The Rajasthan government instructed Rajiv Gandhi Yuva Mitra volunteers to open fake accounts on social media to promote the welfare schemes of the state government. Satish Saharia, Assistant Director at the office of Economics and Statistics at Sawai Madhopur, issued the notification and the official order issued by him went viral on social media.
Reports now suggest that the official has been suspended, however, his suspension order does not mention the notification. The suspension order has been issued by the Economics and Statistics Directorate of the state. Reports stated that Saharia was suspended as the state govt took his order to open fake accounts seriously.
Earlier in the day, several people had shared the order issued by the official, including Union Jal Shakti minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat. He slammed the Rajasthan government for the order, saying that the govt is putting the futures of the youths in jeopardy for their own promotion.
राजस्थान सरकार की राजीव गांधी युवा मित्र योजना में शामिल युवाओं को बाकायदा सरकारी फरमान जारी कर ट्विटर और फेसबुक पर फेक अकाउंट बनाने कहा जा रहा है।
— Gajendra Singh Shekhawat (@gssjodhpur) August 4, 2022
आत्म प्रचार के लिए युवा मित्रों का भविष्य संकट में डालने की ये कैसी धूर्तता है? #Rajasthan pic.twitter.com/XDclvjZtnH
It is notable that the Rajasthan government has launched a program titled Rajiv Gandhi Yuva Mitra Internship program to engage youths to promote the achievements of the state government. The Congress government has engaged 2500 Yuva Mitras and almost 50000 Yuva Mitra volunteers in the state, who are to use internet and social media to inform the population about welfare programs and schemes of the government.
The order issued by the now suspended Assistant Director of the Economics and Statistics Department in Sawai Madhopur in Rajasthan, asked various govt officials to instruct the Yuva Mitra volunteers under them to create dummy accounts on Twitter and on Facebook, and actively use those accounts, apart from their original social media accounts.
The order issued to all block officials and panchayat committees in the district says that while the Yuva Mitra volunteers must have Twitter and Facebook accounts, they are also required to open fake accounts on both platforms.
The order states that Rajiv Gandhi Yuva Mitra Volunteers have to open 10 dummy accounts on Twitter, but those accounts must not have the words ‘Yuva Mitra’. It states one phone number can be used to open 10 dummy Twitter accounts. They are required to tweet and retweet content from all the dummy accounts.
Similarly, each Yuva Mitra must have own Facebook accounts, and they will have to open 5 fake accounts using the same phone number. The volunteers are to keep all the accounts active by posting and sharing content.
Along with the instructions to open fake accounts, the order also stated that the Yuva Mitra volunteers will be sent three links, and they will have to mark their attendance on those websites every day. The volunteers will have to submit photos and videos to those links by uploading the same on Google Drive.
The order also said that the Yuva Mitras will have to use images related to welfare schemes launched by the CM as their WhatsApp status.
The order further stated that Yuva Mitras don’t get any holiday apart from government holidays, and they will have to work on Saturdays also. Yuva Mitras working at the Block Statistics Office level will be allowed only one day of leave in a month, and permission from the district office will have to be obtained for any additional leave. They are also required to attend the state-level workshop in the prescribed dress code.
While reportedly the official was suspended for issuing this order, some people are claiming that the order was edited, and Satish Saharia never asked the volunteers to open fake accounts. Another version of the order was shared by some on Twitter, which said that volunteers were asked to motivate 10 people to open Twitter accounts and 5 people to open Facebook accounts. The rest of the content in both the orders are same.
@8PMnoCM ji कृपया ट्वीट पर ध्यान दीजिए “डमी” अकाउंट बनाने का कहीं भी जिक्र नहीं है।#सहारिया जी ने इस तरह का कोई भी आदेश जारी नहीं किए। किसी ने गलत मंशा से यह किया है जिसकी विभाग जांच कर रहा है।@ashokgehlot51 @Diprfactcheck @CMHelpdesk pic.twitter.com/3KcQ01KQlH
— Sujeet Swami️ (@shibbu87) August 4, 2022
However, media reports informing about the suspension used the viral letter that asks to create fake accounts. Therefore, it is not known which one is actually edited, but the officer has been suspended for now without citing any reason.
