NEW DELHI: Three new categories have been added to the Government's Digital India Awards (earlier known as the Web Ratna awards) for which entires have been invited Indepence day, 15 August.

The three new are ‘Web Ratna District’ to reward the accomplishments of the District administration displaying exemplary focus on providing online services and information to the citizen; ‘Outstanding Digital initiative by Local body’ for felicitating outstanding Local Body initiative with a focus on providing exemplary information quality, extent of services provisioning by assessing the service maturity level, service catalogue, transparency, cost effectiveness and efficiency enhancement in terms of service delivery; and Best Mobile App to honour the Best Mobile App launched by a Government entity. Nominated app should have well designed and intuitive mobile interface.

According to an official press release, “this new avatar of WebRatna reflects the overall vision of making India a Digital Superpower, and the focus is on the digital initiatives and citizen engagement.”

The existing categories unil now were” Exemplary Online Service; Most Innovative Citizen Engagement; Web Ratna - MINISTRY/DEPARTMENT; Web Ratna - STATE/Union Territory, and Open Data Champion.

Details are available on website http://digitalindiaawards.gov.in.

The release said: “If you are a part of Government entity which provides e-services or have citizen engagement, which has a prominent impact on the betterment of common man, and you feel the initiative deserves honouring, this is the right opportunity for the project to win a Digital India Award. The nomination could also be for an established initiative or a recently improved service, which has the desired potential. If you have come across any other such digital initiatives, please feel free to encourage the concerned authority for applying to the relevant category”.