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The number of Fire Accidents in the country reduced over time
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
January 30, 2021
The fire accident at Serum Institute of India caught the media & public attention as SII is playing a significant role in the manufacture of COVID-19 vaccines. Data available with the NCRB indicates that the number of fire accidents in the country reduced by over 40% between 2015 & 2019. The number of deaths per year is still above 10,000
Recently, there was a fire accident in Serum Institute of India’s (SII) facility in Pune which claimed 5 lives. With SII being the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer & a key manufacturer of the COVID-19 vaccine, the mishap has caught media and public interest.
The building which caught fire is claimed to be under construction. The CEO of SII stated that this fire accident would not have any impact on COVID-19 Vaccine production.
There has been another incident of a fire accident reported this month in a hospital in Maharashtra that claimed the lives of several infants. A few months ago, a fire break-out in the Srisailam Hydro Electric Power plant in Telangana claiming 9 lives.  Time and again, there have been various incidents of fire accidents reported across the country and in varied settings.
In this story, we take a look at the numbers relating to the fire accidents in the country and analyse the trends. We have relied on the data provided in Accidental Deaths & Suicides in India (ADSI) reports published by National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).
Number of Fire Accidents & Loss of life show a declining trend over the years
As per the ADSI-2019 report, there were 11,037 fire accidents reported across the country in 2019. The number of such reported fire accidents fell by around 16% compared to 2018. The decline was more steeped compared to the year earlier, which was around 2%.
The data over the five-year period (2015-2019) indicates a steady year-on-year decline in the number of fire accidents reported in the country. Correspondingly, there is a decline in the number of accidental deaths due to such accidents. In 2015, there were 17,700 deaths due to fire accidents which fell consistently every year and 2019 reported only 10,915 deaths caused due to fire accidents i.e., a decline of 38% of the five-year period.
The number of persons injured in fire accidents also more than halved with 441 injured persons in 2019 compared to 1193 in 2015. However, the least number of injured persons due to fire accidents during this period was in 2017.
While the decline in the number of accidents due to fire along with deaths and injuries is promising, the significantly higher proportion of deaths compared to injuries is alarming. This higher mortality could indicate challenges with medical & emergency services in dealing with such mishaps, which could have helped reduce the death toll. There could also be other factors such as the severity & nature of the fire accidents for higher mortality.
Fire accidents in Residential Buildings form the major portion such accidents
The decline in the overall number of fire accidents over the five-year period is evident across the various places of occurrence, as per the information provided in ADSI reports.
The ADSI report categories the fire accidents by place of occurrence under 9 specific heads with the rest being recorded under “Others”. In each of these categories (barring School & Government buildings that have a lower number of fire accidents), there is a declining trend in the number of fire accidents reported.
In 2019, out of the 11,037 Fire Accidents, a total of 6,364 accidents i.e., around 57% occurred in Residential Buildings. While the number of incidents in the residential buildings has come down over the period of time, their proportion in the overall fire accidents has seen a steady increase year-on-year.
Over the five-year period, the proportion of fire accidents in Residential buildings out of total fire accidents increased from around 40% in 2015 to 57.6% in 2019. This increase in the proportion of accidents in Residential buildings coincides with a comparative decline in the proportion of fire accidents that have reported “Other” as a place of occurrence. The proportion of fire accidents in “Other” places fell from 47.5% in 2015 to 34.3% in 2019.
The trends observed for the number of people who have died and injured due to fire accidents in a place are similar to that of the number of incidents that occur by place.
Electrical Short Circuit & Cylinder/Stove burst are the major causes for fire accidents
In 2019, out of the 11,037 fire accidents that were reported, the cause for more than half of them (59.8%) i.e. 6,609 is recorded under “Other”. This higher proportion of accidents recorded as due to “Other” causes is also observed in the earlier years. Although the proportion of accidents recorded as due to “Other” causes has come down from a high of 67.5% in 2015, it is still very high.
For the incidents where the cause has been specified in the ADSI report, the highest number of fire accidents over the years is due to “Cooking Gas Cylinder/ Stove Burst”. In 2019, fire accidents due to “Electrical Short Circuit” is marginally higher than the accidents relating to Cylinder/Stove burst. Both these causes account for a significantly higher number of accidents compared to the other causes like “Fireworks” & “Riots/Agitation”.
While the number of fire accidents attributed to these two major causes has fallen over the years, the proportion in the overall fire accidents has displayed varying trends. The share of accidents due to “Cooking Gas cylinder/Stove burst” has displayed a fluctuating trend, while that of “Electrical Short Circuit” has consistently increased YoY.
While the “Cooking Gas/Stove burst” related incidents can be correlated with the higher number of accidents in Residential Buildings, it could also be said that the majority of fire accidents due to Electrical Short circuit have occurred in residential buildings.
However, the higher proportion of accidents being attributed to “Others” as a cause creates a lot of scope for ambiguity regarding the cause of fire accidents.
Significant fall in the number of Fire Accidents reported in Maharashtra
In 2015, the number of fire accidents reported in Maharashtra was 4,087 and constituted around 22% of the total accidents reported in the country. Over the ensuing years, the number of accidents reported in Maharashtra has consistently declined. Apart from this, even the proportion of accidents reported in Maharashtra out of the total in India has also seen a declining trend with only 13% of the accidents in 2019 reported from Maharashtra.
The number of fire accidents being reported in most of the other States with a high number of accidents has also declined. Even in the case of Madhya Pradesh which has taken over Maharashtra’s position as the state with the highest number of fire accidents, the number has decreased in 2019.
While few states have seen fluctuating trends, Gujarat & Rajasthan have reported a consistent declining trend. On the contrary, Odisha & West Bengal have reported an increase in the number of accidents during 2015-19. In the case of Odisha, the number of accidents increased from 468 to 970 and their proportion in the overall cases increased from 2.5% to 8.8%
There is a need to improve Fire Safety standards in Residential places
The fall in the overall number of fire accidents is a positive sign. However, it has to be noted that the data provided in the ADSI report is a collation of the inputs provided by respective states.
Responding to a question in the Lok Sabha, the Central Government highlighted that “Fire Services” is a State subject and the primary responsibility lies with the State Governments to take the necessary steps required for the safety of life and property from fire hazards in both residential and commercial buildings.
However, it does refer to the National Building Code, 2016 published by the Bureau of Indian Standards as well as the guidelines issued by the National Disaster Management Authority in 2012 for standardization & Revamping of Fire services in the country.
The declining numbers observed in most of the states are an encouraging sign of the efforts put in by the respective states. This improvement is more noticeable in the case of commercial buildings, wherein the number of reported accidents halved over the five-year period (2015-19), so is the case with the Factories that manufacture Combustible products. However, this improving trend seen in the commercial space is not visible for residential buildings.
The significantly higher number of incidents caused due to electrical short circuits are avoidable provided the regulations are in place and strictly implemented. The higher deaths due to “Gas Cylinder/stove burst” can be attributed to the challenges in ensuring fire-safety measures. Numbers also indicate that the number of women victims is comparatively higher, further highlighting the risk at residential places and their exposure to the same.
As pointed out earlier in the story, the high mortality in fire accidents also raises apprehensions on the timely availability of medical emergency services. Citing Global Diseases Burden report published in the BMJ Injury Prevention Journal, a news report claims that India recorded around 27 thousand of the 1.2 lakh deaths reported globally in 2017 due to fire accidents. This is a staggering 22.5% of the global total. As per this report, India accounts for 17% of the Global fire accidents. Though the numbers are declining over the years in India, there is a need to step up efforts to ensure the regulations are scrupulously followed.
Featured Image: Fire Accidents in India

created: January 30, 2021


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Number of Indian Students in the US grows at 5.4% in 2017-18, lowest growth in 5 years
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
November 14, 2018
The number of Indian students in the US touched an all-time high of 196,271 in 2017-18. But the growth in the number of Indian students in the US hit a 5-year low of 5.4% in 2017-18. Indian Students contributed $7.5 billion to the U.S. economy in 2017, more than twice the amount of Indian Government’s budgetary support to all autonomous institutions in the country.
The 2018 Open Doors Report on International Educational Exchange revealed that the number of international students at U.S. Colleges and Universities remained at more than a million even in 2017-18. But the annual growth rate of international students in the US was only 1.5% in 2017-18, the lowest  in eight years. The number of international students was at 1,094,792 in 2017-18 as opposed to 1,078,822 in 2016-17. The number of Indian Students in the US grew by only about 5.4% in 2017-18, the lowest growth rate in 5 years. This slowdown was expected following the uncertainty in the VISA regime and Donald Trump becoming the President.
Asian students in the US now at 69%
As per the Open Doors report, out of the million plus international students in 2017-18, 69.2% are from Asia (more than 50% from China & India alone), 8.5% from Europe, 7.3% from the Latin America, 8.3% from Middle East & North Africa. A mere 3.6% are from the Sub-Saharan Africa. The percentage of Asians has increased continuously in the last three years. At the same time, the percentage of students from Muslim majority Middle-Eastern & North African countries has decreased continuously in the last three years, clearly indicating the impact of the policies of Donald Trump.
China & India account for more than half the International students in the US
As expected, the two most populous countries of the world account for more than half of the international students in the US in 2017-18. China leads the pack with 363,341 students followed by India with 196,271 students. South Korea is third in the list followed by Saudi Arabia and Canada. Seven of the top ten countries are Asian. There are more than 10000 international students each from sixteen (17) different countries in 2017-18.
Number of Indian Students in the US increases, but growth falls to a five year low
The number of Indian students in the US has increased by more five times, from 33,818 in 1997-98 to 196,271 in 2017-18, in a period of about 20 years. They currently make up 17.9% of all international students in the USA, up from 15.8% in 2015-16. The number of Indian students in the US has increased in every year except in 2005-06 and in the period between 2010-11 and 2012-13 when there was a negative growth. The highest growth rate of 29.4% was observed in 2014-15. The growth in the number of Indian students in 2017-18 was 5.4%, the lowest in 5 years.
Field of Study – Engineering is still the favourite for Indian Students
True to its name as a land of engineering graduates, more than 70% of the Indian students in the US chose Engineering/Computer Science/Math (STEM) as their field of study as against a global average of 38%. Only about 10% chose Business & Management as their field of study compared to a global average of 18%. Except for engineering & computer science, the percentage of Indian students who chose a specific field of study is less than the global average for all other fields.  For instance, while 7.6% of the international students chose Social Sciences, only 2.2% of the Indian students chose Social Sciences as their field of study.
Indian Students contributed $7.52 billion to the US Economy in 2017
According to the Open Doors report, Indian students in US contributed  $7.52 billion to the U.S. economy in 2017. This is more than twice the amount of Indian Government’s budgetary support to all autonomous institutions in the country in 2018-19 including the IITs, IIMs, NITs, Central Universities etc. The international student community on the other hand contributed $42.4 billion to the U.S. economy in 2017.
Most Indian Students go to the US for Masters
48.7% of the Indian students in the USA are at the Graduate (Masters) level in 2017-18, down from 56.3% in 2016-17 and from 64% in 2014-15, clearly indicating the impact of the decrease in F-1 visas in the last few years. 11.9% of the Indian students are at the Under-Graduate level. More than 38% of them are in OPT (Optional Practical Training) compared to just 22.1% in 2014-15.
Texas, California & New York still the favourites for Indian students
Texas, New York & California in that order were the top three destinations for Indian students in the US in 2017-18. Texas had 21171 Indian students while California & New York both had more than 20000 Indian students each. Illinois & Massachusetts were the only other states with more than 10000 students each. The top 10 states with Indian students accounted for 63% of all Indian students in the US.  It must be noted that Texas was the not the top destination for all international students. It was the 3rd most preferred destination for international students and 1st for Indian Students. The most preferred destination for International students was California followed by New York.
Primary Source of Funding for International Students
For more than 58% of the international students in the US in 2017-18, the primary source of funding was their family.  The current employment funded the studies of more than 18% students, up from 6.6% in 2015-16. This indicates that the proportion of those with work experience going to the US for higher studies has gone up substantially in the last few years. About 16% were funded by a US College or University while 5.2% were funded by a Foreign Government or University.

