IITians, IIMers join hands to eliminate ‘hoax’ on Covid-19

LUCKNOW: An alumnus of IIM-Kolkata, Sajid Khan hails from Madhya Pradesh. Similarly, Varun Rathee is from Assam and an IIT-Kanpur graduate while Surya Prakash from Uttar Pradesh has just graduated from IIM-Lucknow. Despite different backgrounds and education from diverse campuses, they came together for a common cause — Stop spread of fake news on Covid-19 pandemic and educate citizens with scientifically verified information.

They have come up with an online initiative — Youth Against Hoax — which aims at discouraging people from spreading fake news on coronavirus and sensitising them to stay away from hoax. The portal also invites the young and educated to share credible information on covid-19.
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Also, students also provide comprehensive solutions and with less than a week of its launch, the platform received 23 queries on the helpline number. The most popular queries apart from the conduct and origin of World Health Organisation are — Can coronavirus be transmitted from mosquito bites and does drinking hot water keep coronavirus away?

“Falsehoods and misinformation spread and mutate swiftly like the virus. With the hoax threat, it was necessary for us to launch a movement to stop panic in society,” said Surya Prakash, IIML graduate whose brainchild is Youth Against Hoax.

Working closely with Surya, Suraj Verma from IIT Kanpur said, “In today’s digital world, we have to filter content before consuming it from the social media. So the idea of eliminating hoax made me join the movement.”