The agreement signed between the Kerala government and controversial US-based IT firm Sprinklr is the new polemic in this season. The pact fraught with serious ramification ran into legal troubles also. Sprinklr deals in digital marketing and Brand Building. The firm has business associations with pharma and other companies across the world. But Kerala Government has given a different assignment to this company – to maintain the data of all the Covid-19 patients in the state. The only USP, according to experts, the company has brought onto the table is: it offers the service pro bono. As a quid pro quo, the government is giving free access to personal data of millions of people.
It is an irony that the CPI(M), which had promised in its election manifesto that it would do everything possible to protect the confidentiality of citizens, is now involved in selling the personal details of innocent Corona patients to an American MNC in an attempt to cling on to the power.
This agreement is recipe for disaster, as it is full of blatant violations of the rules on data safeguards. There are specific procurement policies acting as guidelines for government procurements. Since this agreement is related to information technology, the pact amounts to the violation of IT Act and more seriously, the fundamental rights of a citizen.
There are numerous mistakes deliberately incorporated in the contract to the benefit of the company. There were no formalities being followed before getting into such agreement. Outlandish claims were made by IT Secretary of Kerala government, Chief minister of Kerala and entire CPI(M) leaders on this disputed contract agreement. That due to the emergency of the pandemic, on urgent basis this agreement was signed, and no government department was occupied to handle this huge data. But the Central government e-market/ e-procurement could be used to buy the necessary space and facility in hours, in a much-secured way following guidelines of the Central government.
Vetting by the law department is a common practice in any government agreement, which also did not happen in this case. According to the IT Secretary, he was “personally satisfied” with the track record of the company and the conditions thereof that he didn’t feel the need for getting approvals from other departments concerned. Initially, in this agreement, a non-disclosure agreement wasn’t even signed. Due to this, the confidential details of the patients could be inconsequentially traded to the necessary clients. An MNC like Sprinklr knows very well how to convert this data into money. Nothing is available for free in this business world. The CPI(M) brass knows this very well and they know how to use it. Following the guidelines of the Union IT ministry, this same Sprinklr service could also have been procured by Kerala government, while assuring the privacy of the citizens. Specifically, for this purpose legally vetted and Central government approved master service agreement is also available. But this didn’t happen under the cunning motives of the Kerala Government and CPI(M).
Even agreeing on the jurisdiction to handle a dispute to be with the United States is an action amounting to surrender of the state’s sovereignty. This also shows the duplicity of CPI(M) which spares no opportunity to criticise the imperialist ways of America. Apparently, even the HC had questioned the advocate appearing for the Government, whether she was representing Sprinklr or the government. This same reasonable doubt of the court is also lingering in the minds of the common people about whether this government is working for Sprinklr or the citizens of Kerala.
Now, let us see who is benefitted in this whole exercise. Sprinklr is already associated with the US-based biopharmaceutical giant Pfizer, who is doing R&D on the Covid-19 vaccine. So Sprinklr could make millions from this business. In turn the ruling party will get benefit of branding done by a professional company in the entire state, nation-wide and globally, free of cost. Upcoming local body and assembly elections of Kerala is the party’s main aim, in which CPI(M) could save minimum Rs 150-200 crore while engaging such a professional branding company for their election campaign. This has been the new trend in India since 2014 general elections. It is new field and opportunity of business for Sprinklr.
It is an irony that the CPI(M), which had promised in its election manifesto that it would do everything possible to protect the confidentiality of citizens, is now involved in selling the personal details of innocent Corona patients to an American MNC in an attempt to cling on to the power.
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