Former Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Saturday accused the Modi government of using the Arogya Setu to track citizens without their consent, a comment that drew a sharp retort from Law & IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad.
“The Arogya Setu app, is a sophisticated surveillance system, outsourced to a private operator, with no institutional oversight – raising serious data security & privacy concerns. Technology can help keep us safe; but fear must not be leveraged to track citizens without their consent,” Rahul took to Twitter as government made it mandatory for government servants to download the app.
The app has been developed by the National Informatics Centre under the Information Technology Ministry to warn people using cell phone tracking technology about Covid-19 positive persons in their proximity.
“Aarogya Setu is a powerful companion which protects people. It has a robust data security architecture. Those who indulged in surveillance all their lives, won’t know how tech can be leveraged for good,” Prasad said.
The minister rejected Rahul’s allegation that the app has been outsourced to a private operator.
“Mr. Gandhi really high time that you stop outsourcing your tweets to your cronies who do not understand India,” Prasad hit back.
Several voluntary organizations and individuals have petitioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad against the mandatory use of the Aarogya Setu app for workers in both private and public workplaces.