Taking the Digital India initiative ahead, the government launched ‘Twitter Samvad’ in collaboration with social media platform Twitter to communicate directly with citizens via Tweets and SMS on their mobile devices.
The service aims to boost the nation’s e-governance plans by helping government bodies and leaders communicate directly with citizens on a daily basis via Tweets and SMS.
Through Twitter Samvad, every day a set of curated Tweets will be delivered from the government and leaders’ accounts to mobile users across the country as SMS. Updates on government services, policies and activities will be delivered.
Anyone with a mobile phone, with our without a data plan, can register for the service by giving a missed call to a unique number for each of the partners.
Twitter Samvad can also be used during the time of emergency with the ability to deliver live updates by government bodies.
Dick Costolo, CEO, Twitter said, “Twitter Samvad is dedicated and specially built for the largest democracy of the world. As part of the Prime Minister’s Digital India initiative, this Tweet-powered service enables citizens to be the first to know about the government’s actions by receiving political content in real-time on their mobile devices anywhere in the country.”
Here is a list of a 16 government partners who are participating in Twitter Samvad:
| Accounts | Description | Phone Number |
| @NarendraModi | Personal account of Indian Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi | 011 3006 3006 |
| @PMOIndia | Official account of the Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi | 011 3006 3007 |
| @adgpi | Official account of Additional Directorate General of Public Information, IHQ of Ministry of Defence | 011 3049 6116 |
| @RailMinIndia | Official account of the Ministry of Railways | 011 3049 6222 |
| @anandibenpatel | Personal account of Anandiben Patel, Chief Minister of Gujarat | 011 3049 6050 |
| @CMofKarnataka | Official account for the Chief Minister of Karnataka, Siddaramaiah | 011 3049 4737 |
| @CPBLR | Official account for Mr. M N Reddi, IPS, Commissioner of Police, Bengaluru City | 011 3049 5141 |
| @BlrCityPolice | Official account for Bengaluru City Police | 011 3049 5242 |
| @blrcitytraffic | Official account for Bengaluru City Traffic Police | 011 3049 5464 |
| @ncbn | Personal account of N Chandrababu Naidu, Chief Minister, Andhra Pradesh, | 011 3049 5767 |
| @TelanganaCMO | Official account of Chief Minister of Telangana, Kalvakuntla Chandrashekar Rao | 011 3049 5868 |
| @YadavAkhilesh | Personal account of Akhilesh Yadav, Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh | 011 3008 3380 |
| @UPGovt | Official account for the Government of Uttar Pradesh | 011 3049 6353 |
| @NitishKumarJDU | Personal account of Nitish Kumar, Chief Minister of Bihar | 011 3008 2828 |
| @MamataOfficial | Personal account of Mamata Banerjee, Chief Minister, West Bengal | 011 3008 3333 |
| @MeaIndia | Official account of Ministry of External Affairs, India, Syed Akbaruddin | 011 3049 5969 |
How Twitter Samvad will work for users:
- Users will have to give a missed call to each of the numbers listed above to follow each of their Twitter accounts. For example, for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the number is 011 3006 3006.
- Immediately after placing the missed call, users will start receiving Tweets throughout the day keeping them in touch with leaders and government agencies.
- In case of emergency or urgent public announcements, account owners (leaders, government agencies, and disaster management cell) can instantly send an update on a given situation to all registered users.