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Indian Railways charge a full fare for children under five years only if a seat/berth is booked for them - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
August 18, 2022
A Facebook post is being widely shared claiming that even one-year-old children need to get a full ticket to travel on Indian Railway trains. Let’s fact- check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Indian Railways charge full fare for even one-year-old children.
Fact: Free journey is still allowed for any child below five years if no seat/berth is booked. However, if there is a need for separate berth/seat for the child, a full adult fare shall be charged. Before March 2020, there is no option to book berth/seat for a child below five years. After March 2020, Indian Railways introduced an option to book seat/berth for children below five years. Hence the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
First, we searched on the web with the relevant key words and found a press release by Ministry of Railways on 17 August 2022.
In this press release, it is clearly mentioned that it is optional for passengers to buy ticket & book berth for children below 5 years and free travel is allowed for children below 5 years, if no berth is booked. A circular related to this change also mentioned in press release. Taking cue from this, we found the circular from Indian Railway Website, which was issued in March 2020.
The circular clearly states that children below 5 years of age, whether travelling in reserved or unreserved class, shall be carried free and purchase of ticket is not required. But they won’t be given any separate reserved berth/seat. However, if there is a need for separate berth/seat for the child, a full adult fare shall be charged.
Additionally, we tried to book tickets in the IRCTC website for 2 adults and a one-year-old child from Secunderabad to Tambaram in sleeper class. In the passenger details section, one can see there are two options available; add infant with berth and add infant without berth.
Upon selecting the ‘Add infant without berth’, it shows ticket is not to be issued for the infant. Finally, the berths will be reserved for 2 people and fare is calculated for 2 adults.
If we select ‘Add infant with berth’, then the berths will be reserved for 3 people and fare will be calculated for 3 adults.
According to IRCA coaching tariff & press releases by Ministry of railways in 2015, 2016; children below 5 years can be carried free (without berth). But there is no particular fare policy  for children below 5 years before March 2020, especially for those who want a separate birth for such children.
However, the ministry of railways added an option to book seat/berth for children below 5 years through a circular dated 06 March 2020. In a press release, Ministry of Railways clearly stated, “On the demand of the passengers, an option has been given to them to buy a ticket and book a berth for their under 5-year-old child if they want. And if they don’t want a separate berth, then it is free, same like it used to be earlier.”
To sum it up, children below 5 years of age, whether travelling in reserved or unreserved class, shall be carried free and purchase of ticket is not required. But they won’t be given any separate reserved berth/seat. However, if there is a need for separate berth/seat for the child, a full adult fare shall be charged.


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India Rio Archery Golf
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
August 11, 2016
Here is a look at the Indian contingent in Archery & Golf

source: news-factly

license: Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

author: Sai Krishna Muthyanolla


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India @RIO 2016 - Badminton
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
August 11, 2016
Here is a look at the Indian contingent in Badminton


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India @RIO 2016 - Hockey - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
August 13, 2016
Here is a look at the Indian contingent in Hockey


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India @RIO 2016 - Shooting
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
August 11, 2016
Here is a look at the Indian contingent in Shooting


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Enrollment in Government Schools in India (2013 - 2014)
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
March 23, 2015
More Girls study in Government schools in India than boys. Amidst the debate over privatization education, let us remember that close to 14 crore (140 million) children enrolled in Government Schools in 2013-14. That is a whopping 6 times the entire population of Australia.


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India shares a land boundary with Myanmar. The numbers given are false - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
December 18, 2019
An image of a map is being shared on social media with a claim that Rohingya people need to travel 1,769 Km to enter India whereas they need to travel just 2 Km to enter China. It is also being claimed that Rohingya people still prefer India to China, in spite of the 1,769 Km long journey to enter India. Let’s try to analyze the claim made in the post.
Rohingya people want to travel 1,769 Km to enter India. But don’t want to travel 2 Km to enter China.
Fact: Myanmar shares borders with both India and China. The map in the post ignores North-Eastern India. Also, the Rohingya people in Myanmar are majorly concentrated in the Rakhine State, which is closer to India than China. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
In the map given in the post, it can be observed that North-Eastern India has been ignored. India shares a boundary of 1,643 Km with Myanmar. North-Eastern Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, and Mizoram share the borders with Myanmar.
The distance required to travel to enter India from Myanmar depends on the locations of origin and destination. The distance given in the post to enter India is 1,769 Km. On looking at the possible combinations for that distance, one combination for that distance was to travel from Mandalay (a prominent city in Myanmar and its geographical location is nearly at the center of Myanmar) to Nagpur (India). But, even in this combination, the Rohingya people will enter India much before they reach Nagpur.
If Mandalay city is taken as a reference point (as it is centrally located), it can be seen that the nearest Indian border is at a distance of around 280 Km and the nearest Chinese border is around 260 Km.
In the above maps, the geographical concentration of the Rohingya people in Myanmar is not considered. According to reports by UN and media agencies, the Rohingya people are majorly concentrated in the Rakhine State of Myanmar. Even in the Lok Sabha, in an answer to a question on Rohingya people, the government has said that the ‘Government of India has taken up the issue of the exodus of people from Rakhine State of Myanmar both with Government of Myanmar and Government of Bangladesh”. The Aljazeera infographic regarding the spatial concentration of Rohingya people in Myanmar can be seen below.
From the infographic, it can be observed that the Rohingya dominated areas are much closer to India than China. Also, from another Aljazeera infographic, it can be seen that the Rohingya people are mostly migrating to the countries to the west of Myanmar (not just migrating to India).
To sum it up, India shares a land boundary with Myanmar. The numbersgiven are false.
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created: December 18, 2019


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India was elected as a member of the United Nations Statistical Commission for four years, not as its president - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
April 13, 2023
A post claiming that India has been elected as the president of the UN for 4 years is being shared on social media. The post is accompanied by a video in which a narrator elaborates that India was elected as the president of the UN Statistical Commission for four years. Let’s verify this claim through this article.
Claim: India was elected as the president of the UN for four years.
Fact:  India was recently elected as a member of the UN Statistical Commission for a term of four years. The UN Statistical Commission is headed by a Chairperson, and currently, Gabriella Vukovich of Hungary heads it. Hence the claim made in the post is Misleading.
To check the veracity of the claim, we performed an internet search using relevant keywords. This search led to a few news reports (here, here and here) from the first week of April 2023 which were about the election of India as a member of the United Nations Statistical Commission.
According to Indian Express, ‘India has been elected to the UN Statistical Commission for a four-year term.’ In the election held for the membership, India won ’46 out of 53 votes, ahead of South Korea (23), China (19), and the UAE (15)’, reported the Indian Express. The External Affairs Minister of India, Dr. S Jaishankar, tweeted about this win and said that the four-year term will begin on 1 January 2024.
India elected to the highest UN 🇺🇳 statistical body for a 4-year term beginning on 1 January 2024!
Congrats Team @IndiaUNNewYork for coming through so strongly in a competitive election.
According to the UN, The United Nations Statistical Commission is the highest body of the global statistical system, which brings together the Chief Statisticians from member states worldwide. It is the highest decision-making body for international statistical activities.
The head of the UN Statistical Commission is called a Chairperson, not a President. Gabriella Vukovich of Hungary is the current Chairperson of the Statistical Commission.
To sum up, India was elected as a member of the United Nations Statistical Commission for four years, not as its president.


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India was party to a case at the ICJ on 6 occasions, four of them against Pakistan
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
July 15, 2019
India was involved in a case at the ICJ on six different occasions including the present one about ‘Kulbhushan Jadhav’. Pakistan was the opposite party on four of these six occasions. What happened in these cases?
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is slated to deliver its judgment in the ‘Kulbhushan Sudhir Jadhav’ case on 17 July 2019. Both India & Pakistan made their final submissions to the the court. Pakistan requested the court to declare India’s claim inadmissible or to dismiss India’s claim in its entirety. On the other hand, India has requested the following;
In the alternative, India has requested the following if the court were to find that Jadhav is not be released;
Incidentally, this is not the only case where India was a party at the ICJ. Data from the ICJ website indicates that India was involved in 5 other cases at the ICJ and three of these cases had Pakistan as the opposite party. Here is what happened in the other cases.
Case about Right of Passage over Indian Territory (Portugal Vs India, 1955)
Portugal filed a case in 1955 at the ICJ  claiming that Portugal had a right of passage through the territory of India to ensure communications between its territory of Daman (coastal Daman) and its enclaved territories of Dadra and Nagar-Haveli. Portugal argued that this right of passage comprises transit of persons and goods and passage of representatives & armed forces necessary to exercise the sovereignty of its territories.
India on its part contended that the events that took place in Dadra on 21st & 22nd July 1954 overthrew Portuguese authority in these enclaves creating tension in the surrounding Indian territory. India further contended that suspension of passage became necessary because of the abnormal situation in Dadra and the tension created in surrounding Indian territory.
Decision in 1960: The ICJ did not find fault with India and ruled that India has not acted contrary to its obligations.
Appeal regarding the Jurisdiction of ICAO (India Vs Pakistan, 1971)
India filed a case against Pakistan in 1971  contending that the Council of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) had no jurisdiction on an application & compliant filed by Pakistan. India further contended that any issue between the two countries is governed by the ‘Special Regime of 1966’.
Decision in 1972: The ICJ while rejecting Pakistan’s objection that ICJ has no jurisdiction to entertain India’s appeal also held that the ICAO is indeed competent to entertain the complaint made to it by Pakistan. At the same time, the ICJ also mentioned that the ICAO was in need of guidance and pointed out multiple procedural lapses made by the ICAO.
Case concerning the trial of Pakistani Prisoners of War (Pakistan Vs India, 1973)
Pakistan filed a case in the ICJ in 1973 for instituting proceedings against India in the case of the charges of genocide against 195 Pakistani nationals, prisoners of war or civilian internees in the Indian custody.
Decision in 1973: Pakistan had informed the ICJ that both India & Pakistan governments held discussions and came to an agreement on the issue. Pakistan also informed the court that they are not going ahead with the proceedings in this case.
Aerial Incident of 1999 (Pakistan Vs India, 1999)
Pakistan had filed a case at the ICJ in 1999 regarding a dispute relating to the destruction of a Pakistani aircraft by India in 1999. Pakistan contended that the ICJ had jurisdiction in this issue. India on the other hand contested the jurisdiction of ICJ in the issue saying that Pakistan’s application to the ICJ did not refer to any treaty or convention in force between the two countries.
Decision in 2000: The court rejected Pakistan’s contention that the Simla Accord provides for disputes between the two countries to be submitted to the ICJ. ICJ concluded that it had no jurisdiction to entertain the application filed by Pakistan.  At the same time, the court requested both the countries to settle their disputes by peaceful means.
Case about the obligation of negotiations about cessation of Nuclear Arms Race (Marshall Islands Vs India, 2014)
The Republic of the Marshall Islands had instituted proceedings at the ICJ in 2014 against all nuclear weapon states, including India, contending breach of customary law obligations on nuclear disarmament (from Article VI of the NPT).  India contended that the ICJ had no jusrisdiction in this case.
Decision in 2016: The court ruled that it does not have any jusrisdiction on the issue in the absense of a dispute between the two countries. The court further ruled that it cannot proceed to the merits of the case because of the lack of jusridiction.
Featured Image: International Court of Justice by Yeu Ninje


