Contact tracing data of citizens from Aarogya Setu app deleted: Minister

Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar while replying to a Lok Sabha question said that the contact tracing feature of the Aarogya Setu mobile application has been discontinued and contact tracing data collected through it has been deleted.

On February 8, the Congress MP Amar Singh raised a question in Lok Sabha seeking details of the current legislation or protocol governing the data collected by Aarogya Setu app, and sought a list of the government or private agencies, organisations, institutes and individuals with access to that data.

Replying to the question on how the data collected through Aarogya Setu was used, minister Chandrasekhar informed the Parliament that "the National Executive Committee constituted under the Disaster Management Act, 2005,... constituting, among others, an empowered group on technology and data management to identify problem areas and provide effective solutions therefor delineate policy, formulate plans, strategise operations and take all necessary steps for effective and time-bound implementation of these plans/policies/strategies/decisions in relation to Covid-19 pandemic. As per a decision of the empowered group, its chairperson issued an order...notifying the Aarogya Setu Data Access and Knowledge Sharing Protocol, 2020, to ensure secure collection of data by the Aarogya Setu mobile application, protection of personal data of individuals and the efficient use and sharing of personal or non-personal data for mitigation and redressal of the Covid-19 pandemic."

Chandrashekhar further added, "in accordance with the provisions of the said protocol, the contact tracing feature of the Aarogya Setu mobile application has been discontinued and contact tracing data collected through it has been deleted."

On who had access to the data collected by the app, the minister replied that "approved officials of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, State Health Departments, the National and State Disaster Management Authorities and District Civil Surgeons were given secure access to the data collected through the Aarogya Setu."

The Arogya Setu app was introduced as a contact tracing platform by the Centre during the first wave of Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. Since then the app has remained under scrutiny for its data collection.

The app has also faced lawsuits as it was declared mandatory for visiting key institutions like airports by the government. 

As the pandemic eased out the app was integration with the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission to function as a larger general health app.