The 2024 Global Risk Report identified misinformation and disinformation are the most severe short-term risks for next two years. The saturated information availability in the virtual world is home for both misinformation and disinformation.
False information or fake news is the new weapon and it poses a danger to our collective thoughts and imagination as a society. Additionally, it can disrupt economies, rupture societies in multiple ways. Even affect the outcome of the electoral democracies and their policies too. Moreover, they weaken the public’s knowledge, while lowering the acceptance.
For instance, delays in mitigation policies and ability of policymakers to take meaningful climate actions are dampened by polarising the public with emotions. India is not an exempted democracy which is affected by false information.
Soon, India’s voters will be heading to the elections of the world’s largest democracy—with 912 million eligible voters out of India’s 1.4 billion population. We are yet to hear the poll promises across political alliances. Still, before casting our votes, it is imperative that we validate what we hear and listen, especially in the areas of governance.
A survey titled The Impacts Of Climate Disinformation On Public Perception has found serious gaps in India’s public perception on climate action. Moreover, the report also reported about the influence of climate disinformation in shaping various beliefs and narratives.
For example, acts and policies for national security may sound the need of the hour. However, due to these relaxations, certain regions in India are undergoing rapid transformation. This has impacted their pristine environments, caused ecological issues, and made the regions fragile. In this scenario, rolling out fake news is the most undesirable thing. Accurate reporting, without any agendas, will help our citizens to make the right choices in their part of the country.
Therefore, to tackle false information and fake news, the Union Government has notified amendments to the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 (“IT Amendment Rules, 2023”). India has made significant strides towards socio-economic and sustainable development. Equally, we have fallen in many indexes also. That doesn’t make us less of a country. Setting the balance right and rectifying the situation is the need of the hour, as we move into the Election 2024. The right information in the media makes our nation strong.
As voters, let us remember that in politics, there are no permanent friends or enemies, only permanent interests! Let us ensure that those permanent interests on our table are our country, its balanced development and the state of the environment, without which nothing is possible. Through our thoughts, actions and the deeds in this voting season, let us put India back on the road to Green Recovery.
Happy Voting!
Featured Photo: Photo by Joshua Miranda via pexels
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