will be of great advantage to the 140 departments connected on UMANG platform too, as their services will be delivered in an assisted mode now, in one go, without incurring any cost.

UMANG was developed by National e-Governance Division (NeGD), Ministry of Electronics & IT. It was dedicated to the Nation on November 23, 2017, by our Hon’ble Prime Minister. Within a short period of its successful implementation, the mobile app attained four illustrious awards including ‘Best m-Government service’ award at the 6th World Government Summit held at Dubai, UAE in Feb 2018. The aim to develop UMANG has been to facilitate ease of access to major Government services for citizens from a single mobile app.

The UMANG Mobile app is available on Android, iOS, all web browsers platforms and select 57 services on KaiOS (available on Jio feature phones). The app can be downloaded by giving a missed call on 97183-97183 or by clicking on https://web.umang.gov.in/uaw/i/v/ref. UMANG has reached a level of more than 3.12 Crore downloads, with 2.05 Crore registered users while maintaining an average Play Store rating of ~4 from more than 100K users. Presently 1,011 services (294 from Central, 441 from State departments, 276 from Bill payments), from 70 Central departments, 71 State departments from 26 States are available on UMANG and the count is galloping ahead! UMANG has so far seen about 100 Crore service transactions and about 200 Crore Hits.

This significant alliance of UMANG and CSCs will empower lakhs of citizens in our country, especially during these unprecedented times, ensuring ease, convenience, and security.

22-May-2020: IMD Weather Services VIA UMANG Mobile App

The UMANG mobile app (Unified Mobile Application for New-age Governance)  is a Government of India all-in-one single, unified, secure, multi-channel, multi-platform, multi-lingual, multi-service mobile app, powered by a robust back-end platform providing access to high impact services of various organizations (Central and State).  Prime Minister of India launched the UMANG App in 2017 to bring major government services on a single mobile app, with a larger goal to make the government accessible on the mobile phone of our citizens. About 660 services from 127 departments & 25 states and about 180 utility bill payment services are live and more are in pipeline. UMANG user base has crossed 2.1 Crore including Android, iOS, Web and KaiOS. Citizens can also access their Digilocker from UMANG and give their feedback after availing any service through Rapid Assessment System (RAS) which has been integrated with UMANG.

MeitY has taken various initiatives in recent past to ease of lives of citizens by facilitating online delivery of Government services. To further enhance the initiatives of Digital India Programme, MeitY has brought the India Meteorological Department (IMD) services on the “UMANG App”.

The following 7 services hosted on http://mausam.imd.gov.in web site of IMD have been on-boarded on UMANG Mobile application:

1. Current Weather -Current temperature, humidity, wind speed, direction for 150 cities updated 8 times a day. Information on sunrise/ sunset and moonrise/ moonset is also given.
2. Nowcast- Three hourly warnings of localized weather phenomena and their intensity issued for about 800 stations, and districts of India by State Meteorological Centers of IMD. In case of severe weather, its impact also is included in the warning.
3. City Forecast – Past 24 hours and 7 day forecast of weather conditions around 450 cities in India are given.
4. Rainfall Information- All India district Rainfall information daily, weekly, monthly and cumulative series are available.
5. Tourism Forecast- Past 24 hours and 7 day forecast of weather conditions of around 100 Tourist cities in India are provided.
6. Warnings- The alert issued to warn citizens of approaching dangerous weather. It is colour coded in Red, Orange and Yellow are the alert levels with Red as the most severe category. Issued twice a day for all districts for the coming five days.
7. Cyclone- Cyclone warnings and alerts provides the track of cyclonic storms along with likely time and point of crossing of coast. Impact based warnings, area/district wise, are issued so that appropriate preparation including evacuation of vulnerable areas can be done.

The IMD services on UMANG App have been inaugurated by Secretary, MoES   along with President & CEO, NeGD, DG IMD and Director, NeGD (UMANG) at 1200 Hrs. on 22nd May, 2020.

 The UMANG App can be downloaded by giving missed call on 97183-97183.