The Congress and the government were engaged in a war of words on Saturday over the Arogya Setu application , with former Congress president Rahul Gandhi calling it a “sophisticated surveillance system” and saying the fear of citizens must not be leveraged.
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Union Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad called the charge a “lie”.
“The Arogya Setu app, is a sophisticated surveillance system, outsourced to a pvt operator, with no institutional oversight — raising serious data security & privacy concerns. Technology can help keep us safe; but fear must not be leveraged to track citizens without their consent,” Mr. Gandhi wrote on Twitter.
The application helps users identify whether they are at risk of the COVID-19 infection and provides people with important information such as hotspots and ways to avoid infection.
“Daily a new lie. Aarogya Setu is a powerful companion which protects people. It has a robust data security architecture. Those who indulged in surveillance all their lives, won’t know how tech can be leveraged for good!” Mr. Prasad wrote on Twitter, asking Mr. Gandhi not to “outsource” his tweets.