source: news-factly

created: November 14, 2018

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

author: Sai Krishna Muthyanolla


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Indian Students in the USA at an all time high, second only to China - Factly
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
November 18, 2015
The number of Indian students in the USA has always been on the higher side and the latest Open Doors report of 2015 confirms the same. Indian students in the USA are at an all time high of 132888, second only to China.  2014-15 has also seen the highest growth rate of Indian Students in the USA in the last 18 years.
The 2015 Open Doors Report on International Educational Exchange revealed that the number of international students at U.S. colleges and universities had the highest rate of growth in 35 years, increasing by ten percent to a record high of 974,926 students in the 2014-15 academic year. The number of Indian Students grew by close to 30% to an all time high of 1,32,888 in the same period. This is second only to China.
Number of International Students in the USA by origin
As per the Open Doors report, out of the close to a million international students, 65% are from Asia (44% from China & India alone), 9.3% are from Europe, 8.9% are from the Latin America, 10.6% are from Middle East & North Africa. A mere 3.4% are from the Sub-Saharan Africa.
Top 10 countries of Origin of International Students
As expected, the two most populous countries of the world contribute close to 44% of the total international students in the US. China leads the pack with 304040 students followed by India with 132888 students. South Korea is third with more than 63000 students followed by Saudi Arabia with close to 60000 students. Six of the top 10 countries are from Asia.
Indian Students in the USA
The number of Indian students in the USA has grown four times from 33818 in 1997-98 to 132888 in 2014-15.The number has grown four times in the 18 year period. They currently make up 13.6% of all international students in the USA. The number of Indian students has seen a consistent growth except for 2005-06 and the period from 2010-11 to 2012-13 when there was a negative growth. The highest growth rate of 29.4% was observed in 2014-15.
The number of students from USA in India also saw a growth from 684 in 1997-98 to 4583 in 2013-14, more than a six fold jump.
Field of Study
True to its name as a land of engineering graduates, almost 70% of the Indian students in the US chose Engineering & Computer Science as their field of study. About 11% chose Business & Management as their field of study. About 8% chose Physical & Life Sciences. Except in engineering & computer science, the percentage of Indian students in other fields of study is either close to or below the global average.
Academic Level & Economic Impact
Almost 65% of the Indian students in the USA are at the graduate level. 12.4% of them are at the under graduate level, while 22.1% of them are OPT (Optional Practical Training). 1.4% of them at the other level.
According to the Open Doors report, Indian students in U.S. colleges and universities contributed $3.6 billion to the U.S. economy. The international student community on the other hand contributed $30.5 billion to the U.S. economy.
Choice of States
The top destination for Indian students was Texas with 17763 students followed by New York with 15053 students. California, Illinois & Massachusetts make up the top five. It must be noted that Texas was the not the top destination for all international students. It was the 3 most preferred destination for international students while the most preferred destination was California followed by New York.
Primary Source of Funding for International Students
For close to 2/3 of the international students in the USA, the primary source of funding is their family. About 21% are funded by the US universities either through scholarships or waivers. 7.7% are funded by foreign governments or universities while 5% are funded by their current employment. Only 1% is funded by a foreign private sponsor.

created: November 18, 2015


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Number of Indian Students in the USA crosses 2 lakh in 2018-19
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
January 3, 2020
USA still remains the most popular destination for Indian students. The number of Indian students in USA crossed 2 lakh for the first time in 2018-19. Texas, New York & California remain the most preferred states for Indian students while more than 70% of them opted for STEM courses. Here is a detailed data story.
The Open
Doors Report on International Education Exchange is an annual report which gives comprehensive information and data on theinternational students studying in the United States (USA). The 2019 report wasreleased in November 2019. The number of international
students in the US was the highest this yeari.e. 2018-19.
This was thefourth year in a row where the number of international students in the USA wasmore than a million. However, the percentage increase in the total number ofinternational students was the lowest in the since 2010, with a growth of just 0.05%in 2018-19 compared to 2017-18.  Therewere 1,095,299 international students in US in 2018-19 as compared to 1,094,792in 2017-18,  a difference of 507students. The number of international students had increased by more than15,000 in 2017-18 resulting in a growth rate of 1.5%.
Asians account for more than 70% of the International students in the US
About 70.1% of the international students in the US are from Asian countries as per the latest report for 2018-19. Students from European countries comprised 8.3% whereas students from Latin America and Caribbean countries and from the Middle East and North Africa constitute 7.4% each. Sub- Saharan African students account for 3.7% of the total. North American students continue to constitute 2.4% of the total international students in the USA.
The share of international students from Asian and Sub- Saharan African countries have witnessed a gradual increase over the last 4 years. Meanwhile, the share of students from Europe and the Middle East & North African countries has witnessed a gradual decline over the same period.
India and China together account for 52% of the students
Students from two of the world’s most populous countries of China and India alone made up for more than 52% of the total number of international students. While China accounts for the maximum number of students with 369,548 students in USA, India accounts for the second-highest number of students with 202,014. In addition to India and China, there are 13 more countries which have more than 10,000 students each in USA in 2018-19.
The top tencountries alone make up for almost 72% of the international students in the USAin 2018-19.
In 2018-19, the number of Indian students in the USA crossed 2 lakh
In 2018-19,  it is observed that the percentage growth in the number of students from India is only 2.9%. This is the lowest such growth in five years. The three academic years between 2010 and 2013 witnessed negative growth. However, in 2014-15, the growth was almost 25%. Despite the lower growth in 2018-19, the number of Indian students in the USA crossed 2 lakh for the first time in 2018-19. Over the span of ten years from 2008-09 to 2018-19, the number of Indian students has almost doubled.
STEM courses continue to be the most in-demand in the USA
In terms of the field of study for which students go to the USA, more than 21% of the international students went to USA for Engineering courses and another 18.6% for Mathematics and Computer Science related courses. A total of 51.6% of the students had opted for STEM courses. Students who had opted for Business and Management courses accounted for 16.6%.
7 out of 10 Indian students are pursuing STEM courses in the US
In the case of Indian students, more than 70% of them had chosen STEM courses. STEM courses include Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science courses.  37% of Indian students have taken Mathematics and Computer Science courses and 34.2% have chosen Engineering as compared to 37.5% in 2014-15. There is a gradual decline in the percentage of Indian students going to the USA for Engineering related courses.
Percentage of Indian students opting other courses is
less than global average
In the case of other courses, the percentage share of Indian students who opted for a specific course is less than the global average. This includes fine and applied arts, humanities, business and management and social sciences among others. 10.3% Indians chose Business and Management courses while the global average was 16.6%.
Indian students alone accounted to 18% of total contribution to the US economy due to International students
According to the Open Doors Report, International Students contributed $44.7 Billion to the USA economy in 2018, 5.5% more than the previous year. Indian students in the US alone contributed $8.14 Billion in 2018-19. This is 18.2% of the total contribution of International Students.
Majority of the Indian students were in the USA for graduate-level education
44.7% of theIndian students, more than 90,000 of them in USA in 2018-19 are at the graduatelevel (masters’). Since 2014-15, it can be observed that the percentage shareof students going for masters’ is reducing while those in OPT has increased. OPTrefers to Optional Practical Training which is a temporary employmentcomplementing their education. Those who undergo the training are alsoconsidered students since they are under the visa sponsorship of theuniversity/college even if they may have completed their course. As of 2018-19,41.9% of Indian students were in OPT.
Indian students continue to prefer Texas, New York and
California
While New York hosted 1.6 lakh, International Students, in 2018-19, the highest among states, it was the second most preferred state for Indian students. Texas continues to be the most preferred state for Indian students with more than 21,000 students choosing universities in Texas. New York also hosted more than 20,000 Indian students in 2018-19. California, Illinois and Massachusetts were the third, fourth and fifth preferred states for Indians, respectively. Only these three states had more than 10000 Indian students each in 2018-19.
The top 10 preferredstates for Indian students accounted for almost 61% of all Indian students inUSA.
The primary sourceof funding for 57% of the international students was personal or family. 16.8%of the students were funded by US college or university. 20.6% were funded bytheir current employment. Further 4.3% were funded by foreign government oruniversity. Only 0.7% students were funded by a foreign private sponsor.

