No shortage of salt. It is all about conspiracy to create chaos amid COVID-19 pandemic.

There was never a shortage of salt in India; not even from the time of Chandragupta Mauryas when heavy taxes were imposed on salt.

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Not even during the pre-independence period when a salt march was led as a protest against hefty tax imposed on salt by the British.

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A rumour about shortage of salt in Assam has spread like wildfire amid the tensions of global health emergency caused by the pandemic.

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Before this false news cross the limits and cause heavy damage, Assam Police and other government organizations termed it as baseless and alert people not to believe on it.

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Salt has been extensively produced all along the Rann of Kutch on the west coast of India for the past 5,000 years. On the east coast, salt could be obtained extensively along the coast of Odisha.

Despite its abundant production in the land of India, British conspired to charge heavy tax by importing it from foreign lands.

But all these conspiracies were proved failure when Mahatma Gandhi had produced salt from the evaporation of the sea water in his journey to Dandi in Gujarat, which is famously called by the name of Dandi march.

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Assam Police on Saturday made an official statement that there is no shortage of salt.

It further stated that there is “more than enough stocks of all essentials, including salt are available”.

There has always been a conspiracy to exclude people from their basic needs.

And these conspiracies have been orchestrated by a series of misinformation.

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It is for these misinformation that even during pre-independence period, people were blind enough to accept that salt is truly precious but not possible to obtain its supply without any sacrifices.

Perception of ‘shortage of salt’ was created in our minds then by the outsiders; and once again now, the same is being circulated by our own people over the social media platforms.

The Assam Police appealed not to pay heed to such rumours.

#CheckTheFake on #COVID19

FAKE: There is shortage of salt in Assam.

FACT: “Some mischievous elements are trying to spread Rumours about the – ‘Shortage of Salt’ in Assam. This is Fake, Untrue & Baseless. There is NO SHORTAGE OF SALT. More than enough stocks of all essentials, including Salt are available. Citizens are requested not to pay heed to Rumours” – tweeted Assam Police.

#CheckTheFake is a movement against #Infodemic in this crisis, initiated by Dr Anamika Ray Memorial Trust #ARMT (www.armt.in) in collaboration with The Assam Tribune and Northeast Now (www.nenow.in) to create awareness on #fakenews on #Coronavirus and improve media literacy through #Cartoons. ARMT Research