BHUBANESWAR: Odisha director general of police, Sunil Kumar Bansal, on Thursday unveiled a mascot for a statewide awareness campaign on cyber safety that would be held from September 30 to October 15.
Chief minister Naveen Patnaik is scheduled to inaugurate the campaign on Thursday.
The mascot, christened as Cyrra (a combination of cyber and Irrawady), has been designed like a dolphin. Police said they chose Irrawaddy dolphin as it is an intelligent species.
Bansal also launched a theme song, a logo and two short videos for the campaign. “The videos would highlight two critical aspects – one addressing fraudulent activities in the name of loan apps, shedding light on the dangers of such schemes and the other addressing the grave issue of child pornography, emphasizing the importance of safeguarding children from online exploitation,” Bansal said.
“These videos are aimed at educating and empowering the people to combat these threats effectively,” Bansal said.
ADG (crime branch) Arun Bothra said a safer online environment can be created through awareness, education and vigilance. Bothra appealed to people across all demographics, including students, parents, professionals and senior citizens to take part in the cyber safety campaign-2023, ensuring that no one is left vulnerable to cyber threats.
Thanks to awareness drives in the past, cybercrimes came down in Odisha in 2022 as compared to the previous year. Cyber offences, which had been rising since 2016, witnessed a negative growth of 2.6% with registration of 1,983 cases in 2022 from 2,037 cases in 2021, as per statistics of Odisha police. In 2023 (till July 31), at least 1283 cases were registered.
On September 26, TOI first reported that the Odisha police would launch a door-to-door campaign across the state to raise awareness among people about cyber safety. The household outreach programme will be executed by Mission Shakti women, anganwadi workers and accredited social health activists (Asha).
“We would be launching a mass cyber safety campaign in all the 34 police districts in collaboration with banks and other stakeholders from September 30 to October 15. As part of the drive, a household cyber safety campaign and door-to-door distribution of pamphlets would be taken up with the help of Mission Shakti, ASHA and anganwadi workers from October 9,” a senior police officer said.
It must be noted that Odisha has about 70 lakh women as members of 6 lakh women self-help groups under government’s Mission Shakti programme. The state has about 49,000 Asha community health workers and 1.3 lakh anganwadi workers.
“We will intensify the cyber safety awareness in rural areas with the help of elected representatives. The SPs have been asked to coordinate with the stakeholders concerned to launch the awareness drive. Cyber safety chariots (raths) will move across the state from October 2, playing audio-video messages at bus stands, markets, local haats, block and panchayat offices, and other places of public gathering,” the police officer said.
As per the plan, some professionals from IT companies based in Bhubaneswar might participate in awareness campaigns in their home districts. Students and professionals are being encouraged to register themselves as “cyber volunteer” digitally. Online competition for best cyber safety message template, video, and best cyber safety picture collage would be conducted in districts from October 2 to 11.
Chief minister Naveen Patnaik is scheduled to inaugurate the campaign on Thursday.
The mascot, christened as Cyrra (a combination of cyber and Irrawady), has been designed like a dolphin. Police said they chose Irrawaddy dolphin as it is an intelligent species.
Bansal also launched a theme song, a logo and two short videos for the campaign. “The videos would highlight two critical aspects – one addressing fraudulent activities in the name of loan apps, shedding light on the dangers of such schemes and the other addressing the grave issue of child pornography, emphasizing the importance of safeguarding children from online exploitation,” Bansal said.
“These videos are aimed at educating and empowering the people to combat these threats effectively,” Bansal said.
ADG (crime branch) Arun Bothra said a safer online environment can be created through awareness, education and vigilance. Bothra appealed to people across all demographics, including students, parents, professionals and senior citizens to take part in the cyber safety campaign-2023, ensuring that no one is left vulnerable to cyber threats.
Thanks to awareness drives in the past, cybercrimes came down in Odisha in 2022 as compared to the previous year. Cyber offences, which had been rising since 2016, witnessed a negative growth of 2.6% with registration of 1,983 cases in 2022 from 2,037 cases in 2021, as per statistics of Odisha police. In 2023 (till July 31), at least 1283 cases were registered.
On September 26, TOI first reported that the Odisha police would launch a door-to-door campaign across the state to raise awareness among people about cyber safety. The household outreach programme will be executed by Mission Shakti women, anganwadi workers and accredited social health activists (Asha).
“We would be launching a mass cyber safety campaign in all the 34 police districts in collaboration with banks and other stakeholders from September 30 to October 15. As part of the drive, a household cyber safety campaign and door-to-door distribution of pamphlets would be taken up with the help of Mission Shakti, ASHA and anganwadi workers from October 9,” a senior police officer said.
It must be noted that Odisha has about 70 lakh women as members of 6 lakh women self-help groups under government’s Mission Shakti programme. The state has about 49,000 Asha community health workers and 1.3 lakh anganwadi workers.
“We will intensify the cyber safety awareness in rural areas with the help of elected representatives. The SPs have been asked to coordinate with the stakeholders concerned to launch the awareness drive. Cyber safety chariots (raths) will move across the state from October 2, playing audio-video messages at bus stands, markets, local haats, block and panchayat offices, and other places of public gathering,” the police officer said.
As per the plan, some professionals from IT companies based in Bhubaneswar might participate in awareness campaigns in their home districts. Students and professionals are being encouraged to register themselves as “cyber volunteer” digitally. Online competition for best cyber safety message template, video, and best cyber safety picture collage would be conducted in districts from October 2 to 11.
