The NDA government led by Narendra Modi came into power in May 2014, pioneering a new wave in governance with actively various using social media platforms like Twitter, facebook en all. For the first time in the political history of the country, India has a technocrat Prime Minister with 22 of his Cabinet ministers and the 42 of his 50 ministries actively using social media to engage with citizens, update them on government policies, and connect with them through live conversations. Modi is implementing his vision of ‘minimum government maximum governance’ via social media. One of the world’s most Twitter savvy leaders, Modi’s follower base has grown 400% from 4 million followers to 20 million since he was sworn in as the Prime Minister 2 years ago.
Digital Governance & Twitter Seva: 95% of ministers in Modi’s Government are active on Twitter
Over the last two years, the NDA government has used Twitter effectively for transparent & accountable governance. The ministries leading this charge are doing so using Twitter Seva, a customised e-governance delivery service developed for the Indian government. As an India-first innovation, Twitter Seva is currently being used by the the Ministry of Commerce (@DIPPGOI), the Ministry of External Affairs (@MEAIndia), the Ministry of Railways (@RailMinIndia), with more ministries to follow. These ministries have changed how the Government and citizens interact and have redefined the customer service culture in their respective public sectors.
Twitter Seva helps process large volume of Tweets, converts them into resolvable tickets and assigns them to the relevant authority for real-time resolution. The service is driving efficient and effective customer service as well as collation of real-time citizen feedback. Along with the personal accounts of ministers, the ministries are providing live assistance via a range of official handles (@CimGOI,@ctopassportseva, @eesl_india) and hashtags (#mociseva, #passportseva).