About Arogya Setu App

• Aarogya Setu is a mobile app launched by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology to help citizens identify their risk of contracting Covid-19.
• Aarogya Setu is designed to keep the user informed in case s/he has crossed paths with someone who has tested positive. 
• The tracking is done through a Bluetooth & location-generated social graph, which can show user’s interaction with anyone who has tested positive.
• The app alerts are accompanied by instructions on how to self-isolate and what to do in case you develop symptoms.
• There is also a self-testing tool where the users can assess their health voluntarily by answering a few questions.

Concerns about source code

• Concerns were raised previously about not making the source code (software programming code) of the App public.
• The closed source architecture of the app violates transparency principles.
• An open source code allows researchers and experts to test the architecture and suggest measures to correct vulnerabilities.
• For instance, Singapore’s TraceTogether app was made open source.

Why in News?

• The government announced opening the source code of its coronavirus tracking app, Aarogya Setu.
• The government reiterated that transparency, privacy and security have been the core design principle of Aarogya Setu.
• Opening the source code to the software developer community signifies the Government of India continuing principal to these commitments.

What is a source code?

• Source code is the fundamental component of a computer program that is created by a programmer.
• It is a set of step-by-step instructions to the computer that are in a human readable format.
• Source code will be converted into a machine readable format– called object code – by the process of compilation.
• Source codes are written in Computer programming languages such as Python, Java, C++, Swift, SQL, etc.

What is an open source code?

• The term open source refers to something people can modify and share because its design is publicly accessible.
• Open source software is software with source code that anyone can inspect, modify, and enhance.
• Programmers who have access to a computer program’s source code can improve that program by adding features to it or fixing parts that don’t always work correctly.
• More importantly an open source code allows researchers and experts to test the architecture and suggest measures to correct cybersecurity vulnerabilities.