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India way behind China in International Patents - Factly
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
November 7, 2015
In part 2 of this series on research in India, we compare the International patent applications from India with the BRICS nations and the USA. India is far behind China both in terms of patent applications & grants. China files 35 times more patent applications than India and is also granted 35 times more patents than India.
With the launch of ‘IMPRINT India’, there is a renewed debate about research in India. In Part 1, we looked at the details of this new initiative and also the patent filing numbers in India. In this piece, we look at Indian Patent filing in the international arena (WIPO) and how it compares with the BRICS nations and the USA.
Number of Patent Applications
According to the data available with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), China and USA are way ahead of India in the number of international patent applications. In the five years from 2009 to 2013, China has seen tremendous growth from 2.4 lakh applications in 2009 to 7.34 lakh applications in 2013. This is more than 200% rise. In the same time, USA has grown from 3.97 lakh applications in 2009 to 5.01 lakh applications in 2013, a 25% growth. India on the other hand has grown from 11939 applications in 2009 to 20908 applications in 2013, representing a 75% increase. Among the BRICS nations, India comes third after China & Russia. South Africa is at the bottom among the BRICS nations.
India was at the 21 place in the world in 1999 in the number of patents applications filed. And India is at the 11 place since 2010. In terms of patent grants, India is at the 26 place in 2013.
Number of Patent Grants
Interestingly, Russia & South Africa are way ahead of the other nations in the percentage of patents granted to the patent applications filed. Russia has a close to 70% grant rate in all the years while South Africa is a close second. USA has a grant rate in the high forties that steadily grew from 2009 to 2013. While India is far behind China in the number of patent applications filed, it is not that far behind in the grant rate. China’s grant rate has seen a continuous decline, from 28.4% in 2009 to 21% in 2013. India on the other hand started at 26.7% in 2009 and fell down to 21% in 2013. The worst grant rate is for Brazil with less than 20% in all the years. So while China has been increasing the number of patent applications at a fierce pace, the grants have not kept the same pace.
Patent Applications by GDP & Population
Based on the GDP figures (2011 PPP), China again leads the pack in the number of patent applications per 100 billion USD. China started at around 2000 applications per 100 billion in 2009 and went up to 4500 applications per 100 billion in 2013. China is closely followed by USA in the second place. USA started at around 1500 applications per 100 billion in 2009 and went up to 1770 in 2013. India is 4 among the BRICS nations, only ahead of South Africa. From 143 applications per 100 billion USD in 2009, India went up to 163 in 2013. Brazil is also ahead of India in this aspect.
As expected, India is at the bottom when it comes to number of patent applications per million population. India started at 6 applications per million population in 2009 and went up to 9 in 2013. China on the other hand started at 172 applications per million in 2009 and went up to 519 in 2013. In other words, China files 50 times more applications per million population compared to India. USA is on the top, thanks to the lower population. From 733 applications per million population in 2009, USA went up to 910 applications per million in 2013. Russia also has a healthy rate in the 3 digits while Brazil & South Africa are in the two digits. India is the only country among the six to have a single digit, owing to the high population.
Indian Patent Grants by Technology
As expected, the most patent applications & grants from India are in the fields of Computer Technology & Pharmaceuticals. The top ten sectors include Organic Chemistry, Digital Communication, Telecommunications, Bitechnology etc.

created: November 7, 2015


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India witnessed an average 59 deaths per day due to Fire Accidents between 2001 and 2014
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
October 19, 2016
Between 2001 and 2014, close to 3 lakh deaths were reported because of fire accidents in India, an average of 59 deaths a day. Maharashtra alone accounted for 24% of all the deaths.
More than 20 people lost their lives in a hospital fire in Odisha. As per preliminary reports, an electrical short circuit is believed to be the cause of the accident. The data on fire accidents in India reveals that close to 3 lakh people lost their lives in fire accidents between 2001 and 2014, averaging to 59 deaths a day.
More than 3 lakh fire accidents between 2001 & 2014
The data on fire accidents is maintained by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). The data is reported in NCRB’s yearly publication, ‘Accidental Deaths & Suicides in India’. In the NCRB report, fire accidents are categorized under the following sub heads
Bulk of the cases reported every year are under the other causes category. Between 2001 and 2014, a total of 3.16 lakh fire accident cases were reported in the country. More than 20000 cases were reported in 12 of the 14 years. The highest number of cases were reported in 2011 (26343). The number of cases reported witnessed a mixed trend in the last 14 years. The number of cases saw a decline from 2001 to 2004 only to increase continuously from 2004. This increasing trend continued till 2011 only to be followed by a decreasing trend till 2014.
An average of 59 deaths per day in the last 14 years
Close to 3 lakh people lost their lives in fire accidents between 2001 and 2014, an average of 59 deaths per day. The trend in the number of deaths more or less followed the trend in the number of such fire accident cases. The most number of deaths were reported in 2011 (24576) while the least number were reported in 2004 (18445).
24% of all the deaths reported from Maharashtra alone
Of the States/UTs, Maharashtra reported the highest number of cases and deaths between 2001 and 2014. Maharashtra reported more than 84000 cases and 71730 deaths in the 14-year period. This is 24% of all the deaths reported in the country. Madhya Pradesh was second in the list reporting less than half the number of deaths as Maharashtra. Nine (9) states reported more than 10000 deaths in the 14-year period while six (6) states reported more than 20000 deaths. Fifteen (15) States/UTs reported less than 1000 deaths in the 14-year period. Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh & Gujarat together accounted for 46% of all the reported deaths.
Featured Image: Hans India

created: October 19, 2016


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India witnessed civilian deaths in terror attacks even after Narendra Modi assumed office as Prime Minister in 2014 - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
January 4, 2024
A post claiming that no civilians died in terror attacks in India since Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power in 2014 is being widely shared on social media. Through this article, let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: No civilian has died in terror attacks since Narendra Modi Narendra Modi assumed office as Prime Minister in 2014.
Fact: According to information provided by the Ministry of Home Affairs in Parliament on various occasions, a total of 300 civilian deaths occurred due to terrorist attacks in the country from 2014 to 2022. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
Through a relevant keyword search, we found a news report by Business Standard that reported about civilian deaths in Jammu & Kashmir from 2019 to 2023. According to this report, 174 civilians have died in 761 terror attacks.
While searching for information related to the viral post, we discovered a question posed in the Rajya Sabha dated 09 August 2023, regarding terrorist attacks in the country over the last five years. In response, Nityanand Rai, the Minister of State in the Ministry of Home Affairs, stated that between 2018 and 2022, a total of three civilians died in terrorist-initiated incidents in various parts of the country, excluding Jammu and Kashmir. In Jammu and Kashmir during the same period, 176 civilians were killed in terrorist-initiated incidents, and 35 civilians lost their lives in counter-terrorism operations.
Additionally, we found another question raised in the Lok Sabha on 23 March 2021, concerning terrorist attacks in the country since 2014. In response, Kishan Reddy, the then Minister of State in the Ministry of Home Affairs, reported that between 2014 and 2020, a total of 11 civilians died in terrorist attacks in various parts of the country, excluding Jammu and Kashmir. In Jammu and Kashmir during the same period, 215 civilians lost their lives in terrorist attacks.
On 5 February 2019, Minister of State for Home Affairs, Hansraj Gangaram Ahir, responded to a question in Parliament regarding the number of terrorist incidents in the country from 2014 to 2018, along with the reported loss of life and property. According to the minister’s response, statistics revealed that between 2014 and 2018, 1,482 civilians were killed in incidents classified by the government as ‘terrorist/insurgent/extremist.’ The figures include 11 civilians killed in the hinterland, 138 in Jammu and Kashmir, 366 in the North Eastern Region, and 967 civilians killed in incidents related to Left Wing Extremism.”
Information regarding civilian deaths in terror attacks between 2000 – 2024 is also available on the ‘South Asia Terrorism Portal’. Information provided by the Ministry of Home Affairs in Parliament regarding deaths that occurred due to terror attacks before 2014 can be seen here, here, and here. Factly had previously debunked similar claims (here, here, and here).
To sum it up, India witnessed civilian deaths in terror attacks even after Narendra Modi assumed office as Prime Minister in 2014.

