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With the COVID-19 pandemic bringing industries and working life to a staggering halt, the economy worldwide has plummeted. To combat the economic crisis, India has turned its labour laws to a worker’s worst nightmare.

With the entire world shut indoors in lockdown, the economy of not just India, but the entire world, has plummeted. The economic crisis that 2020 faces has been described to be even worse than the recession faced in 2007-2009. This global financial crisis is comparable to 1930s Great Depression, a period that saw devastating economic despair from 1929-1939, and led to mass unemployment, industry closures and human trauma worldwide.

The Indian unemployment rate in the week that ended on 3rd May 2020 rose to 27.1%, the highest that the country had ever seen. It is estimated that over 9 crore people lost their jobs due to the lockdown. In this calculated estimation, the ones hit the hardest were the daily wage labourers and small traders. In an attempt to battle this destructive economic decline, the Indian government has “suspended” major labour laws in various states like Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat. UP government has suspended these laws for three years, under the ruse of “safeguarding the welfare of the workers and ensuring industrial safety”. 

In Uttar Pradesh, 35 of the 38 labour laws applicable have been suspended. The only three laws that have been exempted are the Building and Other Construction Workers Act, 1996; the Workmen Compensation Act, 1923, and the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976, along with the Section 5 of the Payment of Wages Act, which relates to the timely payment of wages.

But does it really help India? For long, India’s labour laws have been criticized. They have been characterized as “too inflexible” and too many in numbers, making them hard to follow. Thus, reformed laws are needed in- lesser laws that are easier to follow would ensure that firms can contract and expand according to the market requirement, thus converting the largely informal sector that currently employees a large majority of Indian workers to a formal one that would provide with better salaries and social security benefits. 

However, the laws introduced do little to aid that. In fact, they have been largely characterized as slave laws, paving the way for exploitation in the 21st century. The provisions that have currently been terminated encompass basic rights like minimum wage, occupational safety, as well as minimum standards for working conditions. The Indian industries, many of which already lacked basic hygiene and safety equipment for their workers such as ventilation, toilets, daycare or even basic potable water, are now under no government obligation to provide these basic necessities. Keeping in mind that basic hygiene is probably more important in a post-pandemic world than any other, the introduction of these laws is not just ignorant, but downright inhumane. The basic minimum wage, that already was scant, to begin with, is now under no obligation to be met. Another heavily criticized decision was the increasing of working hours from 8 to 12. Not only would the increased hours prove to be exhaustive upon the workers, but the decision also does not aid towards utilizing more of the unemployed taskforce- it would do the exact opposite. Further, the laws risk the employment wages’ reduction as well, with nothing stopping the employer from firing his entire workforce and rehiring them on lower wages. 

Thus the reforms, which should be pushing towards formalization, can risk doing the exact opposite.

It is undeniable that the need for some sort of labour law exemption wasn’t necessary, or that it isn’t important to consider any opportunity that arises for marking an industrial revival in India and making its niche in the world. However, the justification that touts basic worker rights as the reason for the hindrance to some Indian manufacturing revolution is an inhumane and baseless one. The decision to scrap these laws was a poorly thought-out and untimely one. For now, the only purposes these reforms fulfil are stripping the workers of their basic rights and bargaining power, and making this the survival of the richest and the most privileged.

Featured Image Credits: BoredPanda

Shreya Juyal

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Any talk about Delhi University is incomplete without a mention of its extravagant societies. But, is the extra pressure which comes up with the really stiff competition actually worth it?

The fun and frolic which comes up with the joining of a cultural group, or the engagement in the big brain talks by being part of an academic community, indeed contributes in adding up to ones college memories. But, continuing with this on the stake of ones mental health is not correct. The excessive competition and the pressure of having the first position in the entire DU circuit, sometimes makes the loved society culture extremely toxic. The daily seven to eight hour practices irrespective of rain and hail along with the flawed senior junior culture leaves many students shattered and face serious existential crisis.

Most of the times first years seeing the beautifully decorated registration desk apply in numerous societies but, the actual marathon begins only after you clear the auditions and officially become a part of it. The superiority of seniors and the inferiority of juniors the entitlement of only one and two years older mates as ‘Didis’ and ‘Bhaiyas’ often causes a complete reversal of ones opinions and thoughts. The mass scolding sessions, or rather the wordly mass assassination of juniors by the supremely talented Didis and Bhaiyas leaves one with tears, an outcome of supressed speech and anger.

