Aarogya Setu App: Center promoted Aarogya Setu as an essential tool in the fight against Covid.
New Delhi:
The Aarogya Setu app was developed in the most transparent manner with public-private collaboration in record time to combat the coronavirus, the government said today, in a detailed clarification following reports that ministries denied having knowledge of who created the app. The names of those associated with the app were already in the public domain, he claimed.
“The Aarogya Setu application was developed in a record time of around 21 days, to respond to the demands of the pandemic with blocking restrictions only with the aim of creating a Made in India contact tracing application with the best Indian mentality of industry and academia and government, working around the clock to build a robust, scalable and secure application, “the government said.
The clarification came after it emerged today that the Central Information Commission had notified the government what it called “evasive responses” about who created the contact tracing app that the government pushed as an essential tool in the fight against the coronavirus.
The Aarogya Setu website says it was developed by the National Informatics Center and the Ministry of Information Technology, but according to the Central Information Commission, various ministries and departments had given “evasive answers” to a query on the right to the information (RTI) about who created the Aarogya Setu app.
“You can not accept the denial of information by the authorities,” said the highest body of RTI in its notice, calling it “extremely absurd.”
The notice questioned why the government should not face action for “prima facie obstruction of information” and give an “evasive response.”
Activist Saurav Das had complained to the information commission that various ministries did not provide details such as how the application was proposed and approved; the companies, people and government departments involved; and copies of emails between private individuals who helped develop the application.
Over a two-month period, the query bounced across various departments.
The National Informatics Center reportedly said that “all the file related to the creation of the application does not belong to NIC.” The IT ministry transferred the query to the National Electronic Government Division, which said: “The information sought is not related to (our division).”
In its clarification, the government said that it was announced through press releases and social media posts on April 2 that the Aarogya Setu app was launched in public-private partnership mode “to unite the people of India in his fight against the virus “. The names of everyone associated with the app were shared when the source code was released into the public domain, he said.
The statement said the app had been downloaded by more than 16 million million users and “has greatly increased the efforts of frontline healthcare workers in the fight against COVID-19.” He also noted that the World Health Organization had appreciated the role of the app.
“There should be no question regarding the Aarogya Setu app and its role in helping to contain the COVID-19 pandemic in India,” the statement said.
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