Kerala Sasthra Sahithya Parishad (KSSP), the nearly 60-year-old people's science movement in the state, is launching hundreds of WhatsApp groups, one for every local body in the state, to provide proper scientific information about COVID-19 to the public.
As a number of fake news regarding coronavirus was being spread among the public, the forum decided to nip it in the bud before it could cause harm. With the state going into lockdown along with the rest of the country, members of the KSSP thought it best to start an online campaign.
“The idea is to pass on the directions given by the state government in a simplified form. There is a task force for this at the state level comprising several doctors. They will pass it on to the district-level coordinators, who will then pass it on to the panchayat-level admins. They could then circulate it among the people of their panchayats or wards,” says AP Muraleedharan, state president of the KSSP.
About 70% of the WhatsApp groups – titled ‘Coveto - veto to Covid’ – are already active, Muraleedharan says.
Apart from KSSP members, these groups also comprise social workers, people’s representatives, NGO workers, Kudumbashree workers and so on. They will be responsible for circulating the scientific information passed down from the state level to the public.
The doctors in the state-level task force include Dr B Ekbal, Dr KP Aravindan, Dr K Vijayakumar, Dr AK Jayashree, Dr Arifa, Dr SN Sarin, Dr S Midhun, Dr UN Nandakumar, Dr TS Anish and Dr P Harikrishnan. They are responsible for the content of the notes, posts, audios and videos passed on to the public, regarding COVID-19.
“It is not only to pass on scientific information but also to get feedback from people in case they have any complaints, issues and so on. We bring it to the attention of the authorities as required,” Muraleedharan says.
The larger idea is to stop misinformation, he says. “There were many wrong messages like "coronavirus will die in 12 hours" or "the virus will die in a temperature of 30 degrees Celsius" spreading through social media. Such unscientific information misguides people and weakens the interventions of the health department.”
In the four to five days since the WhatsApp groups have been launched, no such fake news has come to their attention yet, Muraleedharan adds.
The KSSP is also bringing forth certain challenges for children to engage themselves in, during the lockdown. “Challenges such as identifying the sounds by birds, recording them and sending them to us, or colouring for smaller kids to get creative. There are also geologists in the group who are preparing some small articles to be circulated during this time,” he adds.