The Transport Mission Mode Project (eTransport MMP), driven by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) and executed by NIC, has successfully automated the operations of Regional Transport Offices (RTOs) across the country. The project has set up a consolidated nationwide transport database with real-time update and availability and has launched a host of citizen-centric and trade-centric applications, contributing greatly towards the country’s e-Governance initiative under the Digital India Programme.

The genesis of the eTransport MMP goes back to the year 2000 when Vahan and Sarathi were conceived in response to the recommendations of the Smart Card Operating System for Transport Application (SCOSTA) Committee set up to study how to define standards for Registration Certificates (RCs) and Driving Licences (DLs) respectively, on a pan-India level to ensure interoperability, accuracy and timely availability of information.

The Primary Objectives of the project are as follows:

Technology Landscape:

Project Impact:

Eliminating/ Minimizing RTO Visits
Like all Government endeavors, the key beneficiaries are the citizens, and the driving principle is to facilitate better, efficient and timely services to them. With the implementation of a large number of citizen-centric services, adoption of e-payment and online appointment facility, citizens have the option to carry out a major part of the transactions involved in all processes from the comfort of their homes, and need to visit RTOs only for essential functionalities such as appearing in learner or driving tests, authenticating documents, or getting physical fitness of vehicles done etc., and that too, as per pre-scheduled appointments. Some services such as tax payment, getting specific certificates etc., require no RTO visit at all. Many State Governments are further reengineering their business processes in tandem with the new technological options to further reduce/ eliminate RTO footfall and relieve the citizen and facilitate the entire service in a ‘faceless’ or ‘contactless’ mode.

Making payments online
Most of the states have adopted e-payment facility and some have totally abolished cash payment. About half of the total receipts made through Vahan, Sarathi and other applications – a whooping Rs. 60,000 Crore annually – are through e-payment, giving a big boost to the Government’s stated objective of moving towards a cashless regime.
Many State Governments are further reengineering their business processes in tandem with the new technological options to further reduce/ eliminate RTO footfall and relieve the citizen and facilitate the entire service in a ‘faceless’ or ‘contactless’ mode. Increased Transparency and Accountability Another major upshot of this whole initiative is the sharp rise in the transparency and accountability in the system. Although there is a lot of ground yet to be covered, in most cases, citizens are facing less hassle in getting their services. Leakages in Government revenues have substantially reduced and overall environment in most of the RTOs has become more transparent and citizen-friendly.

Enhanced Monitoring, Value Creation through Dashboards
The parivahan.gov.in portal incorporates various state of the art dashboards, providing a variety of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) depicted in the form of tables, graphs and charts. These live dashboards pull data from the Vahan and Sarathi databases to provide live up-to-date, easy-to-comprehend status of the projects to the entire hierarchy of decision makers, planners and administrators, enabling them to trouble shoot, course correct, plan and take decisions on the fly. This access to relevant information at a glance garners easy involvement of all stakeholders of the eTransport MMP.

Improved Quality of Services
Although it requires a systemic change, starting with enabling legislation down to the implementation details, the Transport Application is equipped to play a significant role in enhancing the quality of services rendered to common citizens through the intervention of appropriate technology and processes.

eTransport project has expanded far beyond its core domain of vehicle registration and Driving License services and embraced multitude of stakeholders to build a cooperative eco-system, facilitating exchange of data and services. It continues exploring newer avenues, incorporating more areas of service and steadily transforming into a public digital platform, servicing the various internal/external stakeholders through open, secured API. The project is an epitome of coordination between Governments and businesses at various levels facilitating the services in an effective and efficient manner.

For more information, please visit: https://parivahan.gov.in/