NEW DELHI: He built and fuelled the massive social media campaign for Narendra Modi. Now, Arvind Gupta, head, BJP’s Information and Technology cell, is helping Indian Railways and the Central ministries to use technology to improve delivery of services.
The technocrat has also been coordinating with the I&B Ministry to train officials to use the social media platforms effectively. An alumnus of IIT-Banaras Hindu University and the University of Illinois, Gupta, 43, has his work cut-out to improve the social media presence of the NDA Government and use it to directly connect with the people. Within days of taking over the task, Gupta rode the New Delhi-Howrah Rajdhani to check why the much touted onboard Wi-Fi system had failed.
The trials of Wi-Fi system on trains started recently on Rajdhani. Former Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee had announced similar facilities in two Kolkata-bound trains but it failed to take off due to technical glitches.
Sadananda Gowda, in his maiden Railway Budget, had announced plans to revive the Wi-Fi service in select trains and stations. Gupta has prepared a report to overcome the technical glitches that stalled the pilot project.
“My team is working to set up an IT hub to communicate what government is doing in real-time and get live feedback from the people. We are also coordinating with other Union Ministries to have an effective communication system between the people and the government so that problem areas can be marked and removed in a time bound manner,” said Gupta, who was consultant to a number of global IT companies before joining the BJP in 2010.
Gupta managed his party’s digital campaign from the BJP’s Ashoka Road headquarters, where he raised a team of several lakh volunteers to help in the election campaign. His team will also prepare a mobile application, where passengers can immediately lodge their complaints regarding ticketing or food.
On the lines of the team of young IT professionals in the party, Gupta is forming a separate team of tech-savvy experts to handle IT-related work in the government.