Arogya Setu App

The National Informatics Centre recently claimed that it did not create the Arogya Setu mobile application in reply to an RTI query.

• The National Informatics Centre recently claimed that it did not create the Arogya Setu mobile application in reply to an RTI query.
• The Ministry of Electronics and IT had earlier claimed that the Arogya Setu Application was launched by Government of India in Public-Private Partnership mode.
• According to the ministry, the application was developed by National Informatics Centre (NIC) in association with a private firm.
• NIC is responsible for handling Government websites.
• Central Information Commission (CIC) has now issued a Show cause notice to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and National Informatics Centre.
• Also, the CIC has asked the NIC to explain in writing on how Arogya Setu Application and its websites were created.
• The Government of India had been encouraging the public at large scale to download the app before entering theatres, hotels and other public places.
• At some of the Government offices, the application was made mandatory as well.
• With the developer of the application unknown, there are possibilities of illegal data retrieval from the users of the applications. Thus, the concerns are being raised.