Govt Mulls Major Accessibility Upgrades For Its Websites, Digital Apps And Services

The Centre is reportedly planning to improve accessibility for all its websites, digital applications and services across government-to-government, government-to-business and government-to-citizen space.

Citing a senior government official, ET reported that the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology will anchor this project, suggesting ways to improve page and website loading times, enhance user interfaces on websites and apps and make them more accessible for people with disabilities.

“If you see the government websites of today, almost all the information is presented on the first landing page. This makes them (websites) slow. We plan to not only improve the accessibility for such websites but also make the UI (user interface) cleaner so that the user is not burdened with a lot of information at the same time,” the official said.

As per the report, in the initial phase, all IT ministry websites and applications will be upgraded to enhance accessibility. These upgrades are part of the IT ministry’s plan to improve the global visibility of Indian government apps and services.

“So, for example, we have a user who can not see very well. Why can a government website or app not have the option of narrating the contents to such users and guiding them to their choice effortlessly? If there is a need to integrate Bhashini, we can surely look into that as well,” the official added.

Meanwhile, in May the government announced plans to create a unified portal for all its digital public goods (DPGs), such as Aadhaar, the Unified Payments Interface, and the Open Network for Digital Commerce, to provide easy access to apps and services. 

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology will likely lead this initiative, collaborating with all ministries, departments, and agencies to detail the digital public infrastructure (DPI) they have created.

In April, the government established five working groups to address key issues such as data anonymisation, zero trust architecture, IoT and mobile device security, and digital education. MeitY formed these groups to develop guidelines and frameworks for the effective implementation of e-governance projects across various ministries and government departments.