Context:

• Countries that have expressed an interest in will be given a chance to adopt the platform for their vaccination drive.

About Cowin

• CoWin stands for Covid Vaccine Intelligent Work.
• Back in January 2021, the platform was unveiled by the union government as it launched the vaccination drive in the country.
• The website was created to give users a chance to book vaccine slots, keep a track of the overall vaccination drive in the country and download the Covid-19 vaccine
• At the backend, it also allows healthcare providers to manage vaccine stock and keep a track of the workflow.

Features of Cowin

• As mentioned, the primary feature is to give users a chance to book a vaccine slot anywhere in the country.
• CoWin also gives users the opportunity to download the vaccination certificate. Users can also add their passport details in the vaccination certificate.

Countries showing interest

• More than 50 countries, as per the government of India, have shown interest in CoWin platform. These countries include Canada, Mexico, Nigeria, among others.

About Shared Technology

• The government of India has made it clear that the code for CoWin will be made open source.
• The government won’t attach any intellectual property rights to it.
• The government said that the code will be given to countries that are looking for an “orderly and transparent vaccination program”.
• The government will not allow any commercial use of the platform or for it to be repackaged in another form.

CoWin has been made more ‘open’ for other platforms

• API or application programming interface allows two applications to work together.
• The government of India opened the CoWin APIs to third parties in April. The APIs are available on the API Setu website where details related to metadata, authentication, certificate APIs can be found.

 

Section 66A:

• The Supreme Court on Monday expressed shock and dismay over continuing countrywide application of Section 66A of Information Technology Act to arrest persons for social media posts even six years after the SC had erased it from the statute book for being violative of right to free speech guaranteed under Article 19 of the Constitution.

About Section 66A:

• Section 66A empowered police to make arrests over what policemen, in terms of their subjective discretion, could construe as “offensive” or “menacing” or for the purposes of causing annoyance, inconvenience, etc.
• It prescribed the punishment for sending messages through computer or any other communication device like a mobile phone or a tablet, and a conviction could fetch a maximum of three years in jail.

Supreme Court Ruling on it:

• Court ruling in the Shreya Singhal v. Union of India case had struck down Section 66A for “being violative of Article 19(1)(a) and not saved under Article 19(2).”
• Article 19(1)(a) gives people the right to speech and expression whereas 19(2) accords the state the power to impose “reasonable restrictions” on exercise of this right.