Ministry Of Electronics, NIC And NeGD Have No Information About Who Created Arogya Setu App & How It Was Created

[hyperbole]

Ministry Of Electronics, NIC And NeGD Have No Information About Who Created Arogya Setu App & How It Was Created: CIC Summons CPIOs

Akshita Saxena

27 Oct 2020 11:54 PM

The Central Information Commission on Tuesday issued show-cause notices to the CPIOs, Ministry of Electronic, National Informatics Centre,NeGD as to why penalty u/s 20 of the RTI Act should not be imposed on them for prima facie obstruction of information and providing an evasive reply on an RTI application related to Arogya Setu App.

"The Commission directs the CPIO, NIC to explain this matter in writing as to how the website https://aarogyasetu.gov.in/ was created with the domain name gov.in, if they do not have any information about it," Information Commissioner Vanaja N. Sarna ordered.

"None of the CPIOs were able to explain anything regarding who created the App, where are the files, and the same is extremely preposterous",the CIC stated.

Commission has issues show cause notices to 

1. Shri S.K Tyagi, Deputy Director and CPIO,

2. Shri D K Sagar, Deputy Director Electronics

3. Shri R A Dhawan, Senior General Manager (HR & Admn) and CPIO NeGD

The Commission directs the above-mentioned CPIOs to appear before the bench on 24.11.2020 at 01.15 pm to show cause as to why action should not be initiated against them under Section 20 of the RTI Act. The CPIOs are also directed to send a copy of all supporting documents upon which they choose to rely upon during the hearing. The said documents be sent to the Commission atleast 5 days prior to the hearing via linkpaper. If any other persons are responsible for the said omission, the CPIO shall serve a copy of this order on such persons to direct their presence before the bench as well.4. Shri Swarup Dutta, Scientist F and CPIO NIC to explain why penalty u/s 20 of the RTI Act should not be imposed on them for prima facie obstruction of information and providing an evasive reply.

The development comes in a complaint filed by one Saurav Das, stating that the relevant authorities, i.e. NIC, National E-Governance Division (NeGD) and Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY), had failed to furnish information about the process of creation of Aarogya Setu App and other information relating to its creation.

He submitted that the RTI was filed with the NIC, which stated that it "does not hold the information" relating to the App's creation, which is very surprising since it is the App's developer.

He further submitted that even NeGC and MeitY had not provided any information relating to the App's creation and other matters.

Concerned by such denial of information for an App that is being used by masses at large, the Petitioner had submitted,

"no one has any information on how this App was created, the files relating to its creation, who has given inputs for this App's creation, what audit measures exists to check for misuse of the personal data of millions of Indians, whether any anonymisation protocols for user data have been developed and about who this data is being shared with. This is despite the fact that any omissions and commissions by these public authorities and any failure to perform their duties as outlined and mandated under the Protocol, 2020, could essentially lead to security compromise of millions of Indians' personal and user data. This would be a grave breach of fundamental right to privacy on a massive scale and threaten people's constitutionally guaranteed right to life and liberty."

Though the Commission refrained from making any remarks on the privacy aspect, it pulled up the authorities for giving "evasive kind of reply" to the Complainant.

The Commission noted that the authorities had used Section 6(3) of the Act to transfer the RTI application to one-another but no one had disclosed any information. Deprecating such practice, the Commission held,

"Denial of information by all the concerned authorities cannot be accepted at all…Sec 6(3) of the RTI Act cannot be used by public authorities to push off the matter.

It is a current issue and it is not possible that there was no file movement while creating this App, a citizen cannot go round in circles to find out the custodian.

"The complainant's plea that the CPIO, National E-Governance Division, MEITY should be penalised under section 20(1) and 20(2) of the RTI Act for wilfully and repeatedly refusing to act in conformity with the RTI Act despite sending repeated reminders requesting them to furnish the information seems correct in the absence of a reasoned and justifiable reply from the CPIOs concerned".

