<p>A video of a drum-beating man heralding a message in the Ankanahalli village of Ramangara went viral on Thursday. He announces that the gram panchayat has barred entry of Muslims and anyone transacting with them will be penalised Rs 500-1,000. </p>.<p>Senior IAS officer L K Atheeq, who heads the government’s committee on information dissemination on the COVID-19 pandemic, busted this. “It is a minor mischief involving a gram panchayat member and two other people. The gram panchayat itself has no role,” he tweeted. </p>.<p>This was just one example. The committee has been on an overdrive to ensure citizens are well-informed during the pandemic by countering fake news and rumour-mongering. Since March 21, the committee has busted 33 fake news or messages circulated on social media. This includes a message that said citizens cannot post or forward messages on COVID-19, one claiming that colleges will be shut till May 20, a purported WHO lockdown protocol among others. </p>.<p>While Atheeq, whose current position is principal secretary, RDPR, is overseeing the information, education & communication (IEC) initiatives, IAS officers P Manivannan (secretary, Department of Information and Public Relations) and C Shikha (managing director, BMTC) are also on the committee. “We have pooled in resources from our respective departments to put a team together,” Atheeq told DH. </p>.<p>“We have a dedicated page for fake news on the government’s official COVID-19 website. As and when we come across fake news - like the Ramanagara one - we alert the police and advisories are issued,” Atheeq said. </p>.<p>Concerned over the rise in messages targeting Muslims, the committee got the government to remove the reference to the Tablighi Jamaat in the daily COVID-19 bulletin to avoid further stigma. Instead of saying Tablighi Jamaat, the bulletin simply attributes ‘travel to Delhi’ as the source of infection among the fresh positive cases. </p>.<p>Till date, the committee claims to have reached 49.17 lakh people through WhatsApp, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok and Facebook. “TikTok, especially, has helped. Usually, no government channel uses this platform that mostly has dance videos. But we’ve been pushing the chief minister’s videos,” Atheeq said. </p>.<p>Besides real-time dissemination of information related to COVID-19, Manivannan runs a public Telegram channel that citizens can join and ask questions.</p>.<p>“We also have village-level task forces to enforce social distancing, home quarantine and ensure distribution of essential supplies,” Atheeq pointed out.</p>.<p>On their part, the police have set up their own fact-checking mechanism at factcheck.ksp.gov.in</p>
<p>A video of a drum-beating man heralding a message in the Ankanahalli village of Ramangara went viral on Thursday. He announces that the gram panchayat has barred entry of Muslims and anyone transacting with them will be penalised Rs 500-1,000. </p>.<p>Senior IAS officer L K Atheeq, who heads the government’s committee on information dissemination on the COVID-19 pandemic, busted this. “It is a minor mischief involving a gram panchayat member and two other people. The gram panchayat itself has no role,” he tweeted. </p>.<p>This was just one example. The committee has been on an overdrive to ensure citizens are well-informed during the pandemic by countering fake news and rumour-mongering. Since March 21, the committee has busted 33 fake news or messages circulated on social media. This includes a message that said citizens cannot post or forward messages on COVID-19, one claiming that colleges will be shut till May 20, a purported WHO lockdown protocol among others. </p>.<p>While Atheeq, whose current position is principal secretary, RDPR, is overseeing the information, education & communication (IEC) initiatives, IAS officers P Manivannan (secretary, Department of Information and Public Relations) and C Shikha (managing director, BMTC) are also on the committee. “We have pooled in resources from our respective departments to put a team together,” Atheeq told DH. </p>.<p>“We have a dedicated page for fake news on the government’s official COVID-19 website. As and when we come across fake news - like the Ramanagara one - we alert the police and advisories are issued,” Atheeq said. </p>.<p>Concerned over the rise in messages targeting Muslims, the committee got the government to remove the reference to the Tablighi Jamaat in the daily COVID-19 bulletin to avoid further stigma. Instead of saying Tablighi Jamaat, the bulletin simply attributes ‘travel to Delhi’ as the source of infection among the fresh positive cases. </p>.<p>Till date, the committee claims to have reached 49.17 lakh people through WhatsApp, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok and Facebook. “TikTok, especially, has helped. Usually, no government channel uses this platform that mostly has dance videos. But we’ve been pushing the chief minister’s videos,” Atheeq said. </p>.<p>Besides real-time dissemination of information related to COVID-19, Manivannan runs a public Telegram channel that citizens can join and ask questions.</p>.<p>“We also have village-level task forces to enforce social distancing, home quarantine and ensure distribution of essential supplies,” Atheeq pointed out.</p>.<p>On their part, the police have set up their own fact-checking mechanism at factcheck.ksp.gov.in</p>