“I joined the western dance society of my college with high expectations. I thought that it will help me live my passion but, it turned out to be completely opposite. All the dancers were great and the joining opened doors to many opportunities for me but, the super strict environment which makes one to think twice about doing and saying anything made me leave it in the very next month. People need to understand that maintaining a Hitler inspired environment wont help in the sustenance of art,” said a first year student of Delhi University.

“There is literally no junior who hasn’t cried. Once we went for lunch after a competition and all of us ordered according to our budgets assuming everyone was to pay for their own meal. The seniors enjoyed quite a lot and ordered double and triple of what we had, we obviously didn’t think much of it since everybody ate according to their pockets but with the arrival of bill they changed the protocol and forced us to go dutch. They divided the entire amount equally, irrespective the quantity each person ordered. This was shocking for me since I hadn’t seen anything so unfair till then. This society politics is very difficult to deal with,” said another first year.

However not all are alike. Some of them have very positive impacts on ones development and growth. It completely depends upon the management and environment. So, its imperative for one to think and choose wisely. Pursuing anything which has a toll on mental health would leave you with nothing but only distress and regret. Leaving after joining with a reason “I don’t feel good” is a reason enough for you to resign.
Featured Image Credits: Du Beat Archives

Kriti Gupta

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An overview over previously amended UAPA, aimed to counter terrorists, has resulted in terrorised dissidents instead.

Free speech, political dissention, and even mild criticism, might get anyone designated as ‘terrorist’ by the Centre, ever since Home Minister Amit Shah, in a sovereign state, proposed the amended version of an already ‘draconian law’ called, Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), and it somewhat suits the ‘rishta vohi soch nayi’ narrative with its uncanny resemblance to the Rowlatt Act of 1919 set by the colonisers to criminalise protests.

What is UAPA?

In 1967, UAPA was passed for the first time in the parliament, and it gave the entitlement to the government to designate any ‘organisation’ as ‘unlawful.’ It further defined and criminalised what it seemed as unlawful. However in 2004, Manmohan Singh led Congress further amended it without getting it scrutinised by the special committee. The government was disposed with more power, defined terrorism, and could declare any organisation as ‘terrorist.’ It also empowered the police with enhanced power of interrogation, which was often abused as a harassment tool.

What does the 2019 amendment say?
The recent changes proposed by the Home Minister Amit Shah, which were passed in the Lok Sabha owning to heavy NDA majority and smooth relations in Rajya Sabha, allowed the interference of National Investigation Agency (NIA) to mess with the federal system, and most importantly declare any ‘individual’ as opposed to what was ‘organisation’ as ‘terrorist.’ This too was passed sans the scrutiny of the select committee.

Who are the categorically individual terrorists?

The Home Minister made it very clear that individuals who participate, fund, or engage in raising funds for terrorist activities, shall be treated along the lines of this act.

Most importantly he said, “those are terorists who attempt to plant terrorist literature and terorist theory in the minds of the young, guns do not give rise to terrorism, the root of it is the propaganda that is done to spread it.”

The Problematic Aspects

At no point does the law define what is terrorist literature and theory, for all one may have a copy of The Communist Manifesto and the Centre can use that as evidence.

Also what is the urgent need of the government to go after individuals specifically, when under chapter four of the same act provides for the accused to be prosecuted and punished if found guilty by the courts? Perhaps it’s that ‘if’ they want to win over, by curtailing a person’s right to get bail, or proper redressal. On average 75% cases under UAPA ended in acquittal over three years ending 2016 as per Business Standards’ analysis of NCRB data. It only raises skepticism if the Centre is trying to overstep this trend by removing the redressal system all and for once.

Who all are booked under this so far?
Jaish-e-Mohammad founder Masoor Azhar, Lashkar-e-Taiba founder Hafiz Saeed, Lashkar-e-Taiba leader Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi and underworld don Dawood Ibrahim. However, individuals with no organisation backing who were arrested post the amendment included Kashmiri photojournalist Masrat Jahan, Kashmiri journalist Gowhar Geelani, peasant leader Akhil Gogoi, student leaders, Meeran Haider, Safoora Zargar and Umar Kahlid.

