NEW DELHI: PM Narendra Modi on Wednesday is learnt to have told ministers to make govt websites “user-friendly” to access information about welfare schemes and public services easily, and has advised Cabinet colleagues to be assertive while dealing with those who have made it their business of levelling unfair and baseless criticism.PM’s direction to Cabinet ministers on improving govt portals comes barely months after cabinet secretary T V Somanthan advised all ministries and departments to overhaul their websites to make them easier to navigate. At the last council of ministers’ meeting, attended by all Union secretaries, Somanathan had referred to a report by The Economist that had flagged how govt websites in India remain difficult for ordinary citizens to use.

PM pushes for one-login govt portal

The report said that govt portals are cluttered with pop-ups, flashing banners and scrolling text, to name a few. It had also said that several websites work poorly on mobile phones despite most Indians using the internet through mobile phones.

Recently, PM had directed the electronics and IT ministry to expedite the “Ek Bharat” portal, a unified service delivery platform for citizens which will require people to access all govt websites with just one username and password.TOI has learned that many saw the PM’s advice to ministers about being assertive to counter a negative campaign as a reference to “naaraz fufa”. Sources said govt has achievements to highlight to effectively counter negative narratives.