created: January 4, 2024


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India witnessed several bomb blasts even after Narendra Modi took office as Prime Minister in 2014 - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
October 25, 2023
A post claiming that there is no record of a bomb blast in India from 2014 till now due to firm security and the rule of law by the Modi government is being shared on social media. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: There is no record of bomb blasts in India under Modi government
Fact: Even after Narendra Modi assumed the role of Prime Minister in 2014, the country has witnessed several bomb blasts, such as the Pulwama attack in 2019, the Ukhrul blast, and the Chhattisgarh Maoist attack in 2023 as well as bombings in various North East regions. The government has even acknowledged these incidents in their responses in the Lok Sabha. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
Through a relevant keyword search regarding the claim, news reports were discovered detailing recent explosions in Jammu and Kashmir. Further research led us to reports of the 18 September 2016, terrorist attack on an army base in the Uri, resulting in the deaths of 17 army personnel. Terrorists targeted a CRPF van in Pulwama, Jammu and Kashmir, on 14 February 2019, resulting in the death of over 42 people.
As far as the northeast region is concerned, in 2019, a grenade attack by ULFA (United Liberation Front of Asom) in Guwahati, Assam, resulted in six people being injured. Recently, six people were injured in a powerful improvised explosive device (IED) blast in the Ukhrul district of Manipur
Apart from this, the latest attack in April 2023 by Maoists in Chhattisgarh was the biggest strike by the Naxals on the security forces in the State in the last two years. The timeline of major Naxal attacks in Chhattisgarh can be seen here. Also, In January 2021, a bomb blast took place near the Israeli Embassy in Delhi.
Subsequent research on data related to the claim led to the ‘South Asia Terrorism Portal’ which reveals that there were 629 major incidents in India from 2014 to 2023 and there has been evidence of incidences of explosions in India during the prime Ministership of Narendra Modi.
The National Bomb Data Centre (NBDC) under the National Security Guard (NSG) reported that there were 406 explosive incidents in the country in 2016. In these incidents, a total of 479 individuals lost their lives, as per the response provided by the Union Home Ministry in Parliament. Multiple other responses in the parliament also talk about terrorist attacks after 2014.
This data contradicts the claim that there has been no occurrence of a single bomb blast since Narendra Modi assumed the role of Prime Minister. Factly had previously debunked similar claims (here and here).
To sum up, the country witnessed several bomb blasts even after Narendra Modi took office as Prime Minister in 2014.

created: October 25, 2023


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Indian Airport Security Check exemption List - Infographic
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
February 1, 2015
Who are the VIPs who are exempted form pre-embarkation security checks at airports? Is Robert Vadra exempted always? Infographic presenting the Indian Airport Security check exemption list. Read the complete story here

created: February 1, 2015


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Indian Ambassador to the Republic of Belarus portrayed as the Facebook India’s Executive Ankhi Das - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
August 26, 2020
A post is being shared on social media with a claim that Facebook India’s Public Policy director Ankhi Das, disrespected the country by cutting a cake with the Indian tricolours.  Photos of a woman cutting the tricolour cake and holding a piece of cake with Ashoka Chakra symbol is shared in the post. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Facebook India’s Public Policy Director Ankhi Das, disrespected the country by cutting a cake with the Indian tricolour.
Fact: The woman shown in the post is Sangeetha Bahadur, the Indian Ambassador to the Republic of Belarus. Sangeeta Bahadur had cut the tricolour Indian Flag cake on the occasion of 74 Independence day celebrations at Indian Embassy in Minsk, Belarus. It has nothing to do with Facebook India’s Executive Ankhi Das. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
On reverse image search of the photos shared in the post, we found similar photos in a post shared by Sangeeta Bahadur in her official Facebook page. Sangeeta Bahadur, the Indian Ambassador to the Republic of Belarus, shared these photos as the celebrations of India’s 74th  Independence day at Indian Embassy in Minsk, Belarus.
Photo of Sangeeta Bahadur beside the tricolour Indian flag cake is also found in the official website of ‘Embassy of India in Minsk, Belarus’. They also shared the photos of the Independence day celebration event on their official twitter handle. It can be seen here.
The difference between the facial features of Indian Ambassador Sangeeta Bahadur and Facebook India Executive Ankhi Das can be seen below
To sum it up, Sangeeta Bahadur, the Indian Ambassador to the Republic of Belarus is falsely portrayed as the Facebook India’s Executive Ankhi Das.
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Whom are the Indian-American’s voting for in the US Presidential Election? - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
November 7, 2016
As USA goes to polls within a few hours, which way are the Indian-Americans likely to lean? Most surveys indicate that a majority of them support the Democratic Party.
The Republican Presidential Nominee, Donald Trump has been a man of controversy for his comments on immigrants, women and religious minorities through out his election campaign. It was not very different when he attended a fund-raising event in New Jersey organized by the Hindu Republican Coalition. Mr. Trump said, “I am a big fan of Hindu, and I am a big fan of India. Big, big fan” and also seemed uncomfortable to learn that India had large populations of Muslims, Sikhs, Christians and Jains. It is of great interest then; if he thought being Hindu and being Indian was the same thing or he really meant that he is in awe of Hinduism as a religion.
Photo Courtesy: AP
So an advocacy group in the US decided to send all the US Presidential nominees a booklet titled “More Answers to Real Questions about Hinduism.” Hopefully the booklet should help the Presidential Nominees debunk any myths and misconceptions. Meanwhile in India, a right wing group in New Delhi has taken it upon itself to enjoy a bit of the limelight as well in the US election drama. They held a protest by burning Democratic Presidential Nominee Hilary Clinton’s posters. They even carried “India Loves Trump” and “Indian-Americans Support Trump” hailing Mr. Trump as their hero.
Photo Courtesy: Twitter
Amidst all the burning and the fund-raising, whom are the Indian- Americans voting for? Advocacy and justice groups called Asian Americans Advancing Justice, Asian Pacific Islander American Vote and Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders surveyed data in this regard.
They found that nearly 60% of Indian-Americans were not likely to vote for the Republican Party. 22% said they would want Mr. Trump to be the president and 16% did not have an opinion.
Answering “if a political candidate expressed strong anti-Muslim views, and you agreed with him or her on other issues, would you still vote for that candidate, or would you vote for someone else,” 59% Indian-Americans said they will vote for someone else.
According to a PEW Research Report in 2012, “Only about half (51%) of Indian Americans are Hindu, 18% of Indian Americans identified themselves as Christians and 10% said they were Muslim. The religious shares of Indian Americans are markedly different from those of India itself (where an estimated 79.8% of the population is Hindu and only 2.3% is Christian, reflecting differential migration patterns). The Report also suggested that Indian-Americans traditionally lean left in the United States. 65% of them identify with the Democratic Party and its liberal views.
Even the latest poll by National Asian American Survey suggests that Asian-Americans are unified against Donald Trump. According to the survey, 59% of the Asian-Americans lean with Democrats. The democratic leaning is more prominent among the Indian-Americans with 70% of them leaning towards democrats.
Featured image: screenshot from YouTube video.

created: November 7, 2016


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Not Just in Yemen, India has a stellar record of evacuating its Citizens from strife torn countries
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
April 9, 2015
India’s efforts in evacuating its citizens from the strife torn Yemen has won global accolades and rightly so. By last count, more than 4000 Indians have been rescued and have reached India safely. Not just that, India has been successful in rescuing over 500 foreigners from 32 countries. Citizens of countries like the USA, UK & Russia have also been evacuated by India. This rescue effort is a perfect example of how co-ordination between various government agencies like the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Navy, Air Force, Air India, Shipping, Railways and State Governments can produce the right results.
It is not just in Yemen, India has a stellar record of evacuating its citizens and those of other nations from strife torn countries. Here is a compilation of some of the important efforts by India since 2006, as per information available with MEA.
2006
LEBANON: Out of 12000 Indian nationals, about 1782 have been evacuated after the war broke out. 10000 Indians opted to stay back. Nepalis, Srilankans & Lebanese were also evacuated in this effort.
2011:
EGYPT: Air India arranged three special flights from Cairo to Delhi for Indian Citizens living in Egypt and stranded Indian tourists who wanted to leave Egypt. Around 670 Indian availed of these special Air India flights.
Special flights of Air India were arranged for Indian nationals in Japan who wished to temporarily and voluntarily leave Japan in the wake of earthquake, tsunami and nuclear accident.
As situation deteriorated in Libya, Government of India facilitated evacuation of more than 16,200 Indian nationals desirous of returning to India by all means, i.e. by air, sea and land.
YEMEN: A total of 800 Indian nationals have been evacuated from Yemen by Government of India.
2012:
SOMALIA: 5 Indian seafarers aboard MV ICEBERG-1 rescued from Somali Pirates after 33 months of captivity.
2014:
SUDAN: 70 workers from Bihar who wished to go back home have returned to India following a labour unrest.
UKRAINE: Around 1000 Indian nationals, mostly medical students from Lugansk and a few from Donetsk, were evacuated by train to Kyiv, following the escalation of violence. All expenditure on their travel by train, boarding and lodging was met by the Government. As a goodwill gesture, the Government also evacuated to Kyiv, nationals from Maldives, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Pakistan.
An estimated 22,000 Indian nationals were in Iraq at the beginning of the conflict. Till November 2014, over 7,000 Indian nationals in Iraq have been provided assistance, including air tickets, travel documents and immigration facilitation etc. A group of 46 nurses working in a local hospital in the city of Tikrit got stuck due to the conflict, but were safely brought back to India in a special Air India flight.
LIBYA: They are an estimated 6,000 Indian nationals, including 1,000 nurses, in various parts of Libya. 3,371 Indians were assisted since July 2014.
4 Indians were evacuated in July 2014. There are other Indians who wish to remain in Gaza.
2015:
YEMEN: More than 4000 Indians have been rescued from Yemen. Apart from this over 500 foreigners from 32 countries were also evacuated. Indian efforts are lauded by the entire world.
39 Indians who are abducted in Mosul in Iraq are still untracable. This is the only case in the recent history where India has been unsuccessful. The government sources maintain that they are trying their level best.