Conclusion

There’s scope of some appeal in this contentious law which would take minimum 100 days and maximum uncertain days, for the heeding to go through the Home Ministry which itself labelled the accused as terrorist in the first place, and review committee, until then, one is a terrorist until proven otherwise, without grant to bail, or lawyer, and it’s all because the State with enhanced centralised power in a democracy simply believed so without any evidence.

Featured Image Credits: The Quint

Umaima Khanam

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Delhi University proposes to conduct open book examinations online, a storm of dissent unleashes on Twitter. Students, activists, and organisations unite to trend #DUAgainstOnlineExams.

On 13th May, Wednesday, Professor Vinay Gupta, the Dean of Examinations, Delhi University (DU) released a proposal for conducting online examinations for final year students in the form of Open Book Examinations. The statement was made public the next day. This proposal explained the course of action to be undertaken involving printing and scanning of question papers and answer sheets, for which an extra hour would be provided to the students. However, this proposition is largely condemned by various student organisations for its “exclusive” nature.

Bodies like Students’ Federation of India (SFI), National Students’ Union of India (NSUI), and All India Students’ Association (AISA) among others have strongly condemned this move. They raised concerns on the lack of access to the internet for students from remote areas or general inability to use the same, unaffordability of smartphones or laptops were considered. Lack of study material and the implications of these on creating unfair disadvantages were also raised. These organisations suggest that this proposal for online examinations is, hence, highly discriminatory and fails to provide a fairground for evaluation.

All students, organizations, and allies were requested to join a call on Twitter to trend the hashtag #DUAgainstOnlineExams against the decision of the administration on 15th May, from 2 to 3 p.m. to highlight the issues of the students. Post 2 p.m., the aforementioned hashtag made it to the trending list on Twitter with several students and organisations speaking their minds and raising various concerns via tweets and memes.

 

Damni Kain, former Delhi University Student Union (DUSU) Presidential candidate and student activist posted a thread discussing the situation at large and voicing concerns of students. She addressed the unfair disadvantages of Kashmiri students in her tweet- “How will visually impaired students give online exams? What about students of Kashmir where internet connection is still at a 2G speed? Women students who are burdened with unequal domestic work, especially in the lockdown, are equally disadvantaged.”

In a statement released by the NSUI, the organisation requested the administration of the University to reconsider its decisions and come up with a more feasible alternative to tackle the situation at hand. It also suggested that in case online examinations are a must, the board should be lenient and test only the topics covered in class and not online.

The University recently released guidelines for open book examinations, details of which, can be found HERE.

Feature Image Credits: Niharika Dabral for DU Beat

Aditi Gutgutia
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Students pursuing B.Com (Honours) express their grievances as the results of the first-semester examinations leave students dissatisfied.

On 12th May 2020, results of the first-semester B.Com (Hons.) were declared. However, there were surfacing concerns regarding discrepancies in the same. Students have put forth the issue of disproportionate results i.e. the marks obtained in practicals and internal assignments not corresponding to the results of the odd semester examinations.

“I believe that my classmates have been marked incorrectly. For someone who scores eleven out of twenty-five in internals, getting a score of nine or ten in the core paper seems to be uncanny,” says a first-year student who responded on the condition of anonymity. The Varsity’s faulty evaluation has repeatedly been a cause of concern to students with respect to their results.

“Our seniors were not surprised when we told them about the discrepancies, this shows how deep-rooted and normalised this problem is,” says a student pursuing B.Com (Hons.) who wished to remain anonymous.

“The results have mostly been fine. Other than a few minor discrepancies in some subjects, the only major cause of concern has been the Microeconomics GE (Generic Elective) paper. Some students feel that the marking has been outrightly random. Students with perfect scores in internals and a well-written test have been marked far below their expectations,” says a first-year student pursuing B.Com. (Hons.)  from Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC).

Moreover, the issue of revaluation also stands as an inconvenience amidst the contemporary COVID-19 pandemic. With shops closed, attaining photostats becomes a tedious task. Along with the technical constraints, the revaluation and rechecking procedures emerge as faulty systems as students often claim that the Varsity gathers revenue from its own faults.

The recurring glitches in the results along with the University’s proposal of conducting online examinations have been a worrying matter to the students of Delhi University.

Feature Image Credits: DU Beat Archives

Priyanshi Banerjee
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A series of guidelines for setting question papers were circulated by Delhi University (DU). The Varsity actively considers conducting Open Book Examinations for final year students.

