When the Indian government made it mandatory for all public and private sector employees to use the Aarogya Setu app earlier this week, it added that the head of organizations will be responsible to make sure all the employees have the app installed on their devices. The Manufacturers’ Association for Information Technology (MAIT) has now commented against the guideline.
MAIT’s chief executive officer George Paul was quoted earlier today by The Economic Times saying “Dereliction by an individual employee should not be a sword hanging over management. It is advisable that punitive measures on heads (of companies) be withdrawn”.
MAIT will reportedly write to the government in order to withdraw the guideline that holds management heads responsible if employees don’t install the contact tracing Aarogya Setu app. Aarogya Setu app was launched last month by the Indian government to track the spread of coronavirus.
The report further quotes an anonymous official from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) saying this guideline of making it mandatory to install the app got implemented on the demand of the services industry.
“While this may seem like it is being made mandatory, it should be seen from the light of an enabling feature which can allow businesses to start operations. Anyone who is in the red rating should not come to work, and only those who are green should step out. Privacy matters to that extent only and the larger economy of the country has to be also taken care of,” said the official.
In fact, MAIT is not the only body urging the government to withdraw this guideline. The Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF) has sent a joint representation to the Prime Minister’s Office signed by 45 organizations and more than 100 individuals against the mandatory use of the Aarogya Setu App, citing privacy concerns.
