Aarogya Setu Row: App a Collaborative Effort of Government and Private Sector, Says GoI

The Government of India has issued a clarification on the Aarogya Setu app issue that has currently grabbed headlines. The Central Information Commission had earlier summoned Central Public Information Officers as the Ministry Of Electronics, National Informatics Centre and NeGD “had no information” about who and how the Aarogya Setu App was created.

“None of the CPIOs were able to explain anything regarding who created the Aarogya Setu App, where are the files, and the same is extremely preposterous", said the Central Information Commission. The issue has come to light due to an RTI filed by Saurav Das seeking information on the makers of the app.

After the issue led to a widespread hue and cry on social media platforms, the Government of India has now responded to the charge. “AarogyaSetu App was launched by the 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,” says a statement from the Government.

Furthermore, the statement adds that there should be no doubt with regard to the AarogyaSetu App and its role in helping contain the COVID-19 Pandemic in India. The names of all those associated with the development of the App and management of the App ecosystem at various stages were shared when the code was released in the public domain, says GoI while adding that the app has been developed by NIC in collaboration with volunteers from Industry and Academia.

“Aarogya Setu App is a product of the Government of India built in collaboration with the best of the minds of Industry and Academia. World’s largest contact tracing App, appreciated by WHO also,” tweeted Aarogya Setu.