In a letter dated 13th May 2020, Professor Vinay Gupta, Dean of Examination addressed to all the Head of Department (HODs) of Delhi University and laid out certain guidelines to be adopted for setting question papers for the proposed exams. With the introduction of Open Book Examination, students can refer to books, notes and other study materials to answer the questions. This comes after suggestions to conduct online take-home exams for final year undergraduate and postgraduate students enrolled in the School of Open Learning (SOL), Non-Collegiate Women’s Education Board (NCWEB), and regular classes.

Students are expected to appear in these exams from their homes. Question papers of respective courses would be downloaded from a common portal, which would be attempted on plain paper. The answer sheets would then have to be uploaded on the portal within three hours from the start of the exam.

The letter was widely circulated amongst teachers and students. Following guidelines have been assigned for setting up the question paper.

  • Since it would be an Open-Book examination, the questions need to be framed in a manner which would test the understanding and analytical skills of the students and there should be NO/minimum scope for verbatim copying from books and study material.
  • The duration of the examination would be for two hours. One hour additional would be given for downloading the Question Paper, scanning the answer sheets, and uploading the answer sheet.
  • For ease of evaluation, it is requested that the question papers should have 6 questions out of which 4 are to be attempted by the students in 02 hours. All questions should have equal marks. There should NOT be parts to any question. Maximum marks would be 75 (100 for SOL/NCWEB papers).
  • The three sets of question papers for each course of both UG and PG programs related to each department would be set and subsequently moderated.
  • Moderated question papers to be uploaded on to the Examination portal, the login credentials of which would be shared shortly with the HODs.
  • Exams would also be conducted for 1st / 2nd year / 2nd Sem /4th Sem simultaneously for repeaters who are in 3rd year / final year.
  • All the question papers may be uploaded/sent at the earliest but not later than 3rd June 2020.

The decision to conduct Open-Book online exams, however, has been widely criticized by students and teachers across the country. Academics for Action and Development (AAD) demanded that this letter must be withdrawn immediately. “The pedagogy of DU and it’s Examination system is neither structured nor cultivated for open book examinations and to be taken at one’s home. We have three fourth of students coming from SC, ST, OBC, EWS, PWD and remote areas like north-east and Jammu & Kashmir, who are on the receiving end in the digital divide. Apart from the availability of network and having 4G mobile problems, the biggest challenge is to frame those questions which will test understanding and answer will be out of books and notes. The students are not trained or taught for these types of questions,” Press Secretary, AAD, said in an official statement.

It added, “Moreover, framing three sets of questions out of books and notes, without parts and for equal marks is not possible for all courses. In many science papers, there are derivations, numerical of chemical equations where finding questions from books and notes will be extremely difficult.”

Students’ Collectives and Unions from across colleges have joined hands against the conduction of online examinations. A common forward circulating amongst college groups said, “The Twitter trend is against the attempt of the administration to conduct exams through online mode. It will create a divide among students as many of us have issues with proper internet connectivity, reading material, laptop, atmosphere of study etc.”

Through a series of tweets on Twitter with the hashtags #DUAgainstOnlineExams and #EducationWithoutExclusion, students are demanding the university to step back from adopting such exclusionary methods.

Feature Image Credits: DU Beat Archives

Aishwaryaa Kunwar
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COVID-19 and lockdowns are not only having a toll on our daily lives but are also causing a noticeable shift in the type of criminal activities.

With people locked amidst the walls of their homes, there is a significant change in the techniques and statistics of crimes globally. There has been a roughly 20% drop in the crime rates, however, this comes along with signs of an increase in domestic violence and cyber frauds. For a crime to take place the contact of the criminal with its potential target is imperative, since lockdown has changed our movement activities, there is a similarly dramatic change in the distribution of criminal activities.

The shortage in the supply of face masks and medical equipment has made them the new targets for theft. There have been examples where thieves have been found stealing Oxygen canister from hospitals, raids on food banks, scams, and counterfeit goods relating to coronavirus have been observed. Staying indoors will also cause an increase in child abuse. As per the statistics of 2016, 40% of the child assault and abuse took place at homes by mothers and fathers. Now, the open of liquor shops and stores in Delhi has a probability of worsening the situation, for both children as well as women.

