Launch and Available Services
The ‘Nagarik App (Beta)’ was launched by the Government of Nepal with the slogan “Not Lines but Online” for making different government-related services easily and effectively available to all Nepalese citizens through a single online platform (mobile application) under Digital Nepal Framework Project.
The app has been developed with the joint initiation of the Prime Minister’s Office, Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (MoCIT), and National Information Technology Centre. The government had been working on this app for the last three years.
As per the ministry, a digital identity of the citizens has been created for the app through details of 21.5 million citizens registered at the Ministry of Home Affairs and information including fingerprints and photos of 15.5 million citizens on the server of the Election Commission.
The app was launched as a beta version and the development team is constantly working on making the app more user friendly, productive, bugs free and most importantly secure. “Since it is a beta version, the app will provide only around 50 percent services at the moment. However, our team is working on making all the services available in the next three months,” Minister Gurung said during the inauguration.
Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, urged all the people to use the app and make suggestions for necessary improvements.
Currently Available Services
- PAN registration and viewing details of the taxes that have been submitted.
- View Educational Documents (only SLC and HSEB for now with correct symbol no for batches after 2057 BS)
- Check Citizens Investment Fund
- Check Provident Fund
- Check Social Security Fund
- View Citizenship
- View Passport
- View Voter Card
- My Complain Section: Complain about several issues or people’s concerns using the app.
Future Service that we can expect:
Applying for a license, passport, voter card, renewing your license, bill book, Paying bills, taxes, Land Revenue Office (Malpot), Department of Land Reform and Management, and many more.
Download and Registration
The Nepalese citizen who wants to get the service from this app must follow the following procedures:
- Download and install the application from the play store(android)/app store(iOS) on their phones.
- Register their phone number and citizenship number to activate the application and almost all the government services can be accessed through the app.
WHY THIS APP?
The app is developed to minimize and eventually end the problems that citizens have been facing for long while submitting details and documents like citizenship, passport, and academic certificates to get benefits from the government services anywhere and anytime online. This app is expected to save a considerable amount of time and reduce corruption by increasing transparency.
Although the Nepal government already has various applications available for different services like the Passport app, Nepal Rajpatra App. But now all the government services will be integrated into a single system using Citizenship ID or Mobile Number. All the information needed will be then gathered and makes it easy for requesting the services and we don’t have the enter our information and identity for registration every time.
Problems
The app was very popular and viral within the days of its launch but there are some common problems faced by people while using the app.
- Since the app is still in its beta version, it is subjected to have bugs that cause many glitches, failed sign-up attempts, frequent crashes, and non-responding.
- Some users have also reported that using “Dark Mode” causes conflict with the app’s interface and cause difficulty in data input.
- Only 27% of people were able to register themselves in the app in the first week due to failure of phone number verification.
Reason: Signing up with a phone number registered under a different name.
Solution: Sign up with the contact number that was registered under your name. SIM can be transferred under your name.
- All citizens’ data are not updated yet and hence it doesn’t have details of all citizens.
- When “citizenship” was chosen as the supporting document by many users and filled up the form, they couldn’t sign up for the app.
Reason: Wrong name or Ministry of Home Affairs has not updated the concerned individual’s data on its servers yet. Make sure every tiny detail you input matches perfectly to the ones on your citizenship or other documents.
Privacy, Confidentiality, Security, and Reliability
Our digital data is always on the verge of risk of the breach including cyber theft and infiltration. When we analyze the latest or past report of data breached in our country government servers, website and online services that have Nepalese citizen’s data always makes the headlines. Our servers are always at the vulnerable stage and at risk of exploitation.
Hackers have been frequently breaching the data of National interest including data on government websites of the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport, the Ministry of Agriculture, the National Muslim Commission, and the Central Library.
The main challenge of this newly launched Nagarik App would be to keep users’ data safe and encrypted. The government will have to ensure every user’s data is protected and will not be violated. The app development team of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology has said that the app has been made safe and privacy-friendly along with its usefulness, convenience, and reliability.
- We will need a mobile number registered in our name to create an account in this app which means that we or someone else using a SIM in someone else’s name cannot use this app.
- This app can be opened only after entering the OTP code received in the accompanying mobile. so that no one else can access the app even if they know our mobile number and PIN code. So, we should not give the OTP Code on your mobile to others
- It also has two-factor authentication for security.
- The app uses third party encryption technology for security.
- It is mentioned that a biometric security system will be added to the national identity card after it is ready.
- We should keep our PIN code and personal information safe no matter how secure the app’s system is
All the digital details of the citizens with the government are kept in the data center of the National Information Technology Center inside Singha Durbar. Sunil Poudel, executive director of the center, says that layered security arrangements have been made. The security of the citizen app has been independently tested by three parties. According to the claim of the app development team, this is the government app that has undergone the most security testing in Nepal so far. The details of the citizens in the government body will not be in this app. It works in real-time by linking these kinds of details of citizens in different government bodies. It immediately collects and confirms the details required to take any government service from the concerned body.
What the government and cybersecurity experts say?
Naresh Lamgade (Cybersecurity expert in the Prime Minister’s office and founder, Bugv and Cynical Technology)
“We are working to ensure optimum security,”
“Government has been giving rewards to IT experts who are finding glitches in the application.
“Nagarik app is just an integrated platform which validates the data and connects us to get detail in different public services. So, there is less chance for data leakage,”.
“We are also working to create a communication channel between ethical hackers and Nepali businesses. With this, the experts will be able to point out the loopholes and convey the government immediately,”.
Bijay Limbu Senihang (CTO of Vairav Technology and cybersecurity expert)
“Nepal government hasn’t set any standards for app security. So, which standard have they followed for the security of this application? This itself is a question mark,”
“Two-factor authentication is only one level of cybersecurity. I appreciate that the government has touched this layer. However, we need to have seven layers of protection to protect any critical infrastructure,”
“This app has very critical data which is not just connected with one place but multiple public entities. So, the app has to be highly secure.”
