Highlights:
- Aarogya Setu means Healthcare Bridge
- It generated 5 crore users in just 13 days making it fastest to the milestone, even faster than Facebook
Recently, the Central Government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched an application to track and contain the spread of the novel Coronavirus and have become the fastest app to reach 5 crore users ever even though it is surrounded by privacy concerns.
Aarogya Setu which means Healthcare Bridge and the app alerts its users if they come in contact or in close vicinity of an infected or possibly infected person along with providing them with the information like contact details of the authroities if they seek medical help.
According to Amitabh Kant who is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Niti Aayog, the application reached 5 crore users mark in 13 days which is the fastest app for any application, including Facebook.
In a tweet, he states some facts, “Telephone took 75 years to reach 50 million users, radio 38 yrs, television 13 yrs, Internet 4 yrs, Facebook 19 months, Pokemon Go 19 days. #AarogyaSetu, India’s app to fight COVID-19 has reached 50 mn users in just 13 days-fastest ever globally for an App. Salute the spirit of India!”.
Telephone took 75 years to reach 50 milion users, radio 38 yrs,television 13 yrs,Internet 4 yrs, Facebook 19 months, Pokemon Go 19 days. #AarogyaSetu,India’s app to fight COVID-19 has reached 50 mn users in just 13 days-fastest ever globally for an App
— Amitabh Kant (@amitabhk87) April 14, 2020
Salute the spirit of India! pic.twitter.com/xKqt3Tmj4f
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Singapore has launched a similar application called TraceTogether last month, and American tech giants Apple and Google have joined hands to develop a technology which can restrict the spread of the pandemic by alerting the users if they should self- isolate or self- quarantine themselves after getting in contact with an infected person.
In the latest South Asia Economic Focus report, the World Bank said, “Digital technologies can be used to monitor the spread of Covid-19. Such initiatives, largely voluntary, have been successful in helping combat the pandemic in East Asia,”.
Aarogya Setu unfavourably compares to the Singaporean application TraceTogether says the Internet Freedom Foundation.
While there are countries, including Singapore, which say that contact tracing (including through applications) will only be used for disease control and cannot be used to enforce lockdowns or quarantines, Aarogya Setu app retains the flexibility and do exactly that.
Other applications collect minimum data which is subsequently replaced with a scrubbed device identifies whereas Aarogya Setu apply collects various data points including personal and sensitive information which increases the risk of a breach in Privacy.
Sidharth Deb, The Policy and Parliamentary Counsel at the Internet Freedom Foundation said, “As such the Aarogya Setu application appears to clearly be inconsistent with privacy-first efforts,” in a working paper. He added that, “there is a need to immediately rollback the application or expedite measures to improve the app’s design and deployment in terms of trust, security and informational privacy.”
The representatives of the Indian Health Ministry and Informational Technology Ministry did not comment on this as of now, however, the Indian Army has advised its personnel that they cannot use Aarogya Setu app while on office premise, operational areas and other sensitive locations as reported by The Print.
On 14th April, at 10:00 PM when Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the nation he requested the citizens to download and use the Aarogya Setu application.
The app is available on both Google’s Play Store and Apple’s App Store
Play Store: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=nic.goi.aarogyasetu&hl=en
App store: https://apps.apple.com/in/app/aarogyasetu/id1505825357
In India, over 12,500 cases of COVID-19 have been reported out of which more than 420 people have lost their lives.
Also Read: What Are The Impact of COVID-19 On Education In India?