The pandemic has resulted in diverting the entire attention of the policymakers and police towards finding its cure. This has provided the criminal group to enhance their scope in illegal markets dealing in drugs and trafficking. Certain reports are even suggestive of the expenditure by the criminal markets on this disruption. A plane was sighted landing at Osvaldo Vieira Airport on 18th March – after the airports have been shut for preventing the spread of pandemic – it raised strong suspicions that the closure was being used as a guide to land planes carrying cocaine.

With the increase in the demand for medical supplies, the sale of counterfeit medical supplies has surged from the very start of the outbreak, as has been suggested by the smuggling and theft of medical supplies. Authorities in Iran, Ukraine, and Azerbaijan have intercepted attempts to smuggle essential stocks of medical face masks and hand sanitizer. In Italy, police have seized counterfeit masks in several regions. Adverts for masks have emerged on dark-web forums, while hundreds of sites on the open web market discounted masks that may not be legitimate, or even exist.

With no permission to go out, people have been spending most of their time online this has lead to a promotion of illicit business, especially those which are cyber oriented. A number of cyber phishing scams have already emerged, where trustworthy sources, such as the World Health Organisation have been hacked to gather information or spread malware content. INTERPOL has issued a warning against frauds whereby people are tricked into buying non-existent medical supplies, making payments intended for medical care into accounts controlled by criminals. It is estimated that millions of dollars have already been lost by the victims of such scams.

With a greater amount of free time and lockdown the online porn industry will undergo advancement. Pornhub has already made its premium version free, while this site is legal, the increased demand will provoke the criminal groups to trick and exploit sex workers, drug users, and other vulnerable people. The FBI has issued a warning that children who home-school, play games online, and use social media during school closures may be targeted by sexual predators, as they spend extended time online. Other online scams targeting the economic vulnerabilities of people such as lotteries and fraudulent investment schemes are also coming into play.

Indoor criminal activities have got a significant increase during the lockdown. In India, the National Commission for Women had received a total of 587 complaints from 23rd March to 16th April, out of which 239 are of domestic violence. According to data shared by the NCW, 123 cases of domestic violence were received between February 27 and March 22. In the last 25 days, the commission received 239 more such complaints. This locking of the abuser and victim in the same home has resulted in a steep rise in Domestic violence cases in India. The UN chief António Guttered called for measures to address the “horrifying global surge in domestic violence.” In one of his tweets he mentioned, “peace is not just the absence of war. Many women under lockdown for #COVID19 face violence where they should be safest: in their own homes.”

Research conducted by WHO reveals disturbing details regarding the physical, sexual, reproductive, and mental violence phased by women, during these times. women who experience physical or sexual abuse are twice as likely to have an abortion, and that experience nearly doubles their possibility of falling into depression or facing other mental health-related issues. In some regions, they are 1.5 times more likely to acquire HIV, and evidence exists that sexually assaulted women are 2.3 times more likely to have alcohol disorders. 87,000 women were intentionally killed in 2017, and more than half were killed by intimate partners or family members.

UNFPA has responded by working with trustworthy organizations and religious leaders to raise awareness of the heightened risks of gender-based violence during the pandemic. “We need to ensure that measures are in place to prevent, protect and mitigate the consequences of all forms of violence, stigma, and discrimination, especially those against women and girls during quarantine and self-isolation processes and procedures,” said Visare Mujko-Nimani, UNFPA’s head of office in Kosovo, as per the UN news.

Feature Image Credits: Europol

Kriti Gupta 

[email protected]

 

Read on to find out the plights of students from a student of Delhi University (DU). This piece gives an insight into how different colleges withing our University are dealing with the pandemic. 

In these intense or rather stressful times of COVID-19 when the students are sceptical about their college and future and the college should take some actions to calm the students down. Deen Dayal Upadhyaya College (DDUC) of Delhi University is paying no heed to any of these issues and moreover still using their tactful ways to bother and impose irrelevant obligations on them.

The hostel administration of Deen Dayal Upadhyaya College is forcing the students to pay their quarter fees while no one is residing in the hostel. In these stressful times of lockdown when no one is allowed to go out and the financial conditions are not in good shape, the administration is forcing the residents to pay the quarter fee. The fee for the facilities (water and electricity) no one is consuming.