created: January 3, 2020


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Number of Mobile Subscribers crosses the 100 Crore mark - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
March 29, 2016
The number of mobile subscribers in the country crossed the 100 crore mark in late 2015. 57.27% of all the mobile subscribers are urban while the rest are rural. The overall tele-density stood at 82.3. The urban tele-density was three times the rural tele-density.
The latest telecom subscription data released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) puts the number of wireless telephone (mobile) subscribers at 101.79 crore as on 31 January, 2016. The number of wireline subscribers was at 2.53 crore. The number of mobile subscribers crossed the 100 crore mark towards the end of 2015.
57.2% of the mobile subscribers are Urban
As per the latest data, 57.27% of the mobile subscribers are urban while the rest of the 42.73% are rural. This breakup is very different in the wireline subscribers. 82.56% of the wireline subscribers are urban while only 17.44% are rural.
Urban Tele-density more than 3 times the rural Tele-density
Tele-density is number of telephone connections for every hundred individuals. The overall tele-density in the country stood at 82.3. The tele-density of mobile connections in the urban areas is 147.72 while it stands at 49.83 for rural areas. The urban tele-density in wireline connections is 10 times the rural tele-density. Overall, the urban tele-density is 153.02 which is three times the rural tele-density of 50.33
Highest Tele-density in Delhi & Lowest in Bihar
Within the bigger states, Delhi has the highest tele-density at 240.64 while Bihar has the lowest tele-density at 52.66. The tele-density of Bihar, Assam, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, North East, West Bengal and Jammu & Kashmir is less than the national average of 82.3. On the other hand, the tele-density of Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Karnataka, Kerala, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan is more than the national average.
Private Service providers command a market share of 91.45% in Mobile subscriptions
As on 31st January, 2016, the private service providers commanded a market share of 91.45% in the mobile subscriber base whereas the public service undertakings of BSNL and MTNL had a market share of only 8.55%. Of all the players, Bharti Airtel commanded the highest market share of 24.15% followed by Vodafone with 19.13% market share. Idea was third with a market share of 17.01%, followed by Reliance with a market share of 9.94%. Aircel was fifth with a market share of 8.45% while the government owned BSNL was sixth with a market share of only 8.2%.
Broadband subscribers at 14 Crore
TRAI defines broadband as a speed of more than 512 kbps. The number of wired broadband subscribers was 1.663 crore while the ones who use broadband with phones & dongles was 12.29 crore. The top five service providers command a market share of 83.25% in broadband. The state owned BSNL has a better market share in broadband subscribers (about 14.3%).
Featured Image: By Neil Palmer (CIAT)


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Number of OCI Cards issued from 2005 - 15 Top 10 Embassies - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
April 22, 2016
Between 2005 and 2015, more than 19.3 lakh OCI cards were issued by Indian Embassies across the world. Out of these, the top 10 embassies account for more than 71% of the OCI cards issued.


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Number of Political Parties in India growing Faster than the Economy
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
March 17, 2015
While India is being touted as one of the fastest growing economies in the world, there is something else that is growing faster than the Indian Economy; at least in the last 5 years. Number of Political Parties in India has been growing at a rapid pace without any sign of a slowdown. We will look at the various facets of Political Parties in this article.
Political Party Registration
Section 29A of the Representation of People’s Act, 1951 defines the registration of a political party.  Any association or body of individual citizens of India can register as a political party with the Election Commission of India (ECI) by following the guidelines laid down for this purpose.
The benefits of registering a political party are many. The candidates set up by a political party registered with the ECI will get preference in the matter of allotment of free symbols compared to purely independent candidates. Further, registered political parties, in course of time, can get recognition as `State Party’ or National Party’ provided they fulfill the required conditions.
When does a Registered Party become a Recognized Party?
There are two types of recognitions, a State Party & a National party. To put it simply, a registered party becomes a State Party when it fulfills one of the conditions below,
The detailed conditions can be seen here. The above conditions are to be fulfilled during a general election and not during a by-election.
A State Party becomes a National Party when it repeats the same feat in 4 or more states. One needs to remember that the recognition is not forever. The parties should continue to fulfill the conditions mentioned above to be able to hold their recognition. The major advantage of becoming a recognized party is getting a reserved symbol which plays a major role in elections.
Let’s take an example. If a state has about 90 Assembly Seats & has 25 Lok Sabha seats, then a registered party has to win a minimum of 3 assembly seats or 1 Lok Sabha seat to become a State party.
What about the Numbers?
As can be seen from the table below, the number of registered unrecognized political parties is growing every year. While the number stood at 1094 in 2009-10, it is at 1643 in 2013-14. This marks a more than 50% increase in the number of registered political parties.
How many of them actually contest elections?
It is interesting to note that not even a third of these parties participated in the Lok Sabha Elections. While only 363 parties contested in 2009, 464 parties contested in 2014. This makes a paltry 31% in 2009 and a much lesser 27% in 2014.
Then why do people register a political party if they do not contest elections? That is a million dollar question.
In the next article, we will look at the status of submission of reports by these political parties to the ECI.
Date Source: Election Commission of India Website


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Number of Political parties increased twofold in the last 10 years, crosses the 2000 mark
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
December 7, 2018
Data from the ECI indicates that the registration of political parties increases disproportionately during election years. The total number of political parties has increased twofold between 2010 & 2018, and has now crossed the 2000 mark.
[orc]
While India is being touted as one of the fastest growing economies in the world, there is something else that is keeping pace with the Indian Economy; at least in the last 10 years. Number of Political Parties in India has been growing at a rapid pace without any sign of a slowdown. Between 2010 & 2018, the total number of political parties in India has increased twofold and has now crossed the 2000 mark as per the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) latest data.
Political Party Registration
Section 29A of the Representation of People’s Act, 1951 defines the process for the registration of a political party.  Any association or body of individual citizens of India can register as a political party with the Election Commission of India (ECI) by following the guidelines laid down for this purpose.
The benefits of registering a political party are many. The candidates set up by a political party, registered with the ECI will get preference in the matter of allotment of free symbols compared to purely independent candidates. Further, registered political parties, in course of time, can get recognition as `State Party’ or National Party’ provided they fulfill the required conditions.
When does a Registered Party become a Recognized Party?
A registered political party is accorded the status of a recognized state or national party as per the criteria listed in ‘The Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968’. This order was amended from time to time.
For any political party to be eligible for recognition as a State Party in a particular state, it has to satisfy any of the five conditions listed below.
In brief, the five conditions are:
Recognition as a National Party
For any political party to be eligible for recognition as a National Party, it has to satisfy any of the three conditions listed below.
In brief, the three conditions are:
Trinamool Congress is the last such party to have been recognized as a National Party as it has satisfied the eligibility criteria for a State Party in the four states of West Bengal, Tripura, Manipur & Arunachal Pradesh.
Though some of the other six national parties did not perform as well in the recently held elections, their national party status is intact following an amendment made to the allotment rules recently. Their status will now be reviewed only after the next general election.
Advantages of being recognized as a State or National Party
The biggest advantage of being recognized is getting the reserved symbol. A party recognized as a state party gets a reserved symbol within the state.  All the candidates contesting from that party will get the same symbol throughout the state. For National Parties, the reserved symbol can be used across the country by its contesting candidates. This is one the biggest advantages since symbol plays a very important role in elections.
There are also other advantages for the recognized parties like subsidized land for party offices, free air time on Doordarshan & All India Radio, supply of electoral roll copies free of cost during elections etc.
What about the number of Recognized Political parties?
As per the symbol orders issued by the ECI in respective years, the number of recognized parties has remained more or less the same since 2010. The number of recognized national parties is now seven (7) after the inclusion of Trinamool Congress in late 2016. The number of recognized state parties is 59 as per the the latest order of the ECI. This number has not changed substantially over the last nine years. The states of Telangana, Kerala, Jharkhand, Puducherry & Bihar each have four recognized state parties. Some of these parties are recognized as state parties in more than one state.
What about the number of Registered Unrecognized Political parties?
Unlike the number of recognized parties, the number of registered unrecognized political parties has increased two fold between 2010 and 2018. From 1094 in 2010, the number has reached 2095 as per the latest order of the ECI. It is interesting to note that the number of such parties increases disproportionately during a major election year.The number increased by over 17% between 2013 & 2014. And now between 2017 & 2018, it has already increased by over 11%.
How many of them actually contest elections?
Data indicates that not even a third of these parties participated in the Lok Sabha Elections. While only 363 parties contested in 2009, 464 parties contested in 2014. This makes a paltry 31% in 2009 and a much lesser 27% in 2014. It looks like political parties are registered to take advantage of the tax benefits than to contest elections.

