Chennai: Continuing his war against corruption and decadence, actor and Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) chief Kamal Haasan on Monday launched the much-touted ‘Maiam Whistle’, an app to enable people to “shout out” problems and critical issues to force action from the government and authorities.
“This app is a tool using which an individual blows the whistle on various issues from pollution to corruption and crime. This is just the first step towards solution and not a magic wand. The app is also not an alternative to officials, police and government. It will only help in bringing issues to their notice,” said the star-campaigner while unveiling his Maiam Whistle app.
Kamal has arranged for his Maiam to act as agency for bringing to light the issues tossed up by the people through the Whistle app; issues that remained unsolved despite being taken to the concerned officials and the government. He has also put into place a monitoring system by the MNM volunteers to ensure, “through a thorough verification process”, that any problem or issue popping out of the Whistle is genuine, before it’s uploaded through an admin.
Amid some criticism and nervous voices on the social media if falsehood and provocative content endangering social amity could get “blown out” of the Maiam, Kamal has got his team to place “multiple verification” steps to prevent his tool from misuse. The Whistle also has an ‘anonymous’ option for those ‘blowers’ who wished to remain invisible.
The launch of the Whistle was preceded by the release of a well-made video on YouTube that had Kamal telling the people they had wasted enough time being mute spectators to all-round decadence — air and water getting polluted, corruption all around and lack of development.
“Don’t stay mum watching all this. Act now, the tool is in your hands”, says Kamal’s booming voice in the 71-second video that has gone viral and set the stage for the Monday launch of the app.
“The response to Whistle is very encouraging. We are happy that the people are reacting positively. We are confident of positive change emerging”, said a MNM volunteer.