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More than half of Indian Agricultural households are indebted and 1/4th of the loan is taken from the Money Lender
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
April 22, 2015
This is part 2 of the series on the 70th round NSSO report on agricultural households. In Part 1, we looked at the estimated number of agricultural households and their social groups including the size of the land holding.  This article looks at the principle sources of income of the Agricultural households & the outstanding loans.
Principle Sources of Income
According to the NSS report, cultivation of land is the primary source of income for almost 2/3 (63.4%) of all the agricultural households. This is followed by Wage/Salaried employment for 22% households. 4% of the households are dependent on livestock for their income.
The state wise variations are interesting as Agricultural activity (cultivation, livestock and other agricultural activities) was reported to be the principal source of income for majority of the households in all the major States, except Kerala where about 61 percent of the agricultural households reported to have earned maximum income from sources other than agricultural activities. Among the major States, more than 80 percent of agricultural households from Assam, Chhattisgarh and Telangana reported agricultural activity as their principal source of income. Telangana topped the charts with 89% of the households reporting their principle source of income as agricultural activity. More than 78 percent of rural households of Rajasthan were agricultural households (as mentioned in the previous article), but about 47 percent of these agricultural households reported sources other than agricultural activity as their principal source of income. Agricultural activity was principal source of income for about 78 percent of the agricultural households of Madhya Pradesh, whereas little less than 71 percent of rural households were agricultural households. More than9 percent of agricultural households of Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Punjab and Haryana reported livestock as their principal source of income.
Level of indebtedness
52% of all the agricultural households in the country were estimated to be indebted according to the NSS report.  The average amount of outstanding loan per agricultural household was Rs.47000/-.
Among the major States, Andhra Pradesh had the highest share of indebted agricultural households in the country (92.9 percent) followed by Telangana (89.1 percent) and Tamil Nadu (82.5 percent). Assam (17.5 percent), Jharkhand (28.9 percent), and Chhattisgarh (37.2 percent) were the major States with lowest share of indebted agricultural households. The average amount of outstanding loan was highest for Kerala (Rs.213600/-) followed by Andhra Pradesh (Rs.123400) and Punjab (Rs.119500). Assam (Rs.3400), Jharkhand (Rs.5700) and Chhattisgarh (Rs.10200) were the States with lowest amount of average outstanding loan.
Loans from the Money lender
Of the average outstanding loan amount of Rs 47,000 at the all India level, about 26% of the loan is taken from the Money Lender. There are again wide variations within states. In Telangana, Bihar & Andhra Pradesh, more than 50% of the outstanding loan is from the money lender. Though Kerala has the highest amount of outstanding loan of Rs 213600, only 2.2% of this loan is from the money lender. This is a broad indicator of access to the banking system for the agricultural households. In some of the states with the high amounts of outstanding loans, the percentage of loan taken from the money lender is less than 25%. States like Tamil Nadu (25.5%), Madhya Pradesh (24.2%), Punjab (15%), and Maharashtra (5%) have high amounts of outstanding loan, but a very low proportion of this is from the money lender.
Source: Key Indicators of Situation of Agricultural Households in India, NSS 70 round.


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Indian fencer CA Bhavani Devi has not yet qualified for the Paris 2024 Olympics. - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
February 9, 2024
A claim is circulating on social media that CA Bhavani Devi, an acclaimed Indian fencer, has become the first Indian fencer to qualify for the Paris Olympics 2024. Let’s fact-check this claim through this article.
Claim: CA Bhavani Devi is the first Indian fencer to qualify for the Paris Olympics 2024.
Fact: As of the time of writing this fact check in February 2024, CA Bhavani Devi has not yet secured qualification for the Paris Olympics 2024. No official reports confirm her qualification, and her name is not listed in the list of confirmed Indian athletes for the upcoming event. Hence, the claim made in the post is False.
To investigate the claim, an internet keyword search was performed to understand more details. No news reports were found that confirmed CA Bhavani Devi’s qualification for the Paris 2024 Olympics.  Bhavani Devi herself has also not shared such news on her social media profiles (Instagram and Facebook). Additionally, She is not listed among Indian athletes competing at the forthcoming event. This list is available on the official Olympics website.
Further research revealed that the process for individual qualification in the fencing competition at Paris 2024 is based on the International Fencing Federation’s (FIE) Individual Senior Adjusted Official Ranking (AOR) list as of 1 April 2024. Per the official Olympics website, this ranking is determined by the points an athlete accrues between 3 April 2023 and 1 April 2024 during various competitions.
Considering these facts, it is clear that the claim of CA Bhavani Devi’s qualification for the Paris 2024 Olympics is premature and incorrect. Additionally, Bhavani Devi debuted at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, where she became the first Indian fencer to qualify for this mega sporting event. She competed in the Women’s Sabre Individual event at the Tokyo 2020 edition.
𝐀 𝐝𝐞𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫! 🫡 🇮🇳
At Tokyo 2020, Bhavani Devi became the first Indian fencer to qualify for the Olympics.#ThrowBack | @IamBhavaniDevi pic.twitter.com/2F8dh2Exr8
To sum up, the assertion that CA Bhavani Devi has secured a place in the Paris Olympics 2024 is False. As of February 2024, she has not yet qualified for the event.

created: February 9, 2024


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Indian football team members played the 1948 Olympic match barefoot out of habit, not because of lack of shoes - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
August 23, 2022
Following the FIFA’s recent ban on All India Foodball Federation, a Facebook post is being widely shared claiming that Nehru Government was responsible for the Indian Football’s present situation as he was unable to provide even shoes for the team at 1948 London Olympics. Let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Indian football team had to play the 1948 Olympics match with France on barefoot as the Nehru Government couldn’t provide shoes for the team.
Fact: Majority of the Indian football team members played the 1948 Olympic match barefoot as they were not used to playing with shoes.  The shoes given by the AIFF were not usually used by the members of the Indian team except in wet and slippery conditions. This is the reason  because of which in the 1948 London Olympics match, only a few played in shoes. Also, France won against India in that match 2-1. The captain of the team was Talimeran Aao, not Shailendra Nath Manna. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
We performed reverse image search of the viral photo, and found it on ‘Sportskeeda’ website and ‘Getty Images’ Website. According to them, the photo was taken when Indian Players were walking out at Ilford for their match against France in 1948 London Olympics and majority of them were bootless.
Taking cue from this, we searched further and found a relevant article on The Hindu’s ‘Sport star’ website. According to this article, “Being largely unused to playing in them, the (Indian) players kept the boots supplied by the All India Football Federation (AIFF) for occasions when the wet and slippery English conditions left them with no alternative but to wear them”. Also, as claimed in the post, we found a photo of Nehru coming out of plane with his dog on ‘Times content’ website. The description of the photo says, “Prime minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru with his Pet Dog ‘Pepi’ at the Palam airport in New Delhi destined for Kulu-Manali on January 1, 1961”
Did the Indian football team have shoes at the 1948 Olympics?
BBC’s 1948 Olympics handbook shows that football matches in the 1948 Olympics were held in a knockout manner. In the official 1948 Olympics report, it can be seen that the Indian football team was out of the Olympics after losing to France in the very first match they played.
In the 1948 Olympics report, it  can be read that nine members of the Indian team played in the India-France match without wearing shoes.
It can be read on the ‘Sportstar’  website that the Indian team was not in the habit of playing in shoes and that the shoes given by the AIFF are not usually used by the Members of the Indian team except in wet and slippery conditions. The photos of a few Indian players wearing shoes at the India-France match can be seen here, here, and here
In the book  ‘Nation at Play: A History of Sport in India’,  it  can be read that Indian players had a habit of playing without shoes, and that playing so contributed to their skill,  and until about 1952, players played in international tournaments without shoes. It can be seen on the AIFF website that shoes were made mandatory in domestic competitions in 1954.
Here, here, and here, one can see Indian players playing without shoes even in practice during 1948. On playing without shoes, 1948 Indian football captain Talimeren told the media, “In India, we play football, whereas you play bootball!”, the Olympic channel website reported.
Also, as claimed in the post, Shailendra Nath Manna was not the captain in this match. Talimeran Aao was the captain.
Was India banned in 1950 FIFA world cup because they were playing barefoot?
We searched the internet with relevant keywords and found related articles Los Angeles Times and Scroll. According to these articles, AIFF just did not take the World Cup seriously, considering the Olympics to be the ultimate goal, is backed up by Sailen Manna, who would have been the captain of the team. As he told Sports Illustrated, ‘We had no idea about the World Cup then. [H]ad we been better informed, we would have taken the initiative ourselves. For us, the Olympics was everything. There was nothing bigger.’ The All India Football Federation (AIFF) announced that the team would not attend the World Cup, citing ‘disagreements over team selection, and insufficient practice time.’
To sum it up, Indian football team was provided shoes during 1948 London Olympics, but out of habit, majority of players played barefoot. Also, India was not banned in 1950 FIFA world cup for playing barefoot.