The addressees cannot simply wash their hands off by stating that the information is not available with them. Some effort should have been put in to find out the custodian(s) of the information sought, by the concerned public authorities when apparently they are the relevant parties."

The Commission further observed that the CPIO, NeGD could not explain why it took him almost two months to provide a reply and that too informing that the information sought is not related to NeGD.

Similarly, it noted, CPIO, MeitY could not give a plausible explanation as to from where the information relating to the creation of Arogya Setu app can be accessed, except that the creation of the same involves inputs from NITI Ayog. He further could not explain as to how it is possible that the App was created and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has no clue about its origin.

Remarking that this stand of the authorities is "extremely preposterous", the Commission directed all three CPIOs of MeITY, NeGD and NIC, to remain present before it on November 24, 2020, to show cause as to why action should not be initiated against them under Section 20 (Penalty for failure to supply information without any reasonable cause) of the RTI Act.

It observed,

"The CPIO, NIC's submissions that the entire file related to creation of the App is not with NIC is understandable, but the same submissions if accepted from MeITY, NeGD and NIC in toto, then it becomes more relevant to now find out how an App was created and there is no information with any of the relevant public authorities."

It further ordered thus:

As per the website https://aarogyasetu.gov.in/ it is mentioned that the content is owned, updated and maintained by the MyGov, MeitY. Therefore, Shri Tyagi is directed to explain in writing who is the concerned CPIO to explain regarding MyGov, MeiTY maintaining the app. 

The registry is directed to send an e-mail to the e-mail idsupport.aarogyasetu.gov.in as mentioned in the website directing them to send the concerned authority to be present before the Commission on the next date of hearing.

[hyperbole]

No Data government indeed

[hyperbole]

It seems Make My Trip is involved in building the App but Make My Trip is half owned by a Chinese entity.

source

https://www.medianama.com/2020/06/223-makemytrip-aarogya-setu/

 

https://techcrunch.com/2019/04/26/ctrip-makemytrip-naspers-share-swap/

 

[Jambhalheart]

"Aarogya Setu Built By...": Government Clarifies After Row With RTI Body

New Delhi: 

The Aarogya Setu app was developed in the most transparent manner with public-private collaboration in record time to fight the coronavirus, the government said today, in a detailed clarification after reports that ministries denied any knowledge of who created the app. The names of those associated with the app were already in the public domain, it asserted. 

"The Aarogya Setu 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," said the government.

The clarification came after it emerged earlier today that the government had been served notice by the Central Information Commission for what it called "evasive answers" on who created the contact tracing app that the government pushed as an essential tool in the fight against the coronavirus.

Aarogya Setu's website says it was developed by the National Informatics Centre and the Information Technology ministry but according to the Central Information Commission, various ministries and departments had given "evasive answers" to a Right to Information (RTI) query on who created the Aarogya Setu app.

"Denial of information by authorities cannot be accepted," the top RTI body said in its notice, calling it "extremely preposterous".

The notice questioned why the government should not face action for "prima facie obstruction of information" and giving an "evasive reply".

Activist Saurav Das had complained to the information commission that various ministries failed to provide details like how the app was proposed and approved; the companies, individuals and government departments involved; and copies of mails between private persons who helped develop the app.

 

Over a period of two months, the query bounced off various departments.

The National Informatics Centre reportedly said that the "entire file related to creation of the app is not with NIC". The IT ministry transferred the query to the National e-Governance Division, which said: "The information sought is not related to (our division)."

In its clarification, the government said it was announced through press releases and social media posts on April 2 that the Aarogya Setu app was launched in public private partnership mode "to bring people of India together in its fight against the virus". The names of all those associated with app was shared when the source code was released in the public domain, it said.

The statement said the app had been downloaded by more than 16 crore users and "has greatly augmented the efforts of front line health workers in the fight against COVID-19". It also flagged that the app's role had been appreciated by the World Health Organisation.

