Thiruvananthapuram: Ignoring the attack by the opposition, the state government decided to go ahead with the ‘controversial’ contract with US-based PR and data analytics company Sprinklr. On Monday night, IT secretary M Sivasankar issued a statement, dismissing allegations of possible misuse of data on Covid-19 suspects in the state.
“It is impossible for the state IT department to immediately develop and maintain a foolproof software to handle a crucial data required to initiate post-Covid measures in the state. The government’s intention is to have a customised analytical tool to handle the data and to make required interventions in future,” the IT secretary said.
Pointing out that the data is getting stored in Mumbai-based Amazon webserver cloud, “a facility Sprinklr has offered free of cost”, Sivasankar said the data will be shifted to the government-owned server space after enhancing its storage capacity.
He also said a non-disclosure clause has been incorporated in the contract ensuring that the state government will have the complete ownership of the data. “The intention is to provide analytical data dashboards to health and local self-government departments to identify possible hot spots during outbreaks in future,” he added.
A new directive by the panchayat secretary to local bodies to upload details of people under observation and their families on the government website instead on Sprinklr’s domain had led to the speculation that the government was backtracking from the contract it signed with the US-based company.
Earlier, CM Pinarayi Vijayan said there were no basis for doubts regarding the government’s contract with Sprinklr or chances of misuse of data, and said the IT department will make further clarification. “I have no time to waste on this issue. Let the IT department give the clarification,” he said.
Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala said the contract with Sprinklr has become much more mysterious with the CM evading questions on the deal.
“It is impossible for the state IT department to immediately develop and maintain a foolproof software to handle a crucial data required to initiate post-Covid measures in the state. The government’s intention is to have a customised analytical tool to handle the data and to make required interventions in future,” the IT secretary said.
Pointing out that the data is getting stored in Mumbai-based Amazon webserver cloud, “a facility Sprinklr has offered free of cost”, Sivasankar said the data will be shifted to the government-owned server space after enhancing its storage capacity.
He also said a non-disclosure clause has been incorporated in the contract ensuring that the state government will have the complete ownership of the data. “The intention is to provide analytical data dashboards to health and local self-government departments to identify possible hot spots during outbreaks in future,” he added.
A new directive by the panchayat secretary to local bodies to upload details of people under observation and their families on the government website instead on Sprinklr’s domain had led to the speculation that the government was backtracking from the contract it signed with the US-based company.
Earlier, CM Pinarayi Vijayan said there were no basis for doubts regarding the government’s contract with Sprinklr or chances of misuse of data, and said the IT department will make further clarification. “I have no time to waste on this issue. Let the IT department give the clarification,” he said.
Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala said the contract with Sprinklr has become much more mysterious with the CM evading questions on the deal.
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