Lockdown 4: Govt highlights advantage of Aarogya Setu, but stops short of making it compulsory in new guidelines

Lockdown 4: Govt highlights advantage of Aarogya Setu, but stops short of making it compulsory in new guidelines

New Delhi: The government appears to have made Aarogya Setu optional, scaling down its earlier directive that had made it compulsory for several categories of people to download the mobile app which monitors the spread of coronavirus.

In fresh guidelines issued Sunday on lockdown 4.0, the government has focused on the advantage of the app saying it enables for early identification of potential risk of infection and thus acts as a shield for individuals and the community.

“With a view to ensuring safety in offices and workplaces, employers on best effort basis should ensure that Aarogya Setu is installed by all employees having compatible mobile phones,” it said.

In its May 1 guidelines, the government had said “use of Aarogya Setu app shall be mandatory for all employees, both private and public. It shall be the responsibility of the head of the respective organization to ensure 100 percent coverage of the app among the employees”.

Sunday’s guidelines also said district authorities “may advise” individuals to install the app on compatible mobile phones and regularly update their health status as this will facilitate timely provisions of medical attention to those individuals who are at risk.

The last guidelines had said that the local authority “shall ensure 100 percent coverage of Aarogya Setu app among the residents of containment zones”, a point no more mentioned in the latest one.

Early this month, a French hacker and cybersecurity expert who goes by the name Elliot Alderson had claimed that “a security issue has been found” in the app and that “privacy of 90 million Indians is at stake”.

The government had categorically rejected this claim saying no data or security breach has been identified in the app and “no personal information of any user has been proven to be at risk by this ethical hacker”.

“We are continuously testing and upgrading our systems. Team Aarogya Setu assures everyone that no data or security breach has been identified,” the government had said through the app’s Twitter handle.

Govt likely to make Aarogya Setu app mandatory for flyers post lockdown

Govt likely to make Aarogya Setu app mandatory for flyers post lockdown

New Delhi: The Centre is likely to make it mandatory for people to have Aarogya Setu mobile application installed in their phones while taking a flight post-lockdown, officials said on Monday.

“Preliminary discussions regarding making this app mandatory for air passengers have been done with the airlines,” the government officials noted, adding that the Civil Aviation Ministry is yet to take a decision in this regard.

The mobile application helps users identify whether they are at risk of COVID-19. It also provides people with important information, including ways to avoid coronavirus and its symptoms.

The app gives color coded-designation to users as per their health status and travel history. It helps the user know if he or she is near anyone who has tested positive for the virus.

“If the proposal is approved in the Aviation ministry, passengers who do not have the app on their phone would not be allowed to board their flight,” the officials noted.

The third phase of coronavirus-triggered lockdown will end on May 17. The government is yet to take a decision regarding the resumption of commercial passenger flight services.

India has been under lockdown since March 25 to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus, which has infected more than 67,100 people and killed over 2,200 till now in the country.

All commercial passenger flight operations have been suspended for the lockdown period. However, cargo flights, medical evacuation flights, and special flights approved by the aviation regulator DGCA have been allowed to operate.

COVID-19: Govt working on several initiatives to attract investors

COVID-19: Govt working on several initiatives to attract investors

New Delhi: The government is working on several initiatives, such as preparation of huge land pools, to attract potential investors to India amid the coronavirus-triggered turbulence, a senior official said.

Due to disruptions in the global supply chain on account of the COVID-19 crisis, many foreign companies are looking to reduce their dependency on China and set up manufacturing facilities in other countries.

“We are working on a lot of initiatives. When it comes to land, states prepare their land inventory and we aggregate those and make available to all potential investors,” the government official said.

According to Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) President Sharad Saraf, steps like fixing accountability on state and central government officers to perform in a time-bound manner; deemed approval for all licences and permits if not granted well in time; change in land acquisition law; power connection in one month and bank loan sanction within two months can help in attracting overseas firms.

Sharing similar views, President of International Chamber of Commerce Paris-India Vikarmjit Singh Sahney said with stagnant economic activity, production coming to halt and cash flows drying up elsewhere, India should present itself as the most viable destination for global companies looking at other investment destinations.

“Despite a reduction of corporate tax rates especially for new manufacturing units, the bulk of shifting from China is going to Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia.

Apart from ease of doing business, central and state governments will have to develop industrial parks and corridors on lines of China and ensure consistent policy framework for foreign investors, which is a matter of concern for most of them,” Sahney said.

Another official said that multinational firms would not completely leave China and shift base to other countries, but they are looking at alternatives and India could be one the preferred destinations.

The government has taken steps like promoting ease of doing business and liberalisation of the foreign direct investment norms to attract overseas investors.

India has jumped 14 places to the 63rd position on the World Bank’s ease of doing business ranking released last year. It figured among the top 10 performers on the list for the third time in a row, mainly due to the successful implementation of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code.

The country was 77th among 190 countries in the previous ranking.

Govt bans exports of alcohol-based hand sanitizers

Govt bans exports of alcohol-based hand sanitizers

New Delhi: The government on Wednesday banned exports of alcohol-based hand sanitizers to boost its availability in the domestic market amid coronavirus pandemic.

“Alcohol-based hand sanitizers are prohibited for exports,” Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) said in a notification.

Sanitisers are used as a disinfectant to prevent the spread of the deadly virus.

