Government of India has announced a Video Conferencing App Development Challenge for IT professionals in India. The latest announcement by the government comes at a time when security issues have been discovered in the popular video conferencing service Zoom App. The government has announced Rs 1 crore for making a video conference app instead of zoom.
India Government has launched this Video Conferencing Innovation Challenge with the aim of making official meetings and video calling with friends easier and safer while millions of people are working at ‘Work From Home (WFH).
During lockdown, people used a variety of video conferencing platforms, both for work and for talking to friends and family members. Zoom app got many users, but recent reports have revealed that Zoom App has security flaws. The government yesterday issued a guideline that zoom apps should not be used for official purposes in view of the security issue.
Registration for the central government’s application development program began on April 13. The deadline to register is April 21, 2020 at 4 PM. The government has proposed that video conferencing app should be able to work on any type of device, even in poor network areas, encrypted communication and low power consumption.
All participants are requested to send their queries at ispr@meity.gov.in or/and meity-sthub@gov.in with subject “Queries for webinar on Innovation Challenge for Development of a Video Conferencing Solution”
The Government App Challenge runs until July. Winners will be announced on July 29. The winning team will be given Rs 1 crore by the government. This is the first time such a challenge has been launched by the Center and State Governments to be used for official administrative purposes. The winning team will also receive a certificate from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. Last week, the Home Ministry issued a guideline against the use of zoom apps by government officials for official purposes. The Interior Ministry’s Cyber Coordination Center (CYCORD) has warned government officials not to use the app for security reasons. The directive was issued in response to security concerns.