created: December 7, 2018


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Number of State Bank ATMs in Telangana down by more than 40% between March & June 2017
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
October 21, 2017
The number of ATMs in all the states has increased from June 2014 till date. UP & Bihar are at the bottom when it comes to number of ATMs per lakh people.
Factly had earlier reported that the number of ATMs in rural areas as of June 2017 was less than the number in September 2016. Data further indicates that the number of ATMs in some states has increased while in other states has decreased compared to 2016 numbers. Telangana appears to be the biggest casualty as the number of ATMs reduced by more than 10% in the three-month period between March & June 2017, most of them belong to the State Bank group.
In the North – ATMs in Uttar Pradesh increase by 70% in 3 years
As of June 2017, the total number of ATMs in the seven northern states crossed the 50000 mark with Uttar Pradesh accounting for 19960 ATMs followed by 9331 in Delhi and 7554 in Punjab. Haryana was the only other state with more than 5000 ATMs. Himachal Pradesh had the lowest number of ATMs of all the states. The number of ATMs increased in all these states during the 3-year period from June 2014 to June 2017.
In the East – Number of ATMs increase in all states in 3 years
The number of ATMs of all the 4 eastern states increased in the 3 years between June 2014 and June 2017. West Bengal had the most number of ATMs among all the four eastern states as of June 2017 and the state recorded a more than 25% increase in the number of ATMs between June 2014 and June 2017. Bihar on the other hand recorded more than 50% increase during the same period. But the number of ATMs in Bihar went down slightly from 8094 in March 2017 to 7944 in June 2017. Jharkhand also recorded a slight reduction in the number of ATMs during the 3-month period.
In the West & Central  – Maharashtra zooms ahead
Maharashtra had the most number of ATMs in the country with 25835 ATMs as of June 2017. Maharashtra & Tamil Nadu are the only two states in the country with more than 20000 ATMs each. Each of these two states account for more than 10% of all the ATMs in the country. All the other western states recorded a steady increase in the number of ATMs. Gujarat had more than 11000 ATMs as of June 2017 while Madhya Pradesh just crossed 10000 ATMs. Rajasthan had more than 9000 ATMs while Chhattisgarh & Goa had less than 5000 ATMs each as of June 2017.
In the North-East: Except Assam, all other states have less than 500 ATMs each
Among the North-Eastern states, Assam had 3795 ATMs as of June 2017, an increase of over 20% from June 2014. The remaining seven (7) states had less than 500 ATMs each as of June 2017. Mizoram & Sikkim reported less than 200 ATMs each as of June 2017. Both Tripura & Manipur had more than 1000 ATMs as of June 2014 primarily on account of Bank of Baroda ATMs in these two states. Between June 2014 & September 2014, Bank of Baroda closed down all its ATMs in these states except a handful. As of June 2017, both these states had single digit Bank of Baroda ATMs.
In the South – Telangana lost more than 1300 ATMs of the State Bank Group
Among the southern states, Tamil Nadu had more than 24000 ATMs as of June 2017, second only to Maharashtra. Karnataka had more than 17000 ATMs as of June 2017.
Telangana for some strange reason lost more than 1300 ATMs between March 2017 & June 2017. In March 2017, Telangana had 10554 ATMs and by June 2017, it was down to 9320. The reduction is primarily on account of the reduction in the number of ATMs of the State Bank group. It has to be noted that the five associate banks of the State Bank group completed their merger with SBI during this period. This included the Hyderabad based State Bank of Hyderabad. Even if we assume this to be the reason, similar trend should have been observed in states where the other associate banks like State Bank of Mysore, State Bank of Bikaner & Jaipur etc. were headquartered. But no such trend was observed in Karnataka or Rajasthan.
Response from SBI awaited
Factly reached out to the DGM of the State Bank in Hyderabad to understand the reasons for such decrease in numbers. The story will be updated as & when a response is received.
Number of ATMs per lakh people – UP & Bihar at the bottom
If the population of various states as per the 2011 census is considered, the Uttar Pradesh & Bihar are at the bottom of the list in terms of the number of ATMs per lakh people. Bihar had only 8 ATMs per lakh people compared to 10 in Uttar Pradesh. The national average is about 18 ATMs per lakh people. Fifteen (15) states are below the national average of 18 ATMs per lakh people. Chandigarh with 77 ATMs per lakh people has the highest density of ATMs followed by Goa & Delhi.

created: October 21, 2017


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Number of Suicides of CAPF personnel down 6 times in five years
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
February 19, 2020
Data from the NCRB’s ADSI report of 2018 indicates that the suicides of Central Armed Police Forces Personnel have come down by 6 times in the 5-year period between 2014 & 2018.
The seven security forces in India that work under the authority of the Ministry of Home Affairs are together called the Central Armed Police Forces, abbreviated as CAPF. These are the Border Security Force (BSF), Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), Indo- Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), Assam Rifles (AR) and National Security Guard (NSG). The CAPF personnel’s duty ranges from smooth conduct of elections, curbing of illegal activities, and maintaining internal security to guarding the country’s border.
The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) provides data on the accidental deaths & suicides of CAPF. Here is an analysis of these deaths for the years 2014 to 2018.
NCRB started collecting this data from 2014
Starting 2014, the National Crime Records Bureau began recording the number of deaths of CAPF personnel and reasons behind the same, in their annual Accidental Deaths and Suicides India report. According to the latest 2018 report, as on 1 January 2018, CAPF had a total strength of 9,29,289 personnel.
Almost 2300 CAPF personnel lost their lives in 5 years, about 65% in 2014 alone
Between 2014 and2018, a total of 2,299 CAPF personnel lost their lives in accidents andsuicides. A total of 1902 died in accidents while 397 committed suicides due tovarious reasons.
The largest number of deaths were reported in 2014 when there were 1232 accidental deaths and 175 suicides. In other words, an average of 3 accidental deaths of CAPF personnel was reported each day in 2014. In fact, 65% of the accidental deaths of CAPF personnel reported between 2014 and 2018 were reported in 2014 alone. In the case of suicides, 2014 alone accounted for 44% of the total number of suicides of CAPF personnel as reported by NCRB. The specific reasons for such a large number of deaths in 2014 are not known.
In 2018, 104accidental deaths were reported in addition to 28 suicides. This is the lowestin the five years- from when the NCRB started collecting data of CAPFpersonnel. The number of suicides has reduced by more than 6 times in the fiveyears.
Accidents other than road & railway accidents account for 44% of accidental deaths
NCRB’s report provides data along with the cause of accident andsuicide. The cause of accidents as per the report are fratricide (the act ofkilling one’s brother or sister), road accidents or railway accidents, other accidents(such as air crash, ships accident, building collapse, drowning, electrocution,accidental explosion), and natural calamities. Those killed in encounters,operations or while in action have also been included. In 2014, these ‘otheraccidents’ were recorded as ‘unnatural’.
Data indicatesthat the number of deaths in the category of ‘other accidents’ account for 44%of the deaths between 2014 & 2018.  Road and railway accidents contribute to 30%of the deaths. In 2014, the maximum number of deaths occurred due to ‘otheraccidents’ or ‘unnatural’ reasons. A total of 480 personnel were killed inUttar Pradesh in 2014 in ‘unnatural’ events. Further, 116 personnel in MadhyaPradesh and 111 personnel in Telangana lost their lives in road and railwayaccidents in the same year.
Data for 2018shows that 33 of the total 104 were killed while in action/operation. Thisamounts to almost one-third of the accidental deaths in 2018.
Zero deaths in UP since 2016 while all deaths reported
in Telangana were in 2014
Considering thetotal number of accidental deaths of CAPF personnel between 2014 and 2018,Uttar Pradesh accounts for the largest number of deaths. However, 630 of the633 deaths reported were in 2014 and 3 were in 2015. Not a single accidentaldeath of CAPF personnel has been reported in Uttar Pradesh from 2016 to 2018.
Similarly, in Telangana, where the second-highest number of deaths was reported, all the 194 deaths had taken place in 2014. 116 out of 122 deaths reported in Madhya Pradesh, was also in 2014.
However, in thecase of Chhattisgarh and Jammu & Kashmir, annually an average of 36 and 30CAPF have lost their lives, respectively
Apart from thefive states mentioned, Jharkhand also has reported more than 100 deaths duringthis 5-year period. These six states alone account for almost 73% of the deathsof CAPF personnel between 2014 & 2018.
In 2018, deathswere reported from 13 states, maximum from Jammu & Kashmir (35 out of 104),followed by Chhattisgarh (27 out of 104).
What are the reasons for the Suicides of CAPF
personnel?
The CAPF personnel take their own lives for a variety of reasons likestress or other mental conditions. These could be because of occupationalreasons or other social, financial or health reasons. The NCRB presents data ofCAPF suicides in different categories such as service-related issues (physicalfatigue, mental depression, promotion or leave related), financial problems,marriage related issues, property disputes, fall in social reputation, and drugabuse and alcohol addiction.
Family-related reasons behind suicides of 29% CAPF personnel
Family reasons account for almost 29% of the suicides in these 5 years. Marriage related issues make up 17% of the suicides reported during this period. Marriage related issues have been further categorised into dowry-related, non-settlement, extramarital affair, divorce and others. A total of 15 female CAPF personnel committed suicide (11 in 2015 & 4 in 2018) in Haryana alone for dowry related issues.
Madhya Pradesh reported the highest number of suicides between 2014 and 2018
Analysis of thestate-wise number of suicides over the five-year period between 2014 & 2018reveals that the maximum number of cases were reported in Madhya Pradesh (84out of 397).
80 out of 84 suicidesin Madhya Pradesh and 35 out of 37 in Telangana were reported in 2014 alone.All the 16 suicides in Bihar were reported in 2014 and the 11 suicides inJharkhand were reported in 2016. In 2018, 5 suicides in Haryana and 3 each fromArunachal Pradesh and Assam were reported.
What is the Government doing?
Multiple studies have indicated that the continuous deployment of CAPF personnel in ‘Sub-Conventional Warfare’ operations is causing stress resulting in increasing number of deaths due to suicides, incidents of fratricides/fragging, sickness and accidents. The studies have also indicated various organizational, socio-psychological, economic & environmental factors leading to these deaths & suicides.
The government had stated in the Lok Sabha in 2018 that it has taken various steps to ensure high morale of CAPF personnel. Additional allowances and incentives for those deployed in ‘Left-Wing Extremism’ areas, improved medical facilities, timely granting of leave, prompt grievance redressal among many other initiatives listed by the government. Stress management and mental health monitoring have also been looked into by the government. It is also reported that the government has framed guidelines to tackle suicides among the CAPF personnel.
Featured Image: CAPF featured image

