The Quint: What is the objective of connecting the social media accounts of students to the social media accounts of the HRD Ministry? What possible purpose can that serve?

HRD Ministry: It is to share good practices and motivate each other by best performances. Period.

The Quint: What does the government plan to do if some students refuse to connect their social media accounts with that of their colleges and/or the HRD Ministry? Will action be taken against them?

HRD Ministry: It is not compulsory. They need not share if they don’t want to.

The Quint: What is the guarantee that the government will not use this move to track and police criticism of the current dispensation and the political establishment by students? How and why are students expected to believe that this move will not result in mass surveillance?

HRD Ministry: This is only for sharing the good news. Anyone who understands how social media works would know that sharing of Twitter handles would not enable accessing the accounts. This is elementary knowledge.