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No more photographs of Politicians in Government Advertisements except the President, PM & CJI – Supreme Court
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
May 13, 2015
We are all used to a barrage of government advertisements featuring photographs of Ministers & Politicians. The latest Supreme Court  Judgement in a PIL filed by Common Cause & CPIL lays down some important guidelines to be followed while issuing government advertisements. The order now restricts using the photographs of any Minister or politician in government advertisements except that of the President of India, PM & CJI.
The Supreme Court dealt a body blow to the practice of using photographs of Ministers  & Politicians in Government advertisements. In a landmark judgement, it laid down guidelines for government issued advertisements. The Union Government filed its objections about some of the items in the guidelines, but the court accepted only a couple of them rejecting the others.
Government Advertisements & Spending
Government advertisements are not new. These advertisements are meant to educate the citizens about the new schemes of the government, citizen’s rights, their entitlements, safety information, public health related information among other things. But in recent times, these have become tools for propaganda. The content and the amounts spent on advertisements often depend on the party in power. Each party tries to elevate political figures who are/were associated with their party while ignoring others. Government advertisements also have become tools to promote self & individuals thus encouraging a dangerous personality cult. Governments also spend heavily on the eve of election thus impacting a fair election process.
The Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity (DAVP) under the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting issues advertisements on behalf of all Government departments. State Governments route their advertisements through their Information & Public Relation Departments (I & PR). The spending on government advertisements has been increasing year on year in the last decade. In 2013-14, more than 1000 crore rupees were spent on government advertisements. This is only by the Central Government. State Governments spend in addition to this.
The Supreme Court Case
Common Cause and Centre for Public Interest Litigation, two registered bodies have filed a PIL under Article 32 of the Constitution seeking an order to restrain the Central and all State Governments from using public funds on Government advertisements which are primarily intended to project individual functionaries of the Government or a political party. The petitioners also prayed for laying down of appropriate guidelines to regulate Government action in the matter so as to prevent misuse/wastage of public funds in connection with such advertisements.
The petitioners did concede the beneficial effect of government advertisements which convey necessary information to the citizens with regard to various welfare and progressive measures including their rights and entitlements. However, the petitioners also contended that in the garb of communicating with the people, in many instances, undue political advantage and mileage is sought to be achieved by personifying individuals and crediting such individuals or political leaders.
The Supreme court in its order dated 23 April, 2014 constituted a committee consisting of Prof. N.R. Madhava Menon, former Director, National Judicial Academy, Bhopal, Mr. T.K. Viswanathan, former Secretary General, Lok Sabha and Mr. Ranjit Kumar, Senior Advocate to go into the matter and submit a report to the Court suggesting a set of Guidelines in this matter.
The Committee Report
The Committee submitted its report to the Supreme Court and came up with “Guidelines On Content Regulation of Government Advertising”. These guidelines committee said shall apply to all the government institutions (Central & State), PSUs, local bodies, Autonomous bodies etc. The Guidelines have five broad objectives according to the committee as listed below.
In keeping with these objectives, the committee laid down broad guidelines as listed under
The Supreme Court Order
The central government raised certain objections. The Supreme Court spoke at detail about some of these objections and made changes only to four aspects in the guidelines. Rest of the guidelines by the committee was accepted and will have to be followed by all the governments.
Those four aspects are
Publication of Photographs: There should be an exception only in the case of the President, Prime Minister and Chief Justice of the country who may themselves decide about it. No other photograph either of the Governor/Chief Minister/Ministers should be carried in the advertisements. Advertisements issued to commemorate the anniversaries of acknowledged personalities like the father of the nation can carry the photograph of the departed leader.
Appointment of an Ombudsman: Instead of an ombudsman, the court directed the government to constitute a three member body consisting of persons with unimpeachable neutrality and impartiality and who have excelled in their respective fields to oversee the implementation of the guidelines.
Special performance audit by each Ministry: The Court felt that such an audit was not necessary.
Embargo on advertisements on the eve of the Elections: The Court felt that if the government advertisements adhere to the objects and parameters mentioned in the guidelines, then there is no need to put a special curb on advertisements on the eve of elections.
So henceforth, citizens will be relieved from the constant barrage of government advertisements with photographs of politicians & leaders.
Source:


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Indian government banned condom ads on TV from 6 AM to 10 PM in 2017, not recently - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
November 16, 2022
A post claiming that Government has recently banned condom ads on TV from 6 AM to 10 PM because it spoils the kids. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Government bans telecasting condom ads on Television from 6 AM to 10 PM
Fact: In December 2017, citing rule 7 (7) and 7(8) of Cable Television Rules, 1994, the Government advised all the television channels to telecast the condom advertisements only between 10 PM and 6 AM. The advisory further states that the decision is taken since these ads are for a particular age group, and viewing by children could be indecent/inappropriate. However, social media users are sharing this news of partial ban as a recent phenomenon. Hence the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
We searched the internet with relevant keywords and found an advisory issued by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to all TV channels on 11 December 2017.
Citing rule 7 (7) and 7(8) of Cable Television Rules, 1994, the Government advised all the television channels to telecast the condom advertisements between 10 PM and 6 AM only. The advisory further states that the decision is taken since these ads are for a particular age group, and viewing by children could be indecent/inappropriate. Any failure will attract actions as per the provisions of the rule. News articles reporting this issue can be seen here and here. However, several users are sharing this news of partial ban as a recent phenomenon.
To sum it up, Indian government banned condom ads on TV from 6 AM to 10 PM in 2017 not recently.

created: November 16, 2022


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Indian government did not say that it wants to send Indian soldiers to fight in Ukraine - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
March 1, 2022
Amidst the ongoing Russia-Ukraine crisis, a video through a post is being widely shared on social media claiming that the Modi government is going to send Indian soldiers to fight in Ukraine. Let us fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Video confirming that Modi government is going to send Indian soldiers to fight in Ukraine.
Fact: Nothing was mentioned in the video about India sending its soldiers to fight in Ukraine. Amidst the Russia-Ukraine crisis, India has mostly remained neutral, and it has been in favour of diplomatic dialogue as the only way forward. PM Modi had called in Indian Air Force to help evacuate Indian nationals in Ukraine as part of Operation Ganga. But nowhere was it said that Modi government is going to send Indian soldiers to fight in Ukraine. Hence, the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
When reverse image search is done on the screenshots of the video, the same video was found in the official YouTube channel of Gnews. Though the title of the YouTube video suggests that India will send troops to Ukraine, nothing of that sort was mentioned in the video. Nothing was mentioned in the video saying that India will send its soldiers to fight in Ukraine. It looks like a click-bait intended to attract views to the video.
Amidst the Russia-Ukraine crisis, India has mostly remained neutral. India has maintained the best of relations with the countries concerned and it has been in favour of diplomatic dialogue as the only way forward. Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin immediately after Russia’s military operations in Ukraine and appealed for an ‘immediate cessation of Violence’. At the request of Ukraine’s Ambassador, India is sending humanitarian assistance, relief supplies to the people of Ukraine; but it was never said that Indian soldiers would be sent to fight in Ukraine.
According to the Ministry of External Affairs, India’s primary concern is the security of its citizens and their safe evacuation out of Ukraine. Hence, the Indian government had launched Operation Ganga to bring back Indians stranded in Ukraine. To fast-track these rescue operations, PM Modi had called in Indian Air Force to help evacuate Indian nationals. But nowhere was it said that Indian soldiers would be fighting in Ukraine.
To sum it up, the Indian government did not say that it wants to send Indian soldiers to fight in Ukraine.


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Government launches a ‘Know Your College’ Portal
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
July 3, 2015
The Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) has launched a Know Your College (KYC) portal that promises to be a one stop shop for students and parents to know about various colleges in the country. The portal is updated with relevant information about every college like lab facilities, faculty, intake, hostel facilities, library etc.
The Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) launched a ‘Know your College’ portal in November 2014. Since this is the time for college admissions, MHRD has once again reminded the citizens about the existence of this portal.
In a press release, the MHRD spoke about the information available on the portal. The Press Release said, “There is often confusion in the minds of students regarding which colleges to join and the courses to be taken up. To help the students make an informed decision on the choice of college and the courses, the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India has developed a “Know Your College” portal”
What does the portal promise?
The Portal promises to be a one stop shop for a student in making an informed choice about a college. This portal covers almost 10,500 colleges which conduct about 14,000 programs in Technical Education and 35000 colleges conducting at least 20,000 programs in Non-Technical education. The government says that the portal is a repository of information pertaining to colleges and information related to its faculty, labs, library, infrastructure, and availability of hostel facilities etc. The MHRD is also encouraging students to send their complaints about discrepancies in the information provided by colleges through this portal. This portal is being maintained by AICTE.
Does the Portal live up to its promise?
When one does a search using any of the search criteria, the list of colleges is displayed with details like the name of the college, type of the institute, Courses offered, address and the URL of the website. Some details are not accurate.
When you further click on the name of any of the college, the detailed information about the college is displayed. The college name, address, Name of the parent organization, year of establishment, name of the contact person etc are displayed. One can also check list of courses offered, intake for the current year, annual fees, details of laboratories present, details of faculty, Library, Hostel, details of the ombudsman, anti-ragging committee and also the student count.
The portal does give some important information at one place for all parents and students. The portal also gives information about other initiatives of the government like the e-learning platforms, student scholarships and other useful information.
The portal also provides a lot of other useful information to the students like the ‘Project Factory’ where students can upload and download various projects. The students are also encouraged to submit grievances and complaints.
Overall, the portal is a good initiative that will help students & parents in getting relevant information about various colleges. The challenze is in updating this data regularly and ensuring that the data is accurate. AICTE should also ensure that a system is set in place to deal with the complaints lodged and clear them within a time frame.