Moreover, the administration has denied answering any queries of the students or parents regarding this matter saying “no clarification would be issued in this matter. It is a compulsory fee and needs to be paid”. If not paid there is an imposition of INR 50 per day as a penalty. And this amount would not be refunded to the students. The very fact that this all is happening even after the orders of the government for asking for any further fee is saddening. This just another way of extracting money for these capitalist institutions. This sense of torture from the hostel authorities is now affecting us personally, with following a different set of rules for girls and boys’ hostels for handling situations.

This is just not it; the students of this college are suffering from the start of this academic session and this is just a chain of events that has led us to this point. The residents of the hostel have been facing such problems from the start of this academic session. After not having had got any answer from the authorities the residents resorted to the action of putting up a strike for the basic needs against the administration. But this was dismissed by the principal by the threat of suspension.

The union council elections were also suspended by the administration which is the basic entity for getting our voice to the ears of the authorities. The cancelling of union defeats the purpose of decent and our say of asking any questions. There is no transparency in any sort of matter.

All these add up to a totalitarian rule of the principal and other authorities which is suppressing the students and hostel residents, leading to no other option left to get our voice reached to the people. These links are for the support of the prior strike held against the authorities.

To curb the spread of the Coronavirus, Governments all over the world have resorted to actions that have potentially infringed upon the rights of individuals. In India, Aarogya Setu has sparked a debate on privacy.

“Big Brother is Watching You” just got a whole lot really, according to some privacy experts, when the Government of India rolled out ‘Aarogya Setu’, an application that aims to inform the people of their risk of contracting the Coronavirus and educate them on the best practices and medical advisories pertaining to the COVID-19 Pandemic.

However, the app has not exactly gone down well with certain people who argue that the system by which the app uses contact tracing and shares details with the government essentially makes it a ‘surveillance system’. Congress politician Rahul Gandhi too tweeted in this regard, and his theory was ‘proved’ by French ethical hacker, Elliot Anderson. Through this article, I am going to analyse whether or not these claims hold weight, and whether the application is truly worth it.

The first concern would be that downloading the app gives the Indian Government access to your location and personal data at all times. However, that is untrue. Firstly, the application replaces all your data with a Device Identification Number on sign-up, and this DiD becomes the basis of all future interactions. It is this DiD that is used to interact with other phones when they come in range with each other and calculate your health risk and communicate it to the server. It is only when the risk of infection to a person is too high that the personal information is reconciled with the DiD to alert the individual.

The Privacy Policy for the application, along with its Data Access protocol, explicitly states the purposes for which the data can be used and limits the possibility for misuse. One major concern remains in the fact that the data is shared not only with the Health Ministry but with any related ministry at the central or state level that is involved in addressing the pandemic, but a case could be made against the same looking at the various actors involved in the COVID response. Another concern comes from the fact that DiDs that do not change can lead to privacy issues, but the Government is currently addressing this by creating a dynamic ID that generates multiple times and offers more security.

Hacker Elliott Anderson tweeted about certain ‘risks’ which included data of the users being at risk and local files being accessed. However, various people proficient with coding have come out to deny these claims, arguing that Elliott ran basic scripts to access the data stored on his own device and portrayed it as a security issue when it isn’t. Adding to it, the creators of the app themselves chose to engage with the hacker and clarified their response to his claims. It has been by and large proved that these claims held no weight at all and should be disregarded. An important point to be noted is that this is the same person who claimed that he hacked TRAI Chairman RS Sharma’s information based on his Aadhar Number. However, it was later found that the information he ‘hacked’ was available in the public domain already and could be easily found through search engines. As Michael Scott would say “Fool me once, strike one. But fool me twice, strike three.”

More importantly, the rules and privacy policy clearly specify the duration for which the data can be stored. The application deletes all personal data 30 days from collection, and the servers purge the information after 45-60 days, depending on whether or not a particular person tested positive for the virus. This contact and location data can in any case not be retained beyond 180 days and the demographic data is deleted within six months, provided the pandemic does not extend beyond that period. Thus, the possibility of the government retaining or sharing this data for other purposes does not exist.

Contact Tracing is a difficult, labour intensive process and often leaves out people in the way it’s been conventionally done. For example, a person goes to the market to buy vegetables and meets someone they do not know who later turns out to be positive for the virus. At that point in time, it becomes almost impossible for health officials to trace who was at xyz vegetable vendor at 11:00 hours on a day. This is where the app steps in, even if the person doesn’t know the person who contracted the virus, they will be notified of the risk and be asked to take steps accordingly, thus making the contact-tracing process not only less difficult but also more comprehensive.

