School edu department website hacked to defame Mahayuti government, says minister

Maharashtra's school education website was hacked, disrupting a reading initiative. A police complaint is filed as officials vow to address the attack.

MUMBAI: The Maharashtra school education department on Friday said that its website, https://mahavachanutsav.org, set up to initiate a “reading initiative in primary schools” was hacked. The hackers tampered with the proforma on the website, put up to issue certificates of appreciation to the students who participated in the initiative. The department is in the process of filing a police complaint in this regard.

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“A proforma of the certificate was put up on the website so that teachers could issue it by changing the name of the student, school and other details,” said school education minister Deepak Kesarkar. “Those who hacked the website inserted deliberate mistakes. “It appears that they wanted to defame the state government. We have decided to deal with them sternly, as they have also tried to insult the Marathi language, which is unacceptable.” The certificate bears the digital signatures of Kesarkar and chief minister Eknath Shinde.

The reading initiative, titled ‘Maha Vachan Utsav’, was launched by the school education department to create a liking for reading among students. It planned to enrol around one crore students for it. Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan was also taken on board, and urged students to participate. Lakhs of students enrolled for the initiative, under which they would have to read for ten minutes on a daily basis.

“I have directed a police complaint to be filed and also spoken to the Mumbai police commissioner,” said Kesarkar. “It is now the job of the police to trace the culprits.”