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Govt. seeks public opinion on Electronic Transactions in India
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
June 24, 2015
One of the ways to curb the flow of black money is to encourage electronic transactions in India and discourage the use of cash. Towards this, the Government has put out a draft proposal in the public domain proposing ways & means to promote electronic transactions. The government is seeking suggestions from the public on these proposals.
The Finance Minister in his budget speech for the year 2015-16 stressed on the need to discourage transactions in cash as one of the ways to curb the flow of black money. He also said that the government would soon introduce several measures that will incentivize credit or debit card transactions and disincentivize cash transaction. Currently, electronic transactions cost people more than a cash transaction. Most vendors and even government entities like IRCTC charge a transaction/convenience/service fee over and above the actual amount for all electronic transactions. Despite this, the number of electronic (card) transactions has been increasing at a steady pace of 10% per year.
Now the government through policy intervention plans to incentivize electronic transactions. Accordingly, draft proposals for facilitating electronic transactions (E-transactions) have been prepared.
The following are the objectives of this proposal.
Electronic transactions are defined as transactions in which the customer authorizes the transfer of money through electronic means, and the funds flow directly from one account to another. These transfers could be done through means of cards (debit / credit), mobile wallets, mobile apps, net banking, Electronic Clearing Service (ECS), National Electronic Fund Transfer (NEFT), Immediate Payment Service (IMPS), or other similar means.
The government has come up with these proposals after due deliberations with various stakeholders like the RBI, NPCI, NIBM, public and private sector banks, card service providers, mobile service providers, research institutions, organizations working in this area and various government departments.
The Proposals mentioned above are only at the draft stage and have been placed in the public domain to elicit public opinion. The proposals do not imply any commitment from the government at this stage. Citizens wishing to share their opinion or suggestions can do so by 29 June, 2015 by 5:00 p.m here.
Featured Image: By Vk40471 [GFDL or CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons


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Government’s support to the Olympians is a meager Rs 49.23 Crore
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
August 18, 2016
Under the TOP scheme for supporting Olympic medal prospects, the government’s total support to over 150 athletes is a meager Rs 49.23 crore. Gymnast Dipa Karmakar received Rs 2 lakh under this scheme while Wrestler Sakshi Malik received Rs 12 lakh.
The Indian contingent to Rio 2016 Olympics is struggling to better the 2012 record of 6 medals. The government’s apathy to sports promotion in the country is often cited as one of the reasons for the dismal state of affairs. Data presented by the government in the parliament indicates that a total of Rs 49.23 crore was released by the government to more than 150 athletes, most of who qualified for the Olympics.
Dipa Karmakar received only Rs 2 Lakh under the TOP Scheme
Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports came up with the Target Olympic Podium (TOP) Scheme with the objective of identifying and supporting potential medal prospects for 2016 and 2020 Olympic Games. The selected athletes are provided financial assistance for their customised training at Institutes with world class facilities and other necessary support.
As per the data available with the government, a total of Rs 49.23 crore rupees has been released as financial assistance to over 150 athletes under the TOP scheme and through the relevant sports federations. Only one athlete Abhinav Bindra was given more than Rs 2 crore while 9 other athletes were given more than crore rupees each. Being an expensive sport, nine of the ten athletes who received an assistance of more than a crore each are Shooters. Only Vikas Gowda (Discus Throw) received more than a crore among others. The only Indian Bronze medalist from India so far Sakshi Malik received more than Rs 12 lakh in assistance. The only Indian Gymnast to reach an Olympic final Dipa Karmakar received only Rs 2 lakh under the TOP scheme.
13 of the 49 recognized Sports Federations are headed by Politicians
As per the official version, the various National Sports Federations (NSFs) are responsible and accountable for the overall management, direction, control, regulation, promotion, development of respective sports for taking corrective steps to overcome deficiencies detected in their respective sports disciplines. At present, there are 49 National Sports Federations which have the recognition of the Government of India. 13 out of the 49 are headed by Politicians from various political parties like the Congress, BJP, NCP etc. Bureaucrats, Businessmen & Politicians head more than a half of these federations.
NSFs are bodies registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860/Companies Act. NSFs are required to submit their accounts, duly audited by the Chartered Accounts in the panel of Comptroller & Auditor General of India. Financial assistance is extended to the NSFs under the Scheme of Assistance to NSFs.
NSFs received assistance of Rs 390.48 crore in 3 years
The various NSFs received a total of Rs 390.48 crore in the last 3 years (203-14 to 2015-16) under the scheme of assistance to NSFs. The National Rifle Association of India received an assistance of more than Rs 50 crore in these 3 years. Hockey India received Rs 38.26 crore. Gymnastics Federation of India received Rs 3.95 crore. Tennis Ball Cricket Federation of India received Rs 28.5 lakh.


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Indian legislations also provide for penal consequences against illegal migrants - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
April 27, 2022
A social media post comparing the penal provisions being implemented against illegal migrants in different countries with that of India is being widely circulated. In the attempt to list the penal consequences being rendered against illegal migrants in different countries, the post alleges that in India, illegal migrants are left scot-free without being penalised. Further, it claims that in India illegal migrants are being provided with all the required identity proofs, etc. Through this article let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: There are no penal provisions in place against illegal migrants in India.
Fact: Legislations namely  Foreigners Act, 1946 and The Passport (Entry into India) Act, 1920 and subsequent rules framed under this act like Foreigners (Tribunals) Order, 1964 deal with illegal migrants entering into the country. These legislations also facilitate penal consequences against those who illegally entered or staying even after the expiry of visa. And there are also reports of authorities detaining and deporting illegal migrants under the provisions of these legislations. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
Foreigners Act, 1946 and The Passport (Entry into India) Act, 1920 along with subsequent rules and orders framed in line with these legislations like Foreigners (Tribunals) Order, 1964 are some of the legal frameworks which deal with illegal migrants in the country.
While these legislations provide entrance for persons with valid documents like passports, in the case of illegal migrants without possession of valid documents, these legislations advocate for penal consequences. Details related to the penal provisions against the illegal migrants entering the country, framed under these legislations are discussed below.
The Passport (Entry into India) Act, 1920 :
It is one of the earliest legislation framed to deal with illegal migrants entering the country. This act empowers the central government to make rules requiring that person entering India to be in possession of a passport.
Further, the Act provides for penal consequences for actions against any rules framed under this act. Moreover, it grants the government the power to remove from India any person who entered without a passport.
Foreigners Act, 1946 :
This act replaced the initial Foreigners Act, 1940 conferring the government with wide powers to deal with the foreigners. The Act empowers the government in making provisions for prohibiting, regulating, or restricting the entry of foreigners into India.
Further, the act provides penal consequences like imprisonment and fines, etc. in case of contravention of any provisions of the act. Moreover, the concept of burden of proof lies with the person and not with the authorities was introduced by this act.
Foreigners (Tribunals) Order, 1964 :
The Foreigners (Tribunals) Order, 1964 was framed under Section 3 of The Foreigners Act, 1946. These tribunals are empowered to decide whether a person staying illegally in India is a foreigner or not. In dealing with the appeals, these tribunals are empowered with powers similar to those of a civil court.
The 2019 amendments to the Foreigners (Tribunals) Order, 1964 empowered even district magistrates in all States and Union Territories to set up tribunals to decide whether a person staying illegally in India is a foreigner or not.
Above mentioned legislations provides for penal action against those who are illegally staying in India. Citing the above-mentioned legal provisions, a 2017 circular by the Ministry of Home Affairs to all the chief secretaries asked to detain and deport the foreign nationals staying illegally in the country can be viewed here.
There are multiple instances wherein illegal migrants are detained and subjected to penal consequences under the above-mentioned legislations in various cities of India. News articles related to these can be read here and here. Thus, it can be concluded that there are legislations in place to deal with illegal migrants and instances of subjecting these illegal migrants to penal consequences.
To sum it up, Legislations framed to check illegal migration into the country provide for penal action against those found guilty.


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Thousands of Violations of Media laws by Television Channels come to light
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
May 15, 2015
A recent order by the Central Information Commission forced the Electronic Media Monitoring Centre (EMMC) to voluntarily disclose violations of various laws by satellite TV Channels. Prior to this order, the existence of such an entity was unknown to a lot of people. Post that order, the EMMC put the list of violations by TV Channels on its website. These violations of various acts run into thousands for just one year (2014-15).
Electronic Media Monitoring Centre (EMMC) was established in 2008 as a sub-ordinate office under Ministry of Information & Broadcasting with the exclusive task of monitoring content of private satellite TV channels for violations of Programme Code and Advertising Code. At present, EMMC records and monitors around 300 TV channels. EMMC monitors and carries out a scrutiny of violations by electronic media in accordance with Codes framed under the Cable Television Networks Regulation Act, 1995. EMMC puts out reports on violations along with the recorded clips to the Scrutiny Committee, which examines and goes into the purported violations and forwards its findings to the Inter-Ministerial Committee and other bodies for further action.
However, EMMC had been ‘carefully’ hiding from public scrutiny, even basic information regarding thousands of violations by various TV channels. Not many know that such an organization even exists.
‘Media Watch-India’, a nonprofit campaigning for decency and accountability in Media made a request under RTI act in 2012 to disclose and publish the details of violations by various private TV channels on EMMC website in terms of section 4 of RTI act. However, Director, EMMC squarely rejected the plea without citing any reason.
Based on a complaint by ‘Media Watch-India’ (MWI), Central Information Commission (CIC) directed Electronic Media Monitoring Centre (EMMC) to publish the details of violations of Programme and Advertising Codes by private TV channels. EMMC implemented this order few days back which revealed mind-blowing numbers of content violations by TV channels.
Pursuant to this order, EMMC now published statistics of violations on its website which are available here.
Statistics Revealed by EMMC are startling
EMMC put up statistics related to the year 2014-15 on its website. The violations of television channels on various counts run into thousands.
Violations Regarding Films and Promos
Hundreds of violations were reported each month with respect to screening of films, for example, non-display of Censor certificate before screening of films, non-indication of Censor rating as part of film promos which are otherwise cognizable and non-bailable offences under section 7(1) of the Cinematograph Act, 1952.
A total of 8487 violations were reported in this category for the year 2014-15. Highest number of violations was in June 2014 (939) and the lowest in December 2014 (261).
Category Wise Violations (April 2014 to November 2014)
Violations on account of ‘vulgarity/obscenity’ and ‘excessive violence’ top in the category-wise analysis of violations.
Violations in Advertisements (April 2014 to March 2015)
As far as violations regarding advertisements are concerned, during the financial year 2014-15 alone,
Rule 7(10) of the said rules read thus:
“All advertisement should be clearly distinguishable from the programme and should not in any manner interfere with the programme viz., use of lower part of screen to carry captions, static or moving alongside the programme.“
While these numbers are based on random monitoring of about 1/3rd of total channels in the country, one can imagine the actual number of violations by all channels in the country.
Edara Gopi Chand, Vice-President of MWI said: “This is a big leap forward in enhancing transparency and accountability in the otherwise ‘hidden’ regime of broadcast regulation in India. However, it is only a partial success. Mere publishing of statistical figures is meaningless unless the names of the violating channels and nature/gravity of each violation  are revealed.
The next big question that arises is what the Government is doing about these violations. It is an open secret that the Ministry of I&B is simply sitting on the reports without any action. It is giving occasional ‘advisories’ to which no channel pays heed. In rarest of the rare cases, when the penal powers are enforced, i.e., prohibiting telecast of the offending channel for few days, the broadcasters are running to High Courts crying ‘government regulation’ of media.”
He further added, “Airwaves are ’public property’ as held by the Apex Court. As such, the Public have the basic right to know how and by which entities such ‘airwaves’ are being misused.  EMMC’s deliberate refusal to disclose details of violations so far has to be seen in the context of overall scheme of ‘media-appeasing’ tactics and ‘don’t-care-for-the-audience’ attitude of successive governments.”
Source:


