Government agencies waste money on building apps that only a tiny fraction will use

Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWS&SB) is the latest to join the app bandwagon with its own Android app. Was this really required? Unsurprisingly, it doesn't have the funds to implement and manage the infrastructure that is the sole reason of its existence.

Update [17-Dec-2015] -  The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) will be launching an app ... that will help citizens click and send photographs of bad road conditions.

Considering that the Internet penetration in India is around 19 per cent of which 50 per cent are mobile-only internet users, this app will cater to a minuscule portion of Hyderabad's population using mobiles running Android. Couldn't their website have been made friendly enough to be accessible from ANY device?

In the absence / lack of enforcement of any guidelines by the Government of India on how governmental agencies & government run utility companies should build their websites and apps, no thought is given to the usability & accessibility of these resources for internet based end-users. What's worse, there is no accountability on how the private user data collected by government agencies will be managed.

All websites designed for or by the United States government must comply with the requirements of Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act. All other websites (e.g., commercial, private) should strive to be accessible and compliant with Section 508.

I guess there have to be some dramatic cases of identity theft & data loss before compliance laws and regulations are framed and enforced.

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