Covid vaccination/ 18-44 age group J’khand moves SC seeking exemption from registration on CoWin app

Jharkhand government has moved the Supreme Court seeking direction to the Centre to disband the mandatory registration on CoWIN app under the “Liberalised and Accelerated Phase 3 Strategy of Covid-19 Vaccination” for the 18-44 age group and allow the state government to use its user-friendly portal for easier registration

Jharkhand government has moved the Supreme Court seeking direction to the Centre to disband the mandatory registration on CoWIN app under the “Liberalised and Accelerated Phase 3 Strategy of Covid-19 Vaccination” for the 18-44 age group and allow the state government to use its user-friendly portal for easier registration.

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In an intervention petition, the state government has cited the demographic profile of the state. With a huge tribal population inhabiting the 13 scheduled districts, low digital literacy and lack of proper internet connectivity are hampering the registration process through apps, the petition said.

The state government has also mentioned that the vaccination process could be expedited in the state if it is allowed to use the portal developed by the state government, as it could work both online and offline, and provide the option of walk-in registration to the beneficiaries.

“…direct the Government of India to disband the mandatory registration on CoWIN App under the “Liberalised and Accelerated Phase 3 Strategy of Covid-19 Vaccination” in so far as it concerns the Applicant, State of Jharkhand and consequently, direct the Government of India to allow/ permit the Applicant State to use its own robust, pragmatic and user-friendly mechanism devised for registration for Covid-19 vaccination process,” the petition filed by the state said.

The petition said that walk-in registration was available for vaccination of the 45+ age group, but is not an option for those aged between 18-45 years (approximately 1.4 crore people) in the state.

“Post the commencement of Phase –III, the state is facing major difficulty in registering the potential beneficiaries as there are issues of digital literacy and digital exclusion apart from glitches in the portal, especially in rural areas. The registration process in CoWIN is very cumbersome and complicated with the involvement of OTPs and captcha. Since the server is flooded with requests, it has become very slow to operate. Sometimes OTPs are not received and the dropdown menu does not function in the app,” it added.

The petition, which the state government officials said is likely to be taken up in the coming days, said that the state government is ready with a robust portal of its own that will provide hassle-free service for vaccine registration.

“Jharkhand, being a state with heavy forest cover and tough terrain, has many villages that come under network shadow area. Unlike CoWIN, Jharkhand State Portal (http://amritvahini.in) will run in the remotest of the areas irrespective of network connectivity so that the rural and tribal population of the state can easily reach out for vaccination,” the petition said

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