Narendra
Modi, Indian Prime Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader, raised an
alarm of the consequences of fake news during a ‘Chintan Shivir,’ a gathering
of state home ministers on Friday. The aim of the convention was to discuss
issues of internal security.

The Indian
prime minister said a single piece of fake news has the capability to snowball
into a matter of national concern. “One should think 10 times before forwarding
any information and verify it before believing it. Every platform has tools to
verify any information. If you will browse through different sources, you will
get a new version of it,” Modi said.

He further
stressed upon the need to educate people and verifying any piece of information
before forwarding it to others.

Modi also
lamented losses India had suffered due to fake news about job reservations. “We
have come up with technological advancement to prevent the spreading of fake
news,” he said.

The Indian
prime minister, in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, alerted state
home ministers of the need to defeat Naxalism in all its forms. “There is
Naxalism linked to gun, and that linked to the pen,” Modi said, adding, “We
have to defeat Naxalism in all its forms. They are trying to mislead the youth.”

Fake news
has emerged as a pain point for governments worldwide. While authoritarian
states often use fake news as propaganda material, misinformation is often linked
to financial fraud and other crimes. In 2021, India reported 882 cases recorded
under Indian Penal Code (IPC) Section 505, according to National Crime Records
Bureau’s annual ‘Crime in India’ report.

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This,
however, was a drop from the previous year when India reported 1,527 fake news cases.
This was also the year when the coronavirus pandemic began. The initial months
of the pandemic led to a flurry of fake news all across the world wide web.