Voter ID at doorstep: In Manipur’s Ukhrul, digital services find many takers

Under the E-District Services initiative, the district overcame the roadblocks of the Covid years and the ethnic violence that has roiled the state since 2023 to provide an all-encompassing common platform to render all government-related services online through CSCs.

According to data from Ukhrul’s district office, the time it took for people to access and avail of government services physically has been reduced by over 40% due to digitisation. Data also shows that citizen visits to government offices have dipped by over 70% while 50,000-plus records have been digitised.

Phungchon Zimik, 35, who has been running a CSC in Ukhrul village since 2018, says the number of people availing of online services has shot up in the last year. Zimik attributes this to more awareness meetings being conducted by the DC’s office.

“Earlier, very few people would come… mostly for Aadhaar or PAN card-related issues. But now, we get 15-20 people a day. Most of them are young, and they come for their caste certificates, domicile certificates, to enrol in the PM-Vishwakarma scheme and get their PM-JAY (Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana) health card,” he says.

Vaikham Ronra, 22, a student of St Joseph College, who has been living in Ukhrul for the past five years, got his caste certificate a year ago after visiting a CSC. Ronra says his younger brother Somayon, 18, will apply for a voter card online next month.

K Chinaongam, a 37-year-old salon owner, only had his Aadhaar and PAN card till five years ago. “Once it (the services) went online, I updated my Aadhaar and applied for a voter ID card in one go,” he says.

Raj Kumar, 17, who helps his father Prem Chaudhary and his uncle Nirmal Chaudhary run Charls Café, is the first member of his family who got his Aadhaar card made in Manipur. “My family came here 12 years ago from Motihari in Bihar. They all had their documents. My Aadhaar was made at school; my teachers applied for it online,” he says.

Varenchon, 29, another CSC operator in the village, says she already has 400-500 people waiting for their services to be delivered after they completed the required online processes at her centre. “The numbers are higher from January to March as it is the season for scholarship applications. Students arrive to update documents, get voter IDs, change addresses,” she says.

Meanwhile, older residents, some of whom live in remote parts away from the bustling Viewland Bazaar, are catching up to the digital world.

Kumar, 45, who goes by a single name and owns a small departmental store around 500 metres from Viewland Bazaar, says that until recently, he was unaware that services could be availed online. “I had got my documents long ago. I went to the DC office for everything. Even for my children, I went and stood in queues. I didn’t know about these centres. My son will turn 18 next year and recently asked me about his voter card. He told me he will apply online,” says the father of four.

Kengoo Zuringla, the District Magistrate of Ukhrul, has been recognised for the initiative in the Excellence in Governance Awards 2024, organised by The Indian Express, under the E-Governance category.

“People were used to manual registration, and it was challenging to tell people to use the portal. It is about providing a service and making it accessible to the public as easily as possible. Nelson Mandela is my role model. The most essential quality for an IAS officer is being in touch with the masses. I dedicate this project to the people who were able to avail these services,” he said.