With the news of Zoom being unsafe; and also the Innovation challenge announced by the Government of India, with prize money of INR 1 Crore, several companies have started building their own video conferencing solutions. SAY NAMASTE is one such app developed by Inscripts to cash-in the present situation and also for the contest.
But soon after the announcement of the contest, several reports went viral over WhatsApp stating SAY NAMASTE is the official video conferencing app for the Indian Government. But the Government soon denied it by responding.
Introduction
The app, developed by a Mumbai-based company ‘Inscriptions’ is a solution for the present necessity of a video-conferencing solution and also to take part in the MeitY’s Innovation Challenge.
The Inscript was set up by twin brothers Anuj and Anant Garg.
According to Anuj Garg, co-founder, and CEO of Inscriptions, the SAY NAMASTE was built by a total of 50 members for two days working from their homes.
He also clarified that the news on it being the official solution of the Indian Government is not true; that they haven’t received any inputs or interaction with the Government. He also expressed willingness to work more closely with the Government, if given a chance.
He said that the response they received was enormous. Anuj published on his Facebook page that he required a few people to test his software; he expected some 500 people but there were as many as 500,000 people for the testing.
NOW
At present, it is only a website that works from the Chrome browser of any device(not on iOS). Users need to log in at say namaste.in site with a username and can create a meeting space and host the meetings. By sharing the Meeting Id and password, only the necessary people can join the meeting, avoiding people uninvited, if any.
SECURITY
The company claims to be using Cryptographic standards like AES 256 bit encryption and TLS (Transport Security Layer) encryption. Apart from encryption, it is equipped with two-factor authentication for better security.
Inscriptions, which has worked earlier with the medical department and banks, claims privacy and security to be a part of their DNA. Those two factors are of utmost importance now. As of now, they are not storing any sort of data from calls, chats, on any of the databases right now.
CAPACITY
Right now, the meeting works fine for 25 participants, though some people have tried it with even more people; the company is seeing to scale up the number depending on the customer’s needs.
The App is under Beta testing now. With the April 30 deadline for Meity’s contest coming up, it is still to see if the company’s efforts bear fruits and becoming the official video conferencing solution of the Indian government, as some news prevailed earlier.
The platform claims that it has “crossed 100,000 users and 25,000 meetings in less than 48 hours.” The platform is currently in beta. The website further states, “Lakhs of Indians are currently using NAMASTE and hence you may face some temporary connectivity issues. Thank you for your support!”
