In an early morning tweet today, the Ministry of Railways made it mandatory for passengers of special trains — which begin operations today — to download the government’s exposure notification app, Aarogya Setu. On Monday, the Ministry had only “advised” passengers to download the app. Railways’ tweet announcing Aarogya Setu as being mandatory for travel came at 12:24 am today, and it isn’t clear whether it has communicated the same to passengers directly. If not, it could mean that several passengers who are to board trains today might not even be aware of this new condition. Passengers could be asked to show the app during the thermal screening process, R.K. Rana, Senior PRO at Northern Railways, told MediaNama. “Having Aarogya Setu is mandatory, and passengers without the app will not be allowed to travel,” he said, reiterating Railways’ tweet. People who have a smartphone but not Aarogya Setu, will be directed to install the app during the screening, Rana clarified. When we asked Rana what would happen if a passenger doesn’t have a phone, he said that “everyone has a smartphone”, and that “guidelines will have to be followed”. This means that people who don’t have a phone will potentially not be allowed to undertake the journey. Advocacy group Internet Freedom Foundation tweeted that the requirement of having Aarogya Setu as a condition for travel by Railways will cause “massive exclusion” to large sections of the society. “Technology deployments should be inclusive and account for implementing by design. A failure…
