Aarogya Setu App: Ravi Shankar Prasad hits back at Rahul Gandhi

Hitting back at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for his criticism against Aarogya Setu App, Union IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Saturday said the app has a robust data security architecture.

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"Aarogya Setu is now being appreciated globally. The app is a powerful companion which protects people. It has a robust data security architecture," the Minister said.

Reacting to Rahul Gandhi criticism that the app outsourced to private operators, the Minister said "the App is NOT outsourced to any private operator. Mr. Gandhi really high time that you stop outsourcing your tweets to your cronies who do not understand India, " Prasad tweeted replying to former Congress National president's tweet.

"Daily a new lie. 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 in his tweet to replying to Rahul Gandhi.

Earlier in the day Rahul Gandhi tweeted saying app is a sophisticated surveillance system.

"The Arogya Setu app, is a sophisticated surveillance system, outsourced to a pvt 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 Gandhi tweeted.

The Arogya Setu app developed by National Infomatics Centre under the Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.

The government made mandatory for government and private companies employees download app in their mobile.

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The Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology issued while launching app said that, the app will track users’ “interaction with others”, and will alert authorities if there is any suspicion of the user having been in contact with an infected person.

“Once installed in a smartphone through an easy and user-friendly process, the app detects other devices with Aarogya Setu installed that come in the proximity of that phone. The app can then calculate the risk of infection based on sophisticated parameters if any of these contacts are tested positive,” the government had then said.