Addressing the social issues through the startups spectrum, the Karnataka government is planning to ink a pact with startups in Bengaluru and other cities, reported Mint.
The collaboration has been planned by the Karnataka government to find innovative and effective solutions for malnutrition, disability, waste management and other issues affecting society.
Uma Mahadevan, Karnataka’s principal secretary, Panchayat Raj, said startups can play a big role in coming up with better solutions for social issues such as malnutrition, menstrual hygiene for teenage girls, and disability.
“We are now thinking of developing this further and making it an end-to-end platform, which will not only help them in managing their double entry accounting system but also help in planning, works management and online payments. We plan to see if we can improve rural governance itself, in terms of their meetings, their meeting decisions, and making it available for those who need it, via the platform,” she added.
As per the sources, Mahadevan and her team plan to explore ways to leverage the IT sector to collaborate around an accounting platform built by National Informatics Centre and used by over 6,000 gram panchayats in Karnataka.
“We’ve been trying to see how we can take this platform and allow startups to leverage the platform, and build on top of it so it becomes one integrated platform for providing better health services to women and children, and track other aspects as well,” said Nipun Mehrotra, a former corporate technology executive, who is spearheading the Social Innovation for India initiative.
“We will also help these companies understand how to build viable business models, allowing them to scale 10X and build a more inclusive India,” Mehrotra added.
There are plans to collaborate with startups in other states, to introduce some of the solutions in Karnataka.