No country should have any concern over India’s new FDI policy: Govt

No country should have any concern over India’s new FDI policy: Govt

New Delhi: No country should have any concern over India’s new policy for foreign direct investment from specific nations, government sources said on Thursday, in a clear message to China which strongly objected to the fresh norms for FDI.

Around a week ago, India made prior clearance mandatory for foreign investments from countries that share a land border with India to curb “opportunistic takeovers” of domestic firms in the wake of economic downturn triggered by the coronavirus pandemic.

India’s decision to tighten norms for FDI came amid reports of China eyeing to take over several Indian entities following fall in their valuation due to the economic downturn in the wake of the pandemic.

China criticised India for the new policy, calling it discriminatory. The neighbouring country even demanded a review of the policy.

Government sources said there shouldn’t be concern over procedural changes made in the FDI policy, asserting that it doesn’t prohibit investment from any country with which India shares its border.

They said many other countries have taken similar steps to protect their economies in view of the coronavirus pandemic.

Asked about questions over the effectiveness of coronavirus testing kits procured from China, the sources said the Indian Council of Medical Research is looking into the issue.

On the issue of FDI policy, China said India’s new norms violate WTO’s principle of non-discrimination and are against the general trend of free trade.

The impact of the policy was clear on Chinese investors, a Chinese embassy spokesperson said earlier this week.

Chinese embassy spokesperson Ji Rong said China hoped that India would revise the “relevant discriminatory practices” and treat investments from different countries equally while fostering an “open, fair and equitable” business environment.

The spokesperson said China’s cumulative investment in India has exceeded USD 8 billion, noting it is far more than the total investments by countries sharing border with India. According to official data, around 1,000 Chinese companies are operating in India at present.

Lockdown: Mobile devices firms urge govt to lift sales restrictions

Lockdown: Mobile devices firms urge govt to lift sales restrictions

New Delhi: Urging the government to include mobile devices under the essential services category, handset firms on Thursday, April 23 said many frontline workers, patients, and other vulnerable groups are facing a tough time during the coronavirus lockdown due to non-availability of the devices.

The India Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA), whose members include firms like Apple, Foxconn, Wistron, Flextronics, Xiaomi, Vivo, Oppo, and Lava, said mobile phones are at the heart of the digital ecosystem and their non-availability can be life-threatening.

“Senior citizens and those with underlying health conditions are most susceptible to COVID-19. In such cases, the fatality rate is upwards of 10 percent. The disease is such that all times, the patients need to fend for themselves from the time they communicate with municipal authorities regarding symptoms to testing and treatment,” ICEA Chairman Pankaj Mohindroo said in a letter to IT Secretary Ajay Prakash Sawhney.

ICEA said this can be a life-threatening situation and more than 10 crore senior citizens at the bottom of the pyramid do not have access to even feature phones and are being denied access.

The government has allowed operations of telecom, internet, broadcast, and IT services but not mobile devices that are pivotal to accessing all these services.

“Unfortunately, and very tragically, we are facing grave life-threatening situations wherein our frontline responders and patients are facing challenges because of the non-availability of mobile phones and other consumer premise equipment,” Mohindroo said.

The Ministry of Electronics and IT has recommended to the Home Ministry to include mobile devices, including laptops, in the list of essential goods.

This will enable e-commerce companies to start selling mobile devices and gradually stores across the country can be also opened up in areas where coronavirus cases are under control.

According to industry estimates, around 10 crore mobile phones at present are likely to have become non-functional because of defects that may be beyond repair.

Oppo India recently said it received over 7 lakh queries on its ‘Ollie’ chatbot for resolving handset related problems in March. According to after-sales services firm OnsiteGo, screen damage accounts for 71 percent of mobile phones problems.

Mohindroo said mobile phones and devices are mission-critical to the functioning of government officials, hospitals, doctors, police, civil defence, disaster management personnel and officials ensuring provision of utilities such as electricity, water, sanitation and running municipal bodies.

The industry body said that the non-availability of their communication link due to temporary or permanent breakdown can have debilitating impact which is endangering lives.

The government’s Aarogya Setu app to help contain coronavirus is running in over 6 crore smartphones.

“Citizens who want to upgrade from feature phones to smartphones are being deprived of Aarogya Setu. We estimate that this runs into at least 10 million (1 crore) citizens already,” Mohindroo said.

Coronavirus cases in India have gone from three in the beginning of March to over 20,500.

ICEA said that even for ordinary citizens and office goers, the ability to work from home and isolate from each other necessarily requires lakhs of employees to use such mobile phones and devices.

The industry body has demanded that sales of mobile phones and devices through physical and e-commerce platforms that are allowed to deliver essential goods should be allowed.

“Telecom services retail stores numbering more than 10-15 lakh are already open rightly, to provide uninterrupted mobile services and recharge to citizens as essential services. Most of the mobile phone selling stores are also selling these services and are only a small subset of 2.5 lakh of this ecosystem. Therefore, we should not deprive the traders of their livelihood and citizens the opportunity to buy and upgrade,” Mohindroo said.

ICEA has also approached Prime Minister Narendra Modi with the request.

Mobile phone companies at present only have room for addressing export requirements, which account for around 12 percent of total production.

In 2019-20, mobile phone players in India exported devices worth about Rs 25,000 crore and the total production is estimated to have crossed Rs 2 lakh crore now.

The mobile phone industry is estimated to have faced losses of around Rs 15,000 crore during the 21-day lockdown which started on March 24. The lockdown was later further extended to May 3 in wake of rising coronavirus cases.