Who Invented AarogyaSetu, MEITY
Issues Clarification regarding Orders Passed by Central Information Commission
on an RTI Query
Posted On: 28
OCT 2020 7:01PM by PIB Delhi
Attention has been drawn
to media reports regarding orders passed by Central Information Commission
regarding an RTI query with regard to AarogyaSetu
App. As per the orders, of the CIC, CPIOs of MeitY, NeGD and NIC have been directed to appear on 24th
November 2020. MeitY is taking necessary steps to
comply with the orders of the CIC.
With regard to the above, it is clarified that
there should be no doubt with regard to the AarogyaSetu
App and its role in helping contain COVID19 Pandemic in India. As was announced
through Press Releases and Social Media posts on 2nd April 2020, AarogyaSetu App was launched by Government of India in
public private partnership mode to bring people of India together in its fight
against COVID19. The AarogyaSetu App was developed in
a record time of around 21 days, to respond to the exigencies of the Pandemic
with Lockdown restrictions only for the objective of building a Made in India
Contact Tracing App with the best of Indian minds from Industry, Academia and
Government, working round the clock to build a robust, scalable and secure App.
Since 2nd April 2020, regular press releases and updates have been
issued on AarogyaSetu App including making the source
code available in Open domain on 26th May 2020. The names of all
those associated with the development of the App and management of the App
ecosystem at various stages was shared when the code was released in
Open/Public Domain and the same was shared widely in media also.
The same can be accessed on https://github.com/nic-delhi/AarogyaSetu_Android/blob/master/Contributors.md. On all such occasions, it has been clearly mentioned that the AarogyaSetu App has been developed by NIC in collaboration
with volunteers from Industry and Academia. AarogyaSetu
app has been developed in the most transparent manner and all details and
documents including Privacy Policy and AarogyaSetu
Data Access & Knowledge Sharing Protocols issued on 11th
May 2020 has been uploaded on the AarogyaSetu Portal
– aarogyasetu.gov.in. The portal has all details about the App including those
regarding How the App works, COVID updates and Why one should use AarogyaSetu. Regular updates about AarogyaSetu
App have been shared on all Social media platforms as also Government portals.
Several TV shows and media briefings also have shared complete details about
the App, its development and how it is assisting the fight against COVID19.
As has been mentioned earlier, the App has
been developed in a collaborative effort of Government and Private Sector. The
App has been downloaded by more than 16.23 Cr users and has greatly augmented
the efforts of front line health workers in the fight against COVID19. It has
helped identify Bluetooth contacts of COVID positive users and issued alerts
for helping people to stay safe. These Bluetooth contacts have been advised for
caution, quarantine or testing depending on the extent of exposure to COVID19
positive user. Amongst those who have been advised testing, almost 25% have
tested positive. This is much higher compared to the overall positivity rate of
7-8%. Thus, the efficiency of testing has gone up with AarogyaSetu.
In addition, AarogyaSetu ITIHAS interface with
location data has helped identify emerging hotspots where proactive steps have
been taken by Health authorities and administration in order to contain the
spread of the Virus. Thus, AarogyaSetu has proved to
be very useful in India’s fight against COVID19. Recently, WHO has also
appreciated the role of AarogyaSetu in containing the
pandemic in India.