Mamata Banerjee launches CamScanner alternative 'SelfScan'; says app reflects patriotism

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has launched a new CamScanner alternative app called ‘SelfScan’ for scanning documents. The CM stated that the app, which has been developed in India, reflects patriotism.

“I would always want to use an app prepared in my country. It reflects patriotism. What Bengal thinks today, the whole world thinks tomorrow," Banerjee said after launching the application. The app, at the time of writing this article, was not available for download on the Apple App Store or Google Play Store.

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The SelfScan website states that data remains on the device and is not stored on any server. It also does not capture any personal data of the user, nor stores cookies or background data.

Furthermore, the app claims to scan the document inside the user’s device without sending it to the server. Also, the app does not require an internet connection to scan documents or even for Optical Character Recognition (OCR).

OCR support is presently for English and the developers are working on bringing support Bengali, Hindi and other languages. Since the data is not sent to servers, it poses many challenges in improving the app’s ability to scan handwritten text. However, developers claim to be working on a solution to the problem.

The demand for home-grown apps been on the rise after the India-China border dispute, followed by the Indian government’s ban on Chinese apps owing to data security issues. To promote and facilitate ‘Made in India’ apps, PM Modi announced the launch of Aatmanirbhar Bharat Innovation challenge.

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