Centre to launch AI-powered chatbot to handle public grievances soon

DARPG secretary V Srinivas said that the government is already using AI to categorise the grievances it receives into around 22,000 different categories. Now, he said, a ChatGPT-like chatbot developed by Bhashni, a division under the Digital India Corporation, will be launched soon. The next generation of CPGRAMS is also in the works and is likely to be completed by June 2025.

“The aim is to provide simpler registration to users and faster, more capable grievance officers,” he said.

Users will be able to ask for help filing a complaint or appeal. Since last year, AI has been used to categorise grievances based on location, including to the village level, and to filter out spam entries from genuine ones, he said.

Last year, till November 30, 19.45 lakh grievances were received and 17.37 lakh citizens registered on the portal from 2019 to 2023, as per DARPG’s annual report for 2023. On average, the grievances lodged in 2023 were disposed of in 17 days. Among ministries or departments with the most grievances, the Department of Financial Services (Banking Division) of the Union Finance Ministry had the highest number (1.61 lakh), followed by the Labour and Employment Ministry (1.50 lakh) and the Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare (1.15 lakh).

Among states, the Uttar Pradesh government had by far the highest grievances in 2023 at 2.31 lakh, followed by Gujarat (45,062) and Assam (41,837).

First launched in 2007, the CPGRAMS portal, pgportal.gov.in, allows citizens to register, file a grievance and track their status using a unique ID. The users can also file appeals if they are not satisfied with the reply given by the grievance officer. Among the kinds of complaints accepted on the portal are service-related issues, like complaints regarding electricity connections and water supply, as well as corruption allegations against government officials. The portal states that issues related to the Right to Information (RTI) Act, court matters, and religious topics are not addressed.