SC flags digital divide in govt’s vax policy

The Supreme Court on Monday posed searching questions to the Centre on the Covid-19 vaccine procurement policy and the need for mandatory registration on the COWIN app for people to get vaccinated, observing that policymakers “must have their ears to the ground”.

A special Bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud, L N Rao, and S Ravindrabhat said that since the Centre had made COWIN registration mandatory for vaccination, how was it going to address the issue of digital divide facing the country? “You keep on saying digital India, digital India, but the situation is actually different in rural areas. How will an illiterate labourer from Jharkhand get registered in Rajasthan? Tell us how you will address this digital divide,” the Bench sought to know from Solicitor General Tushar Mehta.

It said, “You must smell the coffee and see what is happening across the country. You must know the ground situation and change the policy accordingly. If we had to do it, we would have done it 15-20 days back.”

Mehta replied that registration was mandatory as a person needed to be traced for a second dose. In rural areas, there were community centres, where a person could get registered for vaccination, he added.

The Bench questioned Mehta whether the government thought that this process was viable, and asked him to place the policy document on record. The top court was hearing a suo motu case on the management of the Covid situation in the country.

At the outset, it asked the Centre about its vaccine procurement policy, referring to the fact that states like Punjab and Delhi were in the process of issuing global tenders to procure foreign vaccines for Covid19 The Bench said even Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) had received bids.

“Is this the policy of the central government that the state or municipal corporation can procure the vaccine or the Union government is going to procure for them like a nodal agency? We want clarity on this and the rationale behind this policy,” it said.

In the meantime, the Centre said the entire eligible population would be vaccinated by the end of 2021. Moreover, the government was in talks with companies like Pfizer and if it succeeded, then the timeline for completing the vaccination drive would change, the law officer said.

The hearing in the matter is continuing.