CHENNAI : Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) founder and actor Kamal Haasan launched the party’s app – Maiam Whistle – at the party office in Alwarpet on Monday. The app is available on both Android and iOS devices. Apologising for the delay in launching the whistleblowing app, the actor-turned-politician said the app was aimed at giving the common man the power of the press. The app will allow users to anonymously report civic and social issues through pictures and videos. However, it will be available only for the people of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry and will require you to register with the MNM.
The app has two log in categories – ‘citizen’ and ‘champion’. While those who choose to register as ‘citizen’ can just report issues, ‘champions’ are given the additional task of verifying the issues reported in their constituencies. According to the app’s technical team, any issue which is reported will require corroborations by three ‘champions’ and by a site visit by the admin, before it features on the app.
“These steps are in place to ensure that there is no misreporting of issues and personal agenda at play,” Kamal said. However, there is an option available for a ‘champion’ to escalate the issue directly to the admin without two other corroborations. Reporting instantaneous and ongoing issues such as harassment will be a problem for lack of corroborators. However, the technical team said the problem would be fixed. When Express raised concerns over the security of user data, party officials assured that guidelines set by the government would be met.
While Kamal Haasan, during the launch, said it was better to keep the government out of the app and not give them access to grievances, he said verified issues would be sent in the form of petitions to the government. Party officials told Express that issues with public interest would be sent to the respective government departments.