THE STORY OF AAROGYA SETU

There are many questions in the minds of the people on Aarogya Setu App. The Government of India is constantly urging it's people to use it. But many are denying to use as it said to have some serious privacy concerns. On the other side the government is assuring people that this application is completely safe. Can this application really help us? Is our privacy being affected? Come let's find the answers together.

                                       

      Aarogya setu mobile application is a technological invention whose primary purpose is to help government and people in the fight against COVID-19. India is not the first country to use this kind of application. Singapore government have also launched a mobile application called 'TRACE TOGETHER' for the same purpose. Before going to the main part let's just know some basic things about Aarogya Setu App.

>>What  personal information does it take from you?

a)Name of the user, age, gender, occupation, mobile number, list of countries you have visited in the last 30 days.

>>what are the permissions it asks for?

a)

>>How it works?

a)Let me narrate you a story for a better understanding.

                  There are three complete strangers living in a same town. Let's call them Balu, Chintu and Suri. Balu and Chintu are Aarogya Setu users where as Suri is not using it. A week ago they went to a vegetable market to purchase vegetables at the same time. They came in to close contact with each other. But now Balu is tested positive for COVID-19. It's obvious that Chintu and Suri are also at high risk of getting infected. Now, Aarogya setu notifies Chintu about the risk so that he and the government can take the  appropriate measures to contain the further spread of virus . But what about Suri? He is still at high risk and no one knows it and he  may even spread the virus to others.

                  From the  story you can get a rough understanding about the use of Aarogya setu.

>> The controversy <<

                          To perform the above function Aarogya setu needs to track your every single movement 24/7. The Government is going to have information about your every single movement. This is really a kind of surveillance on the citizens. This will become even more dangerous if some one hacked our mobile phone. Some ethical hackers even hacked Aarogya setu and warned people not to use it. Some experts even feel that this application is taking more information than needed. One can't take the privacy of others in the name of contact tracing.   

           The government was trying to make the use of this App mandatory. We have seen an incident where someone was arrested because he was not using this app at the workplace. These kind of things are not acceptable.

>>The change in the standpoint of the government?

          Amid these controversial happenings the government is now changing it's stance on the usage of aarogya setu app. In the guidelines issued by the government for lockdown 2.0 and 3.0, it was stated that the usage of this app is mandatory at the workplace and in the containment zones. But whereas in the guidelines issued for lockdown 4.0, the government urged people to use it but it's not mandatory. The privacy policy of this app is also being updated constantly.

>>What about your data?

               The data of your movement will be encrypted and stored in a highly protected server. It will automatically get deleted after 30 days if you are not tested positive. It will be deleted after 60 days if you are tested positive for COVID -19 as read by the privacy policy of the application.

>>Can you use this app?

      Yes, it's completely your choice whether to use it or not. Let's go back to the story. Just think that Suri have followed all the prescribed precautionary measures in the market. He washed his hands after coming back to home and he maintained hygiene everywhere. Now, Suri don't even need this app because he kept himself safe. 

      But the thing is that  the efficiency of this app can be known only if significant number of people are using it. Right now 10 crore Indian citizens are using this app. The government also said that the app is for temporary use only and this is not going to be permanent.Recently government even provided an option of filling a  Self-declaration form instead of using Arogya Setu App during train and flight travel. Let's hope that the  government will take more steps and will be able to clear all the controversies on this app soon.

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