Sandes

Subject: Science and Technology

Context: National Informatics Centre (NIC) has launched an instant messaging app on the lines of WhatsApp.

Concept:

The launch of the app is also a part of the government strategy to push for use of India-made software so as to build an ecosystem of indigenously developed products.
In August 2020, the NIC released the first version of the app, which said that the app could be used by both central and state government officials “for intra and inter-organization communication.
Open initially only to government officers, it has now been released for the common public as well.
The need of app was felt in Post-Covid scenario for secure communication as more and more people worked from home.
It has interface similar to available messaging apps.
The chats on government instant messaging systems or GIMS can be backed up to a users’ email (right now it doesn’t have to transfer chat history between two platfprms)
It needs a valid mobile number or email id for registration and has features such as group making, broadcast message, message forwarding and emojis.
As an additional safety feature, it allows a user to mark a message as confidential, which, the app’s description says, will allow the recipient to be made aware the message should not be shared with others.
Current limitation is app does not allow the user to change their email id or registered phone number.