KOCHI: It could be an irony for Kerala, poised to be the first e-literate state in the country, to have 95 per cent of the population queue up at local body offices for certificates when they are available at the click of a mouse.
The state government, over two years ago, had issued orders making online certificates of local bodies valid for all purposes.
As per the order issued on July 25, 2012, all birth and death certificates uploaded onto the local body website will be considered a valid document. The government had also notified marriage certificates downloaded from the website as legally acceptable.
However, people prefer to take the pains of manually obtaining the documents after endless wait. Information Kerala Mission has uploaded the details from all the local bodies from 1970 till date.
IKM executive director C P Suresh Kumar told ‘Express’ that now it has become a major challenge to educate the public to use the facility. “It is learnt that the majority of the people are unaware of the facility to obtain certificates online.
“IKM will take up the issue with the government to create awareness that certificates could be downloaded and a print-out could be used for all purposes. A master plan will be prepared with the support of local bodies,” Suresh said. Around 80 per cent of the data from the local bodies has already been uploaded onto the website. Anyone could obtain the certificate if they login on to www.surekha.ikm.in and fill in certain details.
As part of educating the public, an ad film will be aired on television channels and pamphlets will be distributed at households, he added.
Kerala Grama Panchayat Association president Mathew K T said that though everyone in rural areas has a mobile phone, people who have a computer at home is less.
Those having computers may not have the printer facility and has resulted in majority depending on local bodies.
“Even though Akshaya Centres provide the facility to take print outs, people opt to go to local bodies to get the certificates. However, it is expected that the paper-less local body concept will become a reality in two years,” Mathew said.