created: February 19, 2020


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Number of registered cases of Rape more than doubled since 2001 while Conviction Rate remain the same
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
August 28, 2017
The number of registered cases of rape increased from 16075 in 2001 to 38891 in 2016. Madhya Pradesh has been reporting the highest cases of rape in all these years. While the number of registered cases has gone up, the conviction rates have remained more or less the same.
The total number of registered crimes against women have more than doubled from 2001 to 2016. At the same time, the overall conviction rate in case of crimes against women has come down from about 27% in 2010 to 19% in 2016.  Also, the overall conviction rate in cases of rape hasn’t really improved in the last 16 years. On the other hand, the number of registered rape cases has more than doubled from 2001 to 2016.
More than 38000 cases of Rape registered in 2016
The number of registered rape cases in India has gone up from 16075 in 2001 to 38891 in 2016. There was an almost a 35% jump in the number of registered rape cases in 2013, the year after the Nirbhaya incident. This is the highest ever increase in the number of such cases. Since 2013, the number of registered rape cases has been more than 30000 in each year.
In 2010, only seven states registered more than 1000 rape cases each. This number has gone up to 15 in 2015. All through, Madhya Pradesh has been registering the most rape cases in each of the years. In 2014, more than 5000 rape cases were registered in Madhya Pradesh, the only such occasion in the country.
Conviction rate down to 25.5% in 2016
On the other hand, the conviction rate in cases of rape hasn’t really changed in the last 16 years. While it was 26.1% in 2001, it is down to 25.5% in 2016.  (Conviction Rate refers to the percentage of cases that resulted in conviction out of the cases in which trials are over). From 2013, the year after the Nirbhaya incident, to 2015, the conviction rate in rape cases had steadily increased to 29.4% only to fall back to 25.5% in 2016.
Among the states with more than 1000 registered cases of rape, only Uttar Pradesh had a conviction rate of more than 50% consistently. West Bengal & Andhra Pradesh have had lower conviction rates all through. In Haryana, the conviction rate has been more or less constant at 25%.
Almost 1/3rd of the registered Crimes against Women are 498A related
The total number of registered cases of crime against women increased from about 1.43 lakh in 2001 to more than 3.5 lakh in 2016. Almost 1/3rd of these cases are related to 498A (cruelty by husband or relatives). Together with 498A,  assault & kidnapping cases occupy the top three places in terms of the number of cases of crime registered against women. If cases of rape are included, these four account for more than 80% of the cases of registered crime against women. The cases related to 498A have increased from 49170 in 2001 to 110477 in 2016. On the other hand, kidnapping cases have more than quadrupled in these 16 years, from 14645 in 2001 to 64618 in 2016.
Overall Conviction rate in 2016 lowest in 7 years
The overall conviction rate of crimes against women has seen a consistent decline. From 27.8% in 2010, the conviction rate is down to 19% in 2016. This is much less than the average conviction rate of all IPC crimes which is consistently more than 40%. One of the prime reasons is the lower conviction rate in 498A cases as reported by Factly earlier.


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Number of train derailments
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
August 23, 2017
While the number of Train Accidents has significantly reduced in the last 14 years, derailments have gone up in the last few years. The proportion of derailments in the total accidents was 75% in 2016-17, the highest in 14 years.


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Nupur Sharma’s old speech video at the Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram in Maharashtra is shared as a recent one - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
July 19, 2022
A video is being shared on social media claiming it was a recent speech of Nupur Sharma after her alleged controversial remarks against Prophet Muhammad. This video shows Nupur Sharma raising questions about the midnight Supreme Court hearings for terrorists, and making statements against Triple Talaq, Burqa and the marriage system in Islam. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Nupur Sharma’s recent speech after her alleged controversial remarks against Prophet Muhammed.
Fact: The video shared in the post shows the clippings of Nupur Sharma’s old speech at the ‘Vyakhyan’ program organised by the Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram in Maharashtra. This event took place on 24 May 2018. It is not a recent video. Hence, the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
On reverse image search of the screenshots in the video, we could not find any credible sources related to this video. When we searched for the details of the video using relevant keywords on the internet, similar visuals were found in a collage of images tweeted by Nupur Sharma on 25 May 2018.  Nupur Sharma’s tweet reads, “Spoke on “Women in Nationalism” at ‘Vyakhyan’ organised by Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram at Nagar, Maharashtra today. It was also a privilege to have interacted with some very enterprising Nagar women who are contributing to the society in various ways”.
Spoke on “Women in Nationalism” at ‘Vyakhyan’ organised by Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram at Nagar, Maharashtra today.
It was also a privilege to have interacted with some very enterprising Nagar women who are contributing to the society in various ways. pic.twitter.com/6NYx5wSwoE
When we searched for further sources using these keywords on the internet, a video showing Nupur Sharma’s speech at the ‘Vyakhyan’ program was found to be posted by a Facebook user on 24 My 2018. From 3:45 minutes of the video, we could see Nupur Sharma making the same statements as shown in the post. The video shared in the post was created by editing some portions of Nupur Sharma’s full speech at the ‘Vyakhyan’ event held in Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram.
Following the protests from Muslims and Islamic countries over Nupur Sharma’s remarks on Prophet Muhammed, on 05 June 2022, the BJP suspended Nupur Sharma from the party stating that her views are contrary to the Party’s position on various matters. Following the suspension from the party, Nupur Sharma issued an apology and unconditionally withdrew her remarks on Prophet Muhammed, saying that it was not her intention to hurt anyone’s religious feelings. Amidst death and rape threats to Nupur Sharma over her comments on Prophet Muhammed, on 07 June 2022, Delhi Police granted her police security. Lately, there are no reports of her attending any public event and speaking anything about Supreme Court trials, or her views related to Islam and Hinduism.
pic.twitter.com/Cl0aAqkwgN
To sum it up, a video showing Nupur Sharma’s old speech at the Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram in Maharashtra is being shared as a recent one.


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Obama Did Not Accuse Congress of Leniency Towards Mumbai Attackers - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
April 3, 2023
A video is being shared on social media claiming that in his memoir “A Promised Land“, former US President Barack Obama stated that the Congress government in India adopted lenient measures against terrorists involved in the 2008 Mumbai attacks due to Congress Party’s secret agreement with Pakistani terrorist organizations and to appease the Muslim vote bank. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: In Barack Obama’s memoir “A Promised Land,” he stated that the Congress government adopted lenient measures against terrorists involved in the 2008 Mumbai attacks to appease the Muslim vote bank.
Fact: Barack Obama never made this claim in his book. He only discussed his conversation with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who expressed concerns about the economy, Pakistan, and political repercussions, but there was no mention of Congress adopting lenient measures to appease the Muslim vote bank. Additionally, there are no credible news reports to support this claim. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
To clarify the matter, we referred to chapter 26 of “A Promised Land” where Barack Obama discusses India and its political leaders, including Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, and then-Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. During a private conversation with Singh at a dinner party in New Delhi, Obama recalls Singh expressing concerns about several issues, including the impact of the global economic slowdown on India’s job market, Pakistan’s failure to cooperate with India in investigating the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks, and the political repercussions of Singh’s restraint in response to the attacks.
On the economy: Singh was worried about the global slowdown’s impact on India, particularly in terms of generating jobs for the country’s young and rapidly growing population.
On Pakistan: The Prime Minister expressed his concerns about Pakistan’s failure to cooperate with India in investigating the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks, which had increased tensions between the two countries. Lashkar-e-Taiba, the terrorist organization responsible for the attacks, was believed to have links to Pakistan’s intelligence service.
On Political repercussions: Singh resisted calls to retaliate against Pakistan after the attacks, which cost him politically. He also feared that the rising anti-Muslim sentiment in India had strengthened the influence of the main opposition party, the Hindu nationalist Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP).
It is important to clarify that while Obama did discuss Singh’s concerns about Pakistan and the aftermath of the Mumbai attacks, he never made the claim in his book about the Congress party’s agreement with Pakistan or adopting lenient measures against terrorists to appease the Muslim vote bank. Moreover, there is no credible news report to substantiate the claim made in the viral post about Obama’s comments on the Congress party’s lenient measures towards Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists. To learn more about what Obama said regarding Indian politicians, click here.
To sum it up, while Barack Obama did discuss his conversation with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in his book “A Promised Land,” he never made the claim that the Congress government adopted lenient measures against terrorists involved in the 2008 Mumbai attacks to appease the Muslim vote bank.