A case is made that apps like these cannot be put to use by people who don’t have smartphones. It’s important to note that the app isn’t a replacement for contact tracing, it is an assistance mechanism. A lack of accessibility by the entire population cannot count as an argument for the ones who can access it to not be asked to install it and use it. Even if one person can self-isolate and reduce the spread of the virus due to the app, it means tens or hundreds of others who they would have come in contact with are saved. Every single life saved is a major victory for the application. In fact, until now, the app has been used to notify 1.4 lakh people of potential exposure to the virus and asked them to take necessary precautions. Even if one percent of those, i.e., 1400 people test positive for the virus later but had taken precautions to contain its spread thanks to the notifications issued, it’s a win not only for the app but for the country.

It is a moral obligation of every citizen to try and ensure that we try and reduce the spread of the virus as much as possible and take whatever steps necessary. Aarogya Setu, with its benefits, is a huge step, and all of us who can download it should make sure that we do.

Of course, the government needs to do better in two regards. Firstly, the government must implement Aarogya Setu only through law. If an action threatens to hinder a fundamental right (such as the Right to Privacy here), it needs to be implemented through legislation that limits potential government misuse. While in the status quo, it is understandable why the app is being pushed so strongly, there are better ways to do it, especially in the absence of a Data Protection law in the country.

Secondly, app security is a major issue. Thus, the app should be made open source so that developers can check it for bugs and potential security issues, and thus make it safer and easier to use for everyone.

The Aarogya Setu app is not perfect, but there can be no denying that it can be of huge help in the fight against COVID-19. The government has actually taken measures to ensure that user privacy is respected to the extent possible, which is a welcome change from its actions from the past. Given how crucial it is, it is imperative that we download the application as a measure to not only safeguard our own health but that of others around us too.

Featured Image Credit: Flipboard

Khush Vardhan Dembla

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Locked inside homes and distanced from the community, is quarantined Ramazan a chance to redeem your spirituality in solace?

The well lit streets at dawn anchoring massive food stalls with variant foods and condiments, the flashing bazar with jittering crowd trying to get the best for their own, the hosting of lavish iftar parties and community collection among other traditions, experienced during the most sacred month in the Islamic calendar, has all come to a halt! The mention of these outwardly expressive traditions is deliberately aimed, since we often lose to oblivion of the spiritual and introspective aspect to these material and capitalist needs during Ramazan. Not that celebration is a crime and missing those old days is sinful, but in times as dreadful as such, it wouldn’t hurt to minimise the celebratory side and be more introspective if one has the privilege of living in a house which allows to afford space and solace to retrospect.

Ramazan asks of you to do social distancing with evils of jealousy, lies, deceit, and to have a sense of control over your  instinctive desires. This lockdown shall be used to shield ourselves from the hypocrisy of duniyadari and use the time and distance to introspect the evils which lie within.


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Ramadan. Day 2

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From sunrise to sunset fasting (roza) without food and water, if you still don’t feel for the empty stomachs of those who fast perennially, and not out of choice, but circumstances, then you have learned nothing from this month. It’s still easier to crib and complain from the insides of your house when others who are subject to your living room discussions die outside. Zakat or charity is one of the five pillars of Islam and now more than ever humanity is calling for it. My mother always said, “Khuda (God) looks for your neeyat (intentions).” A lot of people are reaching out to help, one such is renowned journalist and author of Gujrat Files, Rana Ayyub.


What is also quite visible is a patriarchal approach where a determinant of the end of the world is indicated when mosques are not holding collective prayers for men. Like it’s beneath their dignity to offer prayer from inside which the women have been doing majorly since ages. Khuda isn’t confined to mosques. Offer your prayers from home which itself is a privilege to have. We now live in times where basics such as food, shelter, and education is even a privilege and it’s highly insensitive to hold your manner of praying or living superior to another.

Ignorance is abundant, maybe more than the spread of virus, use this month to live upto to what it truly stands for. This Ramazan use social distancing from this ignorance instead, understand your entitlement, and reach out to those in need!

Click HERE to donate to a fundraiser organised by Karwan e Mohabbat.

Image Credits: The Economist via Hannah Barcyzk

Umaima Khanam

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