The Jammu and Kashmir administration is dealing with two devils at the same time – Coronavirus and fake news. Both have the potential to throw the state into a cycle of distress and disorder.
Even as the state administration is struggling to find the ways to contain the spread of COVID-19, fake news doing the rounds is keeping the officials busy to flag such news, on social media, that could be potentially dangerous for the state.
However one man is not only taking on Coronavirus but is also fighting the fake news emanating from unknown sources almost everyday. Rohit Kansal, Principal Secretary and spokesperson to the state government provides latest inputs regarding the deadly disease to the media and to general public through his Twitter handle.
As the government is promoting social distancing to defeat the viral disease, Kansal came out with an innovative idea of holding a virtual press conference where he asked the media-persons to send him questions on WhatsApp number and he replied to them. The video of press conference was later released by Information and Public Relations Department.
Soon after Kansal finished the press conference when he was told that the number of Coronavirus patients in J&K has reached to 33. On Saturday 10 Coronavirus positive patients were detected in Kashmir whereas three were detected in Jammu.
As if Coronavirus was not enough, the administration is also dealing with the fake news ragarding restoration of 4g internet services in Jammu and Kashmir. Almost everyday, fake orders regarding restoration of services start doing the rounds on social media that are then debunked by the Jammu and Kashmir administration.
4G internet services were suspended in J&K following abrogation of Article 370 to avoid any spread of fake news. While there is immense pressure on the administration to resume 4G internet services, the threat of fake news doing the circulation in the state is not letting 4G restored.