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Of all the CCTV Cameras available to the police in India, 64% are in Telangana
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
February 26, 2020
The latest BPRD report  titled ‘Data on Police Organisations’ reveals that a total of 4.27 lakh CCTV cameras are available to the police across the country of which Telangana police alone accounts for 64%. Here is the detailed story.
The annual flagship publication, ‘Data on Police Organisations as on 1 January 2019,’ of the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPRD) was released by the Union Home Minister Amit Shah on 29 January 2020. The report contains all the statistics with respect to manpower, infrastructure, and resources of State Police and Central Armed Police Forces in the country by compiling data provided by each state and union territory. The first such report was published by the bureau in 1986. Since 2016, the number of CCTVs installed by police has also been mentioned in the report.
CCTV orClosed-Circuit Television allows continuous monitoring of any area throughvideo surveillance. CCTVs not only help in nabbing criminals, but in also helppreventing crimes and deter the occurrence of crimes.
Justice Usha Mehra Commission recommended installation
of CCTV cameras in public places
Following the 2012gruesome Nirbhaya incident in the national capital, the Justice Usha Mehra Commission recommended a slew of measures to bolster womensafety in the country. Installation of operational CCTV cameras at publicplaces was one of them. The Commission also recommended that CCTV cameras beinstalled in PCR Vans and police stations in addition to public places andpublic transport.
The Action Taken Report of the recommendations made by the Usha MehraCommission released in 2013, stated that the government had given approval forinstallation of 5312 CCTV cameras in Delhi. 2677 of them were installed atvital locations including the Supreme Court, High Court, and busy marketplacesby ECIL.
In 2017, the HighCourt of Delhi directed the Delhi Police to install CCTV cameras in vulnerableareas, following which, 10 CCTV cameras each were installed in 10 policestations. The same was to be carried out for remaining 182 police stations,according to a Lok Sabha answer in January 2018.
Nirbhaya
Funds framework stresses on real-time monitoring of CCTV footage
As per the framework for Nirbhaya Fund, setup in the aftermath of the Delhi incident, CCTVshould not only be used for recording events or incidents but there should bereal-time monitoring of the footage and quick response. However, the placementof CCTV should be such that it does not compromise the privacy of women. Eventhe video that is recorded should be protected as per the framework. The Ministry of Railways has also initiated installation of CCTV cameras in 983railway stations and train coaches for which funding is partly using theNirbhaya Fund, as per a Lok Sabha answer in June 2019.
MHA stated in Lok Sabha in 2014 that a national policy
for installing CCTVs was not required
Back in 2014, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) stated in the parliament that a national policywas not required for using CCTV recording at public places. It was furtherstated that private entities installed CCTV cameras voluntarily or on thedirections of police. The government also maintained that this would notintrude into the privacy of people since it will be used in the surveillance ofpublic places. Any person who wants to see their own recording could do so uponrequesting the concerned agency.  A copyof the response was also posted in the MHA’s Facebook page.
4.27 Lakh CCTV cameras used by police in India as per
BPRD report
As on 01 January2019, more than 4.27 Lakh CCTV cameras were available with the Police across thecountry. It has to be noted that this is the number of CCTV cameras availablewith the police and not the total number of CCTV cameras in the state.
Compared to 2016, the number of CCTV cameras in the country has increased exponentially from a mere 24,483 to 4.27 lakhs in 2019. This is an increase of  17.5 times in four years. The following chart depicts the number of CCTV cameras available with the police as on the first of January of each year. Usually, the governments release tenders for installation, maintenance and operation of these CCTV cameras available with the police.
Telangana reported more than 64% of the CCTV used by
police in India
In 2019, of thetotal 4.27 Lakh CCTV cameras used by the police in the country, more than 2.75Lakh cameras or 64.4% of the total, were installed in Telangana. Bigger states likeTamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, and Andhra Pradesh are next in line withmore than 10,000 CCTV cameras. The states with more than 1000 CCTV cameras availablewith the police are represented in the following chart. These 12 states aloneaccount for 98% of the CCTV cameras available with the police across thecountry.
Public Safety Act in certain states makes it mandatory
for establishments to install CCTV cameras
Andhra Pradesh Public Safety (Measures) Enforcement Act, 2013, which is applicable to both Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, makes it mandatory for all establishments to have 24*7 CCTV cameras with 30 days storage facility, and also have an employee who is trained to operate it. Establishments have been defined as places where there are a large number of people with a possibility of more than 100 people gathering such as workspace, industries, religious places and others. Even Commissioners of Police and Superintendents of Police in both states are bound to develop special wings with experts in operating electronic devices.
Telangana government implements various projects for
installing CCTV in Hyderabad
The Government of Telangana, in order to deal with safety and security issues in the capital city of Hyderabad, the Police Department initiated various projects such as City Wide Safe City Project, Community CCTV project, and ‘Nenu Saitham’ project. Through these projects, the police encourage individuals, residential and business communities to install CCTV cameras in perimeters, lobbies, common area, corridors, entrances, and exits and also cover around 50 metres of the building’s premises. The police also claim that the crimes in the city have gone down by an average of 16% year on year post the implementation of the City-Wide Community CCTV project. Reports even suggest that in the recent Disha rape case in Hyderabad, CCTV footage helped police track the criminals within 48 hours.
Delhi government has also stressed on CCTV
installation across the state
In Delhi, the AAP Government began its flagship CCTV project with an aim ofinstalling 1.5 Lakh CCTV cameras across Delhi, mainly in residential areas. Theproject was inaugurated in July 2019 to ensure safety and security of thecitizens.
Similar toTelangana’s CCTV Project, the Delhi Police also initiated the ‘Nigehban’ scheme through which sensitive areas that require CCTVs were mapped and individualsand welfare associations in such spots pooled in resources. By the end of 2018,there were around 2.23 lakh CCTV cameras installed under this scheme.
Centre provides funds for Modernization of State
Police
‘Police’ and ‘Public Order’ are state subjects under the seventh schedule to the Indian Constitution.  Thus, strengthening police surveillance and infrastructure also fall under the state’s purview. However, the Central Government provides assistance to states to improve their police infrastructure through various schemes. One such scheme is ‘Modernisation of Police Force’ under which central assistance is provided for procuring weaponry and surveillance equipment including CCTV systems, Night Vision Devices and body-worn cameras.
Financial assistance on 90:10 Centre-State sharing basis is provided to Himalayan States of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and the eight North-Eastern states and for the rest of the states the Centre-State Ratio is 60:40.
Featured Image: Data on Police Organisations

created: February 26, 2020


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Of the Unrealized Tax Revenue, the proportion of ‘Amounts under Dispute’ increases to 84%
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
August 17, 2019
Along with the tax revenue realized by the government, substantial amounts of tax revenue remain unrealized because of disputes and non-payment. Of the total unrealized tax revenue up to 2017-18, proportion of ‘amounts under dispute’ was a whopping 84%.
Taxes are the main source of revenue for the Governmentof India (GoI). As per the budget presented for the FY 2019-20, the actual receipts of central
government for 2017-18was Rs. 21.37 lakh crores, of which the revenue through taxes was 12.42 Lakhsi.e. approximately 58% of the total GoI revenue.
Since tax revenue is a major source for allgovernment expenditure for implementation of various initiatives, tax revenuesnot realized result in reduced expenditure. The analysis of the numbersregarding tax revenues raised but not realized present a very concerning picture.
The receipt budget for 2018-19 indicates thatas of reporting year 2017-18, a total of Rs. 8.99 lakh crores of tax revenue wereraised but not realized, which is almost 75% of the GoI’s actual tax revenue in2017-18.
Total unrealized Tax revenue increased by 6
times over the last 10 years
The total amount of tax raised but not realized has seen a consistent increase every year for the period 2013-18. For the year 2013-14, the unrealized tax revenue amounted to around Rs. 5.83 lakh crores, while by the year 2017-18,it increased to Rs. 8.99 lakh Crores i.e. an increase of 54%.
Whereas, during the earlier five-year period of2008-13, the unrealized tax increased by Rs. 3.75 lakh crores. In the year 2008-09, the amount was Rs. 1.17 lakh crores whichincreased to Rs. 4.92 lakh crores by 2012-13 i.e. an increase more than four times. Overthe last 10 years, i.e., from 2008-18, the unrealized tax revenues increased byRs. 7.82 lakh crores i.e. by more than 6 times.
Correspondingly, during this 10 year period (2008-18), the actual tax revenue of GoI increased from Rs. 4.56 lakh crores in 2008-09 to Rs. 12.42 lakhs in 2017-18 i.e the actual tax revenues has nearly tripled.
Proportion of Unrealized Tax revenues under
dispute increases over the years
The budget reports regarding thenon-realization of tax revenues, categorizes the unrealized tax amounts into – ‘Amountsunder dispute’ and ‘Amounts not under dispute’.
The reasons for unrealized tax amounts could include: the challenges involved in tax filing, non- compliance, interpretation of the tax laws which could either lead to under reporting of the taxable amount or evasion of tax etc. Such non-compliance could lead to notices being issued by the tax authorities and litigation with the tax authorities giving rise to ‘Tax Disputes’. Taxpayers can appeal against these notices with their arguments which are taken up on different levels including – CIT (A) (Commissioner of Income Tax – Appeals) , ITAT (Income Tax Appellate Tribunal) for Income Tax and Customs Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT) for indirect taxes. Further appeals will lie with the High Court or the Supreme Court.
The un-realized tax amount which is under dispute between the tax authorities and the taxpayers is classified as ‘amounts under disputes’. The rest of the unrealized tax revenues are considered as ‘amounts not under disputes’.
The share of disputed amounts in the total unrealized tax revenues has increased over the last 10 years.  For the year 2008-09, the disputed amount was 61% of the total unrealized tax revenue. Over the 10-year period, it has consistently increased and for the year 2017-18 the disputed amount accounted for 84% of the total unrealized amount. It needs to be noted that both the disputed amounts as well as non-disputed amounts have a near regular increase over the last 10 years, especially over the last five years.
For the total Rs. 7.77 lakh crores underdisputes as of 2017-18, around Rs. 3.55 lakh crores i.e. 45% is pending between1-2 years. A further Rs. 3.47 lakh crores are pending between 2-5 years with aroundRs. 57000 crores pending between 5-10 years.  Around Rs. 17000 crores is pending for morethan 10 years.
Pendency of tax dispute cases increasing each
year
Responding to a question in Rajya Sabha on 03 April  2018, the Minister for Finance had provided details of the total cases relating to tax disputes in various appellate institutions. A total of 4.27 lakh cases for Direct Taxes and 1.45 lakh for Indirect taxes were pending by the end of 2016-17.
The number of pending cases has increased overthe three years from 3.75 lakh in 2014-15 to 4.27 lakh in 2016-17 in the caseof direct taxes and from 1.27 lakh in 2014-15 to 1.45 lakh in 2016-17 in thecase of indirect taxes.
The increase in pendency of cases is both dueto the increase in number of new cases and disposal not being on par with thenumber of new cases being lodged
Total number of new appeals accepted in variousAppellate institutions have increased from 1.5 lakh in 2014-15 to 2.05 lakh in2016-17 in the case of direct taxes. On the other hand, number of new appealsrelating to indirect taxes have also gone up from 53,497 in 2014-15 to 69,853in 2016-17.
Correspondingly the number of disposals increasedfrom 1.11 lakh in 2014-15 to 1.76 lakh in 2016-17 in the case of direct taxesand from 44,669 in 2014-15 to 59,930 in 2016-17 in the case of indirect taxes.
While the rate of disposal is not on par withthe rate of new appeals being lodged, it can be observed that the number ofdisposals for both the direct and indirect taxes have increased over the threeyears 2014-2017.
Of the total pending cases for direct taxes asof 2016-17, 68% (2.9 lakh) are pending with Commissioner of Income Tax – Appeals.This is the first appellate institution, before the cases move to otherinstitutions of appeal. The Income Tax Appellate Tribunal has 22% (92,386) ofthe pending cases in the case of direct taxes.
As for indirect taxes, CESTAT (Customs Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal), which is the second level of appellateinstitution has 57% (83,338) of the pending cases. The Commissioner- Appeal has31% (45,163) of the pending cases.
The rest of the appeal cases for both directand indirect taxes are pending with Supreme court and various High Courts.
One trend that is clearly visible in this three-yearperiod 2014-17, as per the data provided in the in Rajya Sabha,  is thedecrease in the number of new appeals in the Supreme court for both direct andindirect taxes.
Withdrawal of appeals and standardizing interpretation
of the law are among the measures initiated
In the same answer, the Ministry of Finance has acknowledged thehigher rates of pending litigations in the various appellate institutions andhas provided the actions being taken to reduce the number of litigations. Thecomplexity of the existing Income Tax laws and the various interpretation ofthe provisions of the law are cited as the reason for the high number oflitigations for direct taxes.
According to the government, following are thesome of the initiatives being undertaken to reduce pendency.
Featured Image: Unrealized Tax Revenue


