With the vision of making governance more accessible and citizen-friendly, the Andhra Pradesh government is launching a state-wide awareness campaign on WhatsApp Governance from April 15. Spearheaded by Minister for IT, Electronics, and Education, Nara Lokesh, the initiative aims to deepen public participation in digital governance.
Village and ward secretariat staff will conduct door-to-door visits, educating citizens on how to access government services through WhatsApp. As part of the drive, they will assist residents in saving the official WhatsApp number 95523 00009, branded as ‘Mana Mitra’, on their phones. The intent is to ensure every household is aware of and equipped to use the WhatsApp Governance system.
To ensure effective execution, the government has assigned monitoring responsibilities to district collectors. The program is being treated as a high-priority citizen outreach initiative to bridge the gap between people and public service delivery.
Currently, over 250 services—ranging from certificates, social welfare schemes, to grievance redressal—are available through the WhatsApp Governance system. By June, the state plans to expand this number to 500, and ultimately reach 1000 services in the subsequent phase.
The ‘Mana Mitra’ program reinforces the state’s commitment to leveraging technology for transparent, efficient, and people-centric governance. The outreach campaign is expected to significantly improve awareness, adoption, and satisfaction among citizens—especially in rural and remote areas—by making public services as easy as a text message.
