There is this inherent capacity in individuals to go out and seek their own information and that depends on the way that they have been trained at the very early period in their lives. It determines their style of seeking information. We felt our fact checking work was not working and decided to try another way. Take 12-year-olds now who are going to be voters in 5-6 years. This is an important age group to target now; by the time they are 18 and able to vote, it is already too late. Our information literacy coursework for schools aims to give them the basics on how to look for information. How do you know what is the real truth? We helping to lay the groundwork for the way in which they seek information and understand it.

One of the biggest problems with people dealing with trauma and PTSD is that they have not engaged in any nontherapeutic therapy, or drug-based therapy because of the misconception that taking medication for any type of mental health condition would either become addictive, put them to sleep or lead to of loss of function. It is seen as a temporary fix that will wear off as soon as the drug effect wears off. This idea of what mental health is – just eating right and exercising regularly is all you need to fix your mental health condition – is widely prevalent in India. A common antidepressant, one of the more popular ones, is not readily available in one of the largest pharmacies in the country. People don’t know the right drugs to take in situations like this, like a paracetamol for fever, and would generally go to psychiatrists. They ask for treatments that would allow them to rest or sleep and not actually help with depression or PTSD. A lot of PTSD symptoms manifest around sleep and dreams and sound aggression. There are specific drugs to treat such specific things and they are not addictive in such contexts. They don’t put you to sleep, but unfortunately, this is part of some of the popular misconceptions.