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42% of Modi's Cabinet Colleagues travelled abroad in the first 9 months
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
June 8, 2015
The members of the Union Cabinet spent a total of 393 days in foreign visits. More than 42% of the Union Cabinet made foreign visits in the first 9 months of the NDA government. Most of these visits were made for bilateral and multilateral summits.
One of the major talking points in the first year of the NDA Government has been the extensive foreign travel undertaken by the Prime Minister. While a lot has been written and said about the foreign visits undertaken by the Prime Minister, there is little written about his Cabinet colleagues. Factly compiled data about the foreign travel undertaken by the members of the Cabinet from May 2014 to March 2015. Twenty seven (27) of Modi’s Cabinet colleagues undertook at least one foreign visit. This is about 42% of the total strength of the Union Cabinet.
* Number indicates no. of visits
A total of sixty (60) countries were visited by at least one member of the Union Cabinet. All of them together spent 393 days abroad. Apart from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Six(6) of his cabinet colleagues visited at least five countries. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Minister of State (MoS) for External Affairs Gen. (Dr) V K Singh (Retd), MoS for Petroleum & Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan, Minister for Road Transport & Highways Nitin Gadkari, Mos for Environment Prakash Javdekar & MoS for Commerce & Industry Nirmala Sitharaman visited at least five countries.
Purpose of Such Visits
Many of them travelled abroad for bilateral & multilateral summits. They also travelled abroad for BRICS Summit, G-20 related meetings, attending World Economic Forum, SAARC meetings, World Congress & Asia meetings on various issues etc. Seven of the ministers undertook foreign travel for private visits.
The details of the visits by the members of the Union Cabinet are in the table below.
Source: Unstarred Question No 3678, answered on 18 March, 2015 in the Lok Sabha, Ministry of External Affairs


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Rajasthan has close to 50% of the Defence Land in the country
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
May 6, 2015
According to the Ministry of Defence, the defence land in the country is close to 17.5 lakh acres. Rajasthan has close to half of this land while five states together hold 80% of this land. Defence land is also encroached and more than 11000 acres of Defence land across the country is encroached. Out of this, more than 1400 acres is recovered as per the available data.
The Defence forces require large areas of land for training, ranges, depots, airfields, quartering, camping, offices etc. for military activities.  The Ministry of Defence, therefore, owns large tracts of land of approximately 17.5 lakh acres, out of which approximately 1.57 lakh acres is situated within the 62 notified Cantonments and about 15.96 lakh acres is outside these Cantonments. Land norms for Defence establishments provide for open spaces and grounds for a variety of military and operation purposes.
The Central Government, by notification in the Official Gazette, declares any place along with boundaries to be a cantonment in which the Armed Forces is quartered or any such place that is required for the service of the armed forces.
In terms of Entry 3 of Union List (Schedule VII) of the Constitution of India, Urban Self Governance of the Cantonments and the Housing Accommodation within the Cantonments is a subject matter of Government of India. There are 62 Cantonments in the country which have been notified under the Cantonments Act, 1924 (succeeded by the Cantonments Act, 2006).  The overall municipal administration of the notified Cantonments is the function of the Cantonment Boards which are democratic bodies.  There are four categories of Cantonments which depend on the size of population residing inside a Cantonment.
Defence land is acquired only after the use of land is specified and accepted by the government. Hence, there is no surplus defence land. Defence land which is presently lying vacant or unused is either earmarked for a specific purpose or is meant to be used for defence purpose in future as per strategic, operational and key location plan needs and in keeping with requirements of the dynamic security environment of the country
Total Defence Land in the Country
The Ministry of Defence holds about 17.5 lakh acres of land across the country. Nearly half of this land (47%) is in Rajasthan. Almost 80% of the Defence land is in just five states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh & Punjab. 17 States/UTs in the country have more than 10000 acres of defence land each. Both Mizoram, Dadra & Nagar Haveli do not have a single acre of defence land. Nagaland, Daman & Diu, Chandigarh, Lakshadweep, Puducherry each have less than 1000 acres of defence land.
Encroachment of Defence Land
When it comes to land encroachment, even the defence land is not spared. As per information available with the government, 11,379 acres of defence land is under encroachment across the country.  This is about 0.65% of the total defence land in the country. Topping the charts is Daman & Diu where 58% of the defence land is encroached. Next is Chhattisgarh where close to 11% of the defence land is encroached. In Bihar and Jammu Kashmir, 4% and 3% of the defence land is encroached respectively. More than 1% of the defence land is encroached in 12 States/UTs. Not even a single acre of defence land is encroached in 9 States/UTs. None of the bigger states is part of this list. Among the bigger states, only 0.03% of defence land is encroached in Kerala & 0.04% is encroached in Rajasthan. In terms of absolute numbers, Uttar Pradesh tops the chart where 3142 acres of defence land is encroached followed by Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra & Haryana in that order.
Action for removal of encroachments is taken under the provisions of Public premises (Eviction of Unauthorized Occupants) Act, 1971 as well as the Cantonments Act, 2006. In addition, following steps are being taken for detection and removal of encroachments from defence land;
Reduction in Encroachments
And as per available information, there is a reduction in total defence land encroached by 1427 acres. This represents a reduction of about 12.5% of the total encroached defence land. The largest reduction was observed in Haryana where almost 78% of the encroached land was recovered. More than 100 acres of reduction in encroached land was observed in Assam, Madhya Pradesh & Maharashtra.
Source:  Unstarred Question No. 1011 Answered on 28.11.2014  & Unstarred Question No. 2866 Answered on 13.03.2015  in the Lok Sabha, Ministry of Defence
Featured Image Source:  strategic-affairs


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Indian Money held in Swiss Banks the Lowest Among BRICS Nations
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
July 27, 2016
According to a recent annual report released by the Swiss National Bank, India slipped to 75th position in terms of money held by citizens of various countries in Swiss Banks. India also held the lowest money among the BRICS nations.
The term ‘Black Money’ conjures up images of inaccessible Swiss bank accounts in the Indian imagination. Therefore, data released by the Swiss Central Bank will bring cheer to every Indian. Not only has the amount of money held by Indian citizens in these accounts gone down, India ranks the lowest among the BRICS nations as measured by money stored in these accounts.
India has slipped to No. 75 at the end of 2015 from No. 61 a year before, as per an annual update on Swiss banks released by the Swiss National Bank (the nation’s Central Bank) in July. Further, this ranking is the lowest among the BRICS grouping of nations, of which India is a part.
Brazil was ranked No. 37, Russia had a ranking of 17, and China was in 28 spot while South Africa was at No. 60. Even Pakistan, with an economy which is almost 8 times smaller than India has more money in Swiss banks. Its ranking was 69.
Countries ranked above India include Philippines, Mauritius, Mexico and Indonesia. India was in the top 50 globally between 1996 and 2007, but started improving its rank after that. It was ranked 58 in 2013. The current ranking is its best in the last 2 decades.
Black money has always been an emotive issue with Indians, with every political party promising to bring back money stashed by Indians in offshore tax havens back. It has been an election issue in several elections, including the general election in 2014.
There is no reliable estimate of the quantum of Indian money in foreign tax havens. A submission by the CBI Director to the Supreme Court put the figure at $500 billion.
One reason why reliable estimates don’t exist is because illicit financial flows are shrouded in secrecy, as they move out of the country into international tax havens. Switzerland is just one in a network of more than 70 offshore financial centres around the world.
Even with India’s improved ranking, the BRICS countries rank high in terms of illicit financial flows, an issue that will be discussed in an upcoming consultation in New Delhi where civil society groups like Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability and the Financial Transparency Coalition will debate the issue in the context of the funding needs for development of these nations. The consultation is being organized by civil society groups including Oxfam India and People’s Budget Initiative to try and get civil society views on board the official BRICS summit.
Why are illicit financial flows such an emotive issue?
Consider the amount $682 billion. This is the estimate of illicit financial outflows from India by Global Financial Integrity from 1948-2012. This number is twice India’s external debt of around $350 billion, which means that if this amount were to be hypothetically brought back to India, it could be used to pay down the external debt and there would still be money left over.
Illicit financial flows are the result of tax evasion, corruption and crime. Money is shifted out of the country through means of trade mis-invoicing to a global shadow banking network. Tax evasion in a country like India deprives the government of money to fund essential social services like health and education, especially in a context where the tax to GDP ratio of the country is around 17.3 percent, which is low by BRICS standards. Less than 6 percent of citizens pay income tax.
Illicit flows reduce the money available to the government to finance poverty reduction programmes, social security schemes and build physical and social infrastructure. Reversing this trend would increase the Indian government’s fiscal capacity. It must be cautioned here that an improvement in the ranking of money held in Swiss banks does not mean that the outflow of black money from India has decreased. It just means that Indians are wary about storing it in the tax haven of Switzerland.
A pre-BRICS consultation, which has a session devoted to illicit financial flows, is being organized by civil society groups including Oxfam India, wada na todo abhiyan and peoples’ budget initiative on July 28-29.
Featured Image: Swiss Bank


