Telegram Ban: Why Shoot The Messenger?
· Free Press Journal
Few tears have been shed over the temporary ban imposed on Telegram till June 22. For starters, Telegram is a cloud-based messaging platform favoured by everyone from political campaigners and cryptocurrency evangelists to recipe collectors and conspiracy theorists. It also happens to be an efficient vehicle for sharing examination papers, leaked or otherwise. That was enough for the National Testing Agency, custodian of the sanctity of the NEET examination, to persuade the government that the easiest way to preserve academic integrity was to silence the messenger for the time being.
To be fair to Telegram, it did not sneak into printing presses at midnight, bribe officials or spirit away question papers in invisible ink. The leak that forced the cancellation of last month’s examination was not engineered by an app; it was the handiwork of one or more flesh-and-blood individuals whose appetite for money evidently exceeded their respect for merit. Tens of thousands of aspiring doctors, paramedics, and nurses saw months of preparation, often at tremendous cost to their parents, go up in smoke. Some youngsters reportedly succumbed to despair and even took their own lives. Nationwide protests followed, with fingers pointed at Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, whom the government continues to defend.
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Another leak would further puncture the government’s credibility. Hence, the bold decision to suspend Telegram’s services just days before the re-examination scheduled for Sunday. It is a fascinating approach to law enforcement. If burglars once used bicycles to flee, should bicycles be banned before the next robbery? Telegram’s founder, Pavel Durov, has understandably approached the Delhi High Court, arguing that the culprits would simply migrate to another platform. He says Telegram has removed hundreds of channels distributing leaked material and introduced measures to curb manipulation. One almost expects him to offer free tuition classes as an additional public service!
The authorities have, meanwhile, deployed Indian Air Force helicopters to transport question papers, as though the examination process were a covert military operation. The nation now waits anxiously to know whether these airborne consignments are secure not only from human greed but also from the occasional cockroach attack. There is an old saying that if the thief is already in the boat, strengthening the locks on the shore serves little purpose. If someone entrusted with preparing, printing or handling question papers is willing to sell them, helicopters, fighter jets, and even aircraft carriers cannot guarantee secrecy. The battle against leaks will be won not in the skies but in the conscience of those who believe that education is a trust, not a commodity, and in the unequivocal message that no one, however highly placed, is above accountability.