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Officer stealing cash at a Currency Printing Unit in this video is not RBI Deputy Director - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
October 4, 2019
A Facebook post with several video clips of Police personnel recovering cash from a person is being shared with the claim, ‘Dy Director of RBI currency printing unit was stealing cash daily in his shoes. He was caught red-handed by CISF shift personnel. ₹10000 crores were recovered from his home’. Let’s analyze the authenticity of that claim.
Video clips of CISF Police personnel recovering cash from the Deputy Director of RBI.
Fact: There is no such post with the designation ‘Deputy Director of RBI’. The video shows CISF Police personnel recovering cash from a Deputy Control Officer in Bank Note Press (BNP) at Dewas, M.P. So, the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
When searched on Google with the keywords ‘currency notes recovered CISF police’, many search results were obtained. In the search results, an ‘Outlook’ article about the incident had a single complete video with 3 out of those 4 video clips. From the article, it was found that a ‘Deputy Control Officer’ in the Notes Verification Section of Bank Note Press (BNP) Dewas was arrested after trying to steal currency notes by stuffing them in his sneakers. It was found that the officer had been doing it for long and has accumulated over Rs 90 lakh by this means. This incident took place in January-2018. It couldn’t be ascertained whether the 4th video clip is related to this incident.
A news report by ‘India Today’ also corroborates that the man caught by the CISF Police is a Deputy Control Officer in Bank Note Press (BNP) Dewas. From this article, it was found that BNP Dewas is a unit of Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Limited and is not under the control of RBI. Also, during the search process, it was found that there is no post with the designation ‘Deputy Director of RBI’.
To conclude, there is no such post with the designation ‘Deputy Director of RBI’. Video of an officer stealing cash at a Currency Printing Unit is being shared with a misleading narrative.
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created: October 4, 2019


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Officials confirm voting exceeding 100% at certain polling booths in Tripura and Rajasthan due to EDC votes - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
April 30, 2024
Amid the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, various social media posts are sharing claims of voting irregularities at specific polling stations in Rajasthan and Tripura. These posts suggest that certain booths have registered voter turnouts exceeding 100% (here, here, here). Notably, booths in Majlishpur, Khayerpur, and Mohanpur in Tripura along with a booth in the Barmer segment of Rajasthan, are mentioned. This article aims to verify the accuracy of these claims.
Claim: Certain booths have registered voter turnouts exceeding 100% in Tripura and Rajasthan.
Fact: Officials have clarified that the discrepancies in these polling booths are due to the EDC votes polled. Officials clarify that the data shown in these screenshots represent the total number of electors as per the Electoral Roll, excluding EDC votes. EDC votes are not included in the total count but are added to the total votes cast. Consequently, in some polling stations, the percentage of votes cast has surpassed 100%. Hence, the claim made in the post is Misleading.
Following the conclusion of the second phase of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, voting for 189 Lok Sabha seats has concluded. After the polls closed, the opposition in Tripura raised concerns about unusually high voter turnouts in certain areas. They claimed that specific booths within the West Tripura parliamentary constituency and the Ramnagar assembly constituency exceeded 100% voter turnout. Specifically, in Tripura, part 44 of the Majlishpur segment recorded a 105.30% turnout, parts 25 and 44 of the Khayerpur segment saw turnouts of 100.15% and 98.80% respectively, and part 38 of the Mohanpur segment reported a 109.09% turnout.
Although the reports of high voter turnout at these booths are accurate, officials have denied any irregularities. Following an investigation, authorities have clarified that the discrepancy is attributed to EDC (Election Duty Certificate) votes cast at these polling stations. According to officials, several reserved polling personnel were assigned duties in nearby areas, leading them to vote at these stations using their election duty certificates on polling day.
The viral screenshots of the polling data originate from the ENCORE application. However, officials clarified that the data shown in these screenshots represent the total number of electors as per the Electoral Roll, excluding EDC votes. In ENCORE, EDC votes are not included in the total electors count but are added to the total votes cast. Consequently, in some polling stations, the percentage of votes cast has surpassed 100%.
Regarding the high turnout at certain polling booths in the Barmer segment of Rajasthan, the Additional District Magistrate confirmed in our correspondence that the turnout discrepancy is attributable to EDC votes cast. Therefore, contrary to the viral claims, the higher voting turnout is a result of EDC votes and not due to any irregularities.
EDC (Election Duty Certificate) votes:
Typically, officers on polling duty have two methods of voting available to them: through the Election Duty Certificate (EDC) or by postal ballot. If an employee’s election duty is located within the same constituency where they are registered to vote, they will be granted the ability to vote using an Election Duty Certificate (EDC). This enables them to cast their votes at the same polling station where they are assigned to work. The Election Commission (EC) issues a specific form for officers on polling duty to fill out to receive their EDC. This form, known as Form 12A, can be accessed here.
Alternatively, if an employee is assigned to election duty in a constituency where they are not registered voters, they are allowed to vote via postal ballot. Employees must fill out a designated form, which is then collected and organized by constituency. These organized forms are then delivered to the Returning Officer (RO) of the relevant constituency.
In the case referred to above, the officials likely cast their votes using EDC, and as previously stated, these votes are included in the total number of votes polled, but not in the total for that specific booth.
To sum it up, officials confirm voting exceeding 100% at certain polling booths in Tripura and Rajasthan due to EDC votes.


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OId video from Haryana shared as the visuals of Muslims dancing to a song on Narendra Modi in Jammu and Kashmir - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
September 29, 2023
A video is being shared on social media claiming it is the visuals of Muslims dancing to a song on Narendra Modi in Jammu and Kashmir. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Video of Muslims in Jammu and Kashmir dancing to a song on Narendra Modi.
Fact: The video shared in the post shows Muslims dancing to Rocky Mittal’s performance at a BJP political campaign meeting held in 2019, in Nuh, Haryana. The video shared in the post is old and not from Jammu and Kashmir. Hence, the claim made in the post is False.
On reverse image search of the screenshots of the video, a video showing similar visuals was found published by a Facebook page in March 2019. This user mentioned it is the visuals of Muslims dancing to Rocky Mittal’s performance of “Modi Aayengi Danke ki Chot Par” song. Rocky Mittal is a star campaigner for the BJP in Haryana who has sung a lot of songs about PM Narendra Modi and about the BJP.
On searching for further sources, we found another Facebook post sharing a video showing similar visuals as shared in the post in 2019. This Facebook user mentioned that the video was taken at a BJP political campaign meeting held in Punhana town in the Nuh district of Haryana. Additionally, one could see the Hindi text “Punhana” along with images of Narendra Modi and Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on a banner placed on the stage.
Rocky Mittal shared the same video on his YouTube channel on 18 March 2019, by mentioning the name of “MLA Rahish Khan” in the description. Rahis Khan was a former MLA from Punhana constituency in Haryana. Rahis Khan was elected as an Independent MLA from Punhana in the 2014 elections and subsequently, extended his support to BJP and held the position of Minister of State of Haryana.
Rahish Khan shared the pictures from this political campaign meeting on 16 March 2019. Rahish Khan again contested as an independent candidate and was defeated by Congress candidate Mohammad Ilyas in the 2019 Haryana Assembly elections. From all these pieces of evidence, it can be concluded that the video shared in the post is old and not from Jammu and Kashmir.
To sum it up,  an old video from Haryana is shared as the visuals of Muslims dancing to a song on Narendra Modi song in Jammu and Kashmir.

created: September 29, 2023


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OId video from Thailand shared as visuals of a Muslim brutally assaulted in China for offering Namaz at a public place - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
July 3, 2023
A video is being shared on social media claiming it is the recent visuals of a teacher assaulting a Muslim student for performing Namaz in an educational institution in China. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Recent video of a Muslim student being assaulted for performing Namaz prayers in an educational institution in China.
Fact: The video shared in the post shows an old incident that took place in the Samut Sakhon province of Thailand. The video shows a worker of a debt collection company being subjected to a harsh assault by his higher authority due to their failure in collecting money from a customer within the designated timeframe. The victim was not assaulted for performing Namaz and the video has nothing to do with China. Hence, the claim made in the post is False.
On reverse image search of the screenshots shared in the post, a video showing similar visuals was found published by the “Story This Morning” news channel on 03 December 2020. This news channel reported it is the visuals of a subordinate of a debt collection company being brutally assaulted by his superior in Samut Sakhon City in Thailand.
Reporting the complete details of the incident, several news websites published articles in 2020. They can be seen here, here, and here. According to reports, the victim was allegedly assaulted by his superior authority for failing to collect money from a customer within the specified timeframe. Additionally, the victim was accused of manipulating customer accounts by transferring funds from other customers into the account of the customer who was unable to make the payment. The incident reportedly took place in January 2020 at the T.M.N. Group Co. Ltd company branch in the Samut Sakhon province of Thailand. From all these pieces of evidence, it can be inferred that the video shared in the post originates from Thailand, not from China. Furthermore, it can be concluded that the victim in the video was not subjected to an assault for performing Namaz.
To sum it up, an old video from Thailand is shared as the visuals of a Muslim student being brutally assaulted for offering Namaz in an institute in China.


