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Dear Reader,
Fake news and disinformation, a scourge of our times, raise communal passions, fuel sectarian tensions and create social disharmonies. The Foundation’s grantees have striven to call out and red flag fake news at every possible instance.
Alt News’ assiduous fact-checking has, from time to time, led to the calling out of many such media and users indulging in misinformation. This report documents the "de-platforming" and “banning” of a clutch of users on YouTube and Facebook, who were consistently and rampantly indulging in communal hate speech and fake news.
In Kashmir, contrary to claims that corruption and nepotism have been brought down since the abrogation of Article 370, Kashmir Observer reports that in many cases the state government’s decisions have, in fact, severely eroded the morale of the state’s anti-corruption bureau. It chronicles one such case, which was being fought for 11 long years, only to be upended by the government itself.
AIIMS was founded to “produce the future leaders of Indian medicine and public health”. However, The India Forum, reviewing a recent book on the Institute, finds that the institution has lost its way – more inclined to strive for “excellence” and “specialisation” - unwittingly pushing it to largely cater to the concerns of the elite.
Last week, the Union Ministry of Environment announced the instituting of a new system of ranking of states in granting Environment Clearances (EC), based on seven criteria – including efficiency and timeliness. ThePrint reports on the new ranking parameters, and the apprehension that this will increase the propensity to grant ECs without the required due diligence, with an eye on the rankings.
For more such stories from the grantees this week, please read on.
Warmly,
Sunil Rajshekhar
IPSMF
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