"There should be no doubt with regard to the Aarogya Setu app and its role in helping contain the COVID-19 pandemic in India," said the statement.

[hyperbole]

2 minutes ago, Jambhalheart said:

"Aarogya Setu Built By...": Government Clarifies After Row With RTI Body

New Delhi: 

The Aarogya Setu app was developed in the most transparent manner with public-private collaboration in record time to fight the coronavirus, the government said today, in a detailed clarification after reports that ministries denied any knowledge of who created the app. The names of those associated with the app were already in the public domain, it asserted. 

"The Aarogya Setu 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," said the government.

The clarification came after it emerged earlier today that the government had been served notice by the Central Information Commission for what it called "evasive answers" on who created the contact tracing app that the government pushed as an essential tool in the fight against the coronavirus.

Aarogya Setu's website says it was developed by the National Informatics Centre and the Information Technology ministry but according to the Central Information Commission, various ministries and departments had given "evasive answers" to a Right to Information (RTI) query on who created the Aarogya Setu app.

"Denial of information by authorities cannot be accepted," the top RTI body said in its notice, calling it "extremely preposterous".

The notice questioned why the government should not face action for "prima facie obstruction of information" and giving an "evasive reply".

Activist Saurav Das had complained to the information commission that various ministries failed to provide details like how the app was proposed and approved; the companies, individuals and government departments involved; and copies of mails between private persons who helped develop the app.

 

Over a period of two months, the query bounced off various departments.

The National Informatics Centre reportedly said that the "entire file related to creation of the app is not with NIC". The IT ministry transferred the query to the National e-Governance Division, which said: "The information sought is not related to (our division)."

In its clarification, the government said it was announced through press releases and social media posts on April 2 that the Aarogya Setu app was launched in public private partnership mode "to bring people of India together in its fight against the virus". The names of all those associated with app was shared when the source code was released in the public domain, it said.

The statement said the app had been downloaded by more than 16 crore users and "has greatly augmented the efforts of front line health workers in the fight against COVID-19". It also flagged that the app's role had been appreciated by the World Health Organisation.

"There should be no doubt with regard to the Aarogya Setu app and its role in helping contain the COVID-19 pandemic in India," said the statement.

This looks more like a cover up after the blow up

[Ryzen_renoir]

[dewarist]

We will have data around how many cows have been slaughtered by peacefuls and you ask why..because that is so important.

[Boomer]

Deniki thread enduku bokka

Health ministry ki RTI petko u will get all info

[dewarist]

 

1 minute ago, Boomer said:

Deniki thread enduku bokka

Health ministry ki RTI petko u will get all info

Enduku, Health ministry is just a sponsor of the app, we are not concerned with the development and maintenance of the app ani cheppadanike kada.

[Picheshwar]

1 hour ago, hyperbole said:

This looks more like a cover up after the blow up

[dewarist]

1 hour ago, hyperbole said:

This looks more like a cover up after the blow up

Meeru enta ginjukunna, raajyam maade, rules kooda maave. Constructive criticism cheyandayya, ila cheste meeku emi vastundi ani DB Bhakta sangham telling

 

[hyperbole]

12 minutes ago, Boomer said:

Deniki thread enduku bokka

Health ministry ki RTI petko u will get all info

Paina matter chadivinava?

[dewarist]

1 minute ago, hyperbole said:

Paina matter chadivinava?

Post vesindi evaru, post title enti , ee parameters thoti anna matter grahichagaladu. Robot movie lo chitti type

[manadonga]

16 minutes ago, dewarist said:

 

Enduku, Health ministry is just a sponsor of the app, we are not concerned with the development and maintenance of the app ani cheppadanike kada.

ala chebithene inta godava ayyindi 

[manadonga]

22 minutes ago, Boomer said:

Deniki thread enduku bokka

Health ministry ki RTI petko u will get all info

ala rti pedithene maku telidannaru 

data mottam chinaki ammukunnadu