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Check if your Theatre follows these rules when you go to a Cinema Theatre/Multiplex
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
May 8, 2015
It is important for citizens to know about their rights as well as rules governing various issues. Here is a compilation of some of the important rules to be followed by theatre managements in AP and Telangana. Similar rules exist across different states and readers are encouraged to check their individual state’s cinema regulation rules. Some of these rules are not known to the common public and hence not enforced in many theatres.
It is a known fact that the people of India are avid movie lovers. The number of films made every year and the number of screens across the country is a testimony to this fact. According to the Film Federation of India, there are over 10K screens across the country which is the second largest in the world,only after the US. But not many of the movie goers know about the rules that the theatres have to follow.
The Constitution of India puts cinematography both in the Union List & State List for different purposes. While the Central Government is given the authority to certify films for exhibition (Censor Board), the State Government is given the authority to regulate cinema theatres, norms governing them, admission fee in theatres etc.
While there are similar rules across different states in India, we wanted to highlight some of them from AP & Telangana as a case study. In Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, Cinema Theatres are governed by “The Andhra Pradesh Cinemas (Regulation) Act, 1955 and the Andhra Pradesh Cinemas (Regulation) Rules, 1970” and their subsequent amendments. (These acts are also valid for Telangana now). Below are some of the rules movie goers should be aware of.
Seating & Conditions
Noise Levels
At no point of time during the show, the maximum noise level inside the auditorium of the cinema theater shall exceed the following maximum.
Toilet & Water
Show Timings & Show Rules
Acts & Laws to be followed by Theatres
Safety Related
We could demand the theatres to enforce some of these rules if they are not already doing it.
Where should be the complaint be lodged?
In districts, the concerned licensing authority is the District Collector and hence a complaint can be made to the collector in case of a violation. In cities like Hyderabad, Vijayawada, Warangal where there is a  Police Commissionerate, the licensing authority is the Police Commissioner, hence a complaint has to be filed with the police.
Sources:
Featured Image Source: Tarun Mitra at English Wikipedia [GFDL or CC BY 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons


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Indian Nationals accounted for more than 50% of H-1B visas in the last 20 years
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
June 9, 2017
In the last 20 years, Indian nationals accounted for more than 50% of all H-1B visas issued by the US, while all other countries put together had less than 50%. In all other major visa types, China leads all other countries including India.
It was always expected that Indian Nationals who apply for a H-1B visa will be the hardest hit with Donald Trump becoming the President of the United States of America (POTUS). His decisions on H-1B visa norms are a huge concern for India as Indian nationals accounted for more than 50% of all H-1B visas in the last 20 years and more than 70% in 2016. In other types of visas, it is Chinese nationals who lead the way.
H-1B visas to Indian nationals almost 6 times compared to Chinese
As expected, Indian nationals lead other countries by a long way in H-1B visas. In the last 20 years, 26.5 lakh H-1B visas were issued out of which 14.09 lakh went to Indian nationals. This is a whopping 53.2% of all H-1B visas. Indian nationals alone have got more H-1B visas than all the other countries put together in the last 20 years. The share of Indian nationals has only increased with time. From 39.3% in 1997, the share has now reached 70.4% in 2016. In 2016, Indians accounted for 1.26 lakh of the 1.8 lakh H-1B visas on offer. On the other hand, a country like China has accounted for around 12% of all the H-1B visas in 2016. In the last 20 years, Chinese nationals accounted for 7.5% of all H-1B visas which is less than 1/7th the number of H-1B visas to Indian nationals during the same period. It has to be noted that H-1B visas typically account for only about 2% of all visas issued by USA every year.
Chinese lead in all other major visa types
Except for H-1B, the Chinese lead in all other major visa types. In case of F-1 or student visas, Chinese nationals accounted for 31.4% compared to 13.3% to Indian nationals in 2016. In the last 20 years, Chinese accounted for a quarter of all the F-1 visas while Indians accounted for 8.5% or 1/3rd of the Chinese. It is interesting to note that both India & China started with around 5% of all F-1 visas in 1997. During those years, Japanese and Koreans accounted for most of the F-1 visas. Over time, both Indians & Chinese increased their share. But after 2008, the Chinese really took off. From a 16.5% share in 2008, their share increased to 42.6% in 2015. F-1 visas to Chinese saw a significant decline in 2016.  The share of Indians on the other hand increased only marginally from 10.6% in 2008 to 13.3% in 2016. F-1 visas typically account for about 5% of all the visas issued by USA.
Even in the case of B-1,2 visas, Chinese lead the Indians by a long way. In the last 20 years, Chinese nationals accounted for 14% of all B-1,2 visas compared to 7% for Indian nationals. Same as in the case of F-1 visas, both China & India accounted for about 4% of all the B-1,2 visas in 1997. But after 2008, the share of Chinese increased significantly from about 9% in 2008 to 29% in 2016. India’s share on the other hand decreased from 9.2% in 2008 to 8.2% in 2016. B-1,2 visas account for more than 60% of all the visas issued by USA every year.
Even in terms of the total number of visas issued by USA, Chinese nationals accounted for 21.8% in 2016 compared to 9.4% share of Indian nationals.
Featured Image: H-1B visas in USA


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More than a Lakh Newspapers & Periodicals are registered in the country
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
May 28, 2015
As per the latest data available with Government, more than lakh newspapers/periodicals are registered with many of them existing only on paper. The largest number of such registrations is in Uttar Pradesh and in the Hindi language. Despite this, thousands of applications are received every year for fresh registrations. This could be to take advantage of the advertisement policy of the Government.
The Hindu revealed that a large number of registered newspapers/periodicals only exist on paper and that advertisements worth crores of rupees are given to these newspapers. This is only the tip of the iceberg. Most such newspapers are empanelled with the State Governments and a few of them with the Government of India.
Number of Newspapers
As per the data available with the Government, a total of 1,05,443 newspapers/periodicals are registered with the Registrar of Newspapers for India (RNI) as on 31 March, 2015. Uttar Pradesh tops the list with more than 16000 registrations followed by Maharashtra with more than 14000. Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh & Rajasthan follow in that order. Ten states have more than 5000 registered Newspapers/periodicals. Eighteen (18) States/UTs have less than 1000 registrations each.
Language of Newspapers
As expected, most number are registered in Hindi (42493) followed by English (13661), Marathi (7818), Gujarati (4836) and Urdu (4770). Newspapers are registered in a total of 23 different languages.  The lowest number are registered in Dogri Language (2), followed by Kashmiri (5) and Bodo (5).
Growth of Newspapers
Despite such a large number of newspapers, the request for fresh registrations is increasing every year. Some of the requests for registration are rejected under Section 6 of The Press & Registration of Books Act, 1867 (PRB Act) on the grounds of same as or similar to that of any existing newspaper published either in the same language or in the same State. The number of requests for such fresh newspapers rose by more than 80% from 2012-13 to 2014-15. The number of rejections is more or less than the same in the last three years.
Why are there so many?
There is a great need for newspapers & periodicals of different hues/subjects especially at a time when media houses are also taking sides. But the problem like ‘The Hindu’ pointed out is that quite a few of them exist only on paper and they exist to take advantage of the government policy to encourage small & medium newspapers by reserving a certain percentage of government advertisements to such publications.
As on date, a total of 7762 publications are empanelled with Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity (DAVP), Government of India. Many more such publications are empanelled with the Information & Public Relations (I & PR) department of various State Governments. For instance, more than 200 such small publications are empanelled with the Government of Andhra Pradesh.
Is there a cause for concern?
As per the annual report (2013-14) of ‘The Registrar of Newspapers for India’, less than 20% of the registered publications filed their annual statements as required under Section 19(D) of the Press and Registration of Books Act, 1867. This is great cause for concern. Like many NGOs who violate FCRA norms, there is a need for stringent regulation of these publications, especially those empanelled with various agencies of the State & Central Government and are receiving advertisements from the respective governments.
Source:
Featured Image: By Shajankumar (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons


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'Indian Oil - Adani Gas Private Limited (IOAGPL)' is a joint venture incorporated in 2013 - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
February 17, 2021
A photo of a fuel station with the name ‘Indian Oil – Adani Gas’ is being shared on social media claiming that the BJP Government sold the Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) to Adani Group of Industries. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: BJP Government sold Indian Oil Corporation to Adani Group of Industries.
Fact: ‘Indian Oil – Adani Gas Private Limited (IOAGPL)’ is a joint venture company of Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL). This organisation was incorporated on 04 October 2013, during the time of the Congress Government. IOCL is part of multiple joint ventures with many other private organisations including Adani Gas limited. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
On searching the Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) website for the claim made in the post, it is found that IOCL is working on a Joint Venture with Adani Gas Limited. IOCL is part of multiple Joint ventures with several other private companies like Lubrizol India Private Limited and ICICI Bank Limited etc.
When we searched for more details on this Joint venture, we found out that ‘Indian Oil-Adani Gas Private Limited (IOAGPL)’ was incorporated on 04 October 2013, during the time of the Congress Government.
This Joint venture between Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) and Adani Gas Limited (AGL) is to engage in the business of carrying out City gas distribution. Adani Gas Limited entered into the strategic 50-50 Joint venture partnership with Indian Oil Corporation in 2013. According to the 2019-20 balance sheet, 50-50 equity share was distributed between the IOCL and Adani Gas Limited.
In Union Budget 2021, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has not made any statement about the disinvestment in Indian Oil Corporation Limited.
To sum it up, Indian Oil-Adani Gas Private Limited is a strategic 50-50 joint venture incorporated in 2013 during the time of the Congress Government.

created: February 17, 2021


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Indian Olympics Shooting
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
August 24, 2016
We look at the Indian Shooting contingent’s performance in 2012 & 2016