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Old 2015 Cartoon by a South African artist shared as a recent one on multiculturalism published by a European newspaper - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
July 6, 2023
A cartoon depicting multiculturalism in Europe is being shared on social media claiming it is a recent cartoon published by a newspaper in Europe. The image depicts visuals of men in skull caps raping a woman in front of her religiously tolerant father in Europe. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Photo of a cartoon that was recently published by a European newspaper on multiculturalism.
Fact: The cartoon shared in the post was published by Farstar88, an artist from South Africa who publishes political cartoons as well as comics. Farstar88 published this cartoon in June 2015. The original image did not depict multiculturalism specifically in Europe. Hence, the claim made in the post is False.
On reverse image search of the photo shared in the post,  the original version of the image was found tweeted by a user in 2017. In the original photo, one could see the watermark ‘Farstar88’ at the bottom right. When we searched for further sources using this information, we found the same image on the WordPress page of Farstar88.
Farstar88 published this image on 17 June 2015 with the title, “Sex Grooming UK”. The original cartoon did not portray multiculturalism specifically in Europe.
The ‘About‘ section of the Farstar88 WordPress page states, “Farstar88 is a Fascist artist from South Africa who specialises in political cartoons as well as comics in order to provide a much-needed narrative that is ruthlessly suppressed and excluded from mainstream consciousness”. A few other political cartoons published by Farstar88 can be seen here and here. From all these pieces of evidence, it can be concluded that the cartoon shared in the post is old and has nothing to do with the ongoing riots in France.
To sum it up, an old cartoon published by a South African artist in 2015 is shared as the latest cartoon published by a European newspaper on multiculturalism.


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Old 2022 videos of women raising slogans against UP’s Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya are shared as recent - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
May 21, 2024
A video of a huge crowd protesting Uttar Pradesh’s Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya by raising the slogan ‘Keshav Maurya Chor Hai’ is being shared on social media (here, here, and here) amidst the ongoing 2024 Lok Sabha elections in UP. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: In Kaushambi, Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya faced strong opposition and quickly left the guest house with Vinod Sonkar during the 2024 Lok Sabha election campaign.
Fact: The incident in the video is from January 2022 that took place during the Uttar Pradesh state elections. Women protested when Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya visited the home of district panchayat member Poonam Maurya in Sirathu. Her husband, Rajeev Maurya, had gone missing and the women there were protesting police inaction in the matter. When the Maurya arrived, they began raising slogans against him. It is unrelated to the ongoing Lok Sabha elections. Hence, the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
On performing a reverse image search of the viral video, we found a similar video uploaded on the TV9 Uttar Pradesh Uttarakhand YouTube channel on 23 January 2022. Its description stated that Keshav Prasad Maurya faced opposition from women in his Sirathu constituency during the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.
Subsequent research led us to the news reports reporting this incident, published in January 2022 (here, here, and here). As per the reports, after announcing his candidacy for the Sirathu assembly seat in the Uttar Pradesh state elections, Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya visited Ghulamipur village in Kaushambi district for the first time. When Maurya reached Ghulamipur to meet residents, he visited the home of district panchayat member Poonam Maurya in Sirathu. Her husband, Rajeev Maurya, had gone missing under mysterious circumstances and the women there were protesting police inaction in the matter. When the Maurya arrived, they began raising slogans against him.
Further research on Maurya’s campaign for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections revealed that he held a rally in Sirathu on 15 May 2024, supporting BJP Lok Sabha candidate Vinod Sonkar. However, there are no recent reports of people raising slogans or opposing him during the rally.
To sum up, old 2022 videos of women raising slogans against UP’s Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya are shared as recent during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.


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Old 3D animation video of a Jain temple is falsely claimed as the design of Ram Mandir at Ayodhya - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
July 29, 2020
A post in which a video claiming to be the design of the Ram Temple which is to be built in Ayodhya is being widely shared on social media. Through this article, let’s fact-check the claim.
Design of Ram Mandir which is supposed to be built in Ayodhya.
Fact: The original video on Kens Studio YouTube channel is uploaded on 03 June 2014, whereas the Supreme court verdict on Ram Mandir case is pronounced on 09 Nov 2019. Also, multiple news agencies have reported the supposed design of the temple which is different from the one shared in the post. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
When we ran a search on YouTube using the keywords ‘3D animation temple’, we found a similar video on a channel named Kems Studio which was uploaded on 03 June 2014.
The Supreme Court verdict on Ayodhya’s Ram Mandir case is pronounced on 09 Nov 2019, years later than the earliest upload of the video found on YouTube. The original Supreme Court judgement can be read here.
When we reached out to Kems Studio through phone they said that the design which is going viral is actually designed for a Jain temple in Andhra Pradesh. Also, they explicitly said that the design is not related to Ram Mandhir in Ayodhya. Even in the beginning of the video it is showed that the location of the temple as Tirupati. Also, in the video we can see many Jain idols.
Multiple news agencies have recently reported that the Ram Mandir model designed three decades ago by Chandrakant Sompura (with some modifications) will be the design of the Ayodhya Ram Mandir. These news reports can be found here and here.
To sum it up, old 3D animation temple design is falsely shared as the design of the Ram Mandir which is to be built in Ayodhya.
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Old advertising artwork falsely shared as an artwork of Afghanistan artist Shamsia Hassani - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
September 17, 2021
A photo is being shared on social media claiming it as an incredible artwork by Afghanistan graffiti artist Shamsia Hassani. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Photo of an artwork created by the Afghanistan graffiti artist Shamsia Hassani.
Fact: This artwork was created by the Young & Rubicam advertising agency for the Reporter magazine in 2018. Shamsia Hassani through a tweet clarified that this artwork was not created by her. This artwork was created much before the Taliban took control of Afghanistan. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
On searching for this artwork on Shamsia Hassani’s official social media handles, we found that Shamsia Hassani made a tweet regarding this artwork circulating on social media. Shamsia Hassani through this tweet said, “recently I noticed that hundreds of social media users shared this image as my artwork on their profiles/pages, but this is not my artwork. I know that they wanted to support me and my art but please make sure to give the credit to the real artist”.
Recently I noticed that hundreds of social media users shared this image as my artwork on their profiles/ pages, but this is not my artwork.
I know that they wanted to support me and my art but please make sure to give the credit to the real artist. pic.twitter.com/MGRf5776cB
On reverse image search of the photo shared in the post, a similar photo was found published on the ‘Clio’ website.  This website reported it as an artwork created by the Young & Rubicam advertising agency network in 2018. Prague-based Young & Rubicam agency network created this artwork for the ‘Reporter’ Magazine. This artwork was created as part of the Reporter magazine’s “Changing Your Perspective: Questioning Radicalism” campaign. The same artwork was published on several websites crediting it to Young & Rubicam advertising agency. They can be seen here, here, and here.
On comparing the original artwork with the photo shared in the post, it is confirmed that the image shared in the post is an edited one. The ‘Reporter magazine’ artwork was edited with an unknown red book.
To sum it up, an old advertising agency artwork is shared as a recent artwork of Afghan graffiti artist Shamsia Hassani.

created: September 17, 2021


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Old Afghan news debate video is passed off as BJP leaders being beaten in TV debates - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
February 2, 2022
In the wake of the upcoming general elections in Uttar Pradesh, a social media post accompanying a video of television debate panelists entering into a fistfight is being widely circulated. The post claims that the video shows BJP leaders being thrashed in television debates.  Through this article, let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Video of BJP panelists being thrashed in a TV debate.
Fact: The viral video actually shows a fistfight of two panelists in an Afghan news channel 1TV Kabul, and the incident happened in 2016. Further, there are no recent reports of BJP leaders getting into a brawl in television debates. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
The video actually a fistfight that happened among the panelists during a television debate in Afghanistan. The video dates back to 2016. Reverse image search of the screenshots of the viral video led us to a news debate of an Afghan news channel called ‘1TV Kabul’.
The viral video is an excerpt of this news debate, in which at the end of the news debate, two of the panelists get into a brawl. With this, it is evident that the viral video has nothing to do with BJP or for that matter India.
Further, there are no recent reports of BJP leaders getting into a brawl in news debates. Recently, a few social media posts have gone viral with a similar claim alleging that BJP leaders are being chased or thrashed by people in states like Uttar Pradesh. FACTLY has debunked those posts which can be read here and here.
To sum it up, an old Afghan news debate video is passed off as BJP leaders being thrashed in television debates.

created: February 2, 2022


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Old and edited Zee News report on 2018 state elections shared as recent breaking news - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
March 14, 2023
A social media post shares a video of a Zee News report on the exit polls of the Rajasthan elections. The post’s description in Hindi translates to ‘big news, election exit polls.’ Let’s fact-check this claim through this article.
Claim: Zee News report on the results of the exit polls of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh Assembly elections.
Fact: The news report in the viral video was uploaded on the official YouTube channel of Zee News on 7 December 2018. The report was on the exit poll results of the Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh assembly elections that were held in 2018. None of these state assemblies went for elections this year till now. Hence the claim made in the post is False.
It is clear from the video that the news report in the viral post is of Zee News, and the programme’s subject is exit polls of the three state assembly elections, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh. We took this as a hint and searched YouTube for the original video using relevant keywords, leading us to a video titled ‘Zee News Maha Exit Poll: Poll of exit polls put Congress ahead in Rajasthan’, which is a lengthier version of the viral video.
Uploaded on 7 December 2018, this news report is about the various exit poll results released after the Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections of 2018. The post falsely shares this old video as recent. Also, none of these states’ assembly elections was held recently. The last time they all went for election was in 2018 only (here and here).
According to elections.in, these three states may have their elections this year. The Election commission of India has not yet released any information about the schedule of these elections as on date, and the term of all three assemblies is till January 2024.
To sum up, old and edited Zee News report on 2018 state elections shared as recent.