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Electoral Bonds Buyer 'Hub Power Company' is registered in Delhi, not a subsidiary of Pakistani firm - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
March 15, 2024
Following the Election Commission of India’s publication of details related to the donations made to various political parties through electoral bonds, a viral social media post alleges that the BJP has received contributions from a Pakistan-based entity named ‘Hub Power Company.’ Accompanying the news is a screenshot purportedly showing the donations made by this company. This article aims to fact-check the assertions made in the post.
Claim: Electoral Bond buyer details revealed that BJP received donations from a Pakistan based company called ‘Hub Power Company’.
Fact: According to the GST portal, ‘Hub Power Company’ is a proprietorship firm registered under the name of ‘Ravi Mehra’. Established in Delhi in 2018, it bears no relation to the Pakistan-based ‘Hub Power Company Limited’. The latter has explicitly distanced itself from the Delhi-based company and any involvement with electoral bonds. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
The Electoral Commission of India (ECI) has unveiled information concerning the electoral bonds, in compliance with a Supreme Court mandate instructing the State Bank of India to furnish all bond-related data to the ECI. The data disclosed by the ECI does confirm that a company named ‘Hub Power Company’ bought electoral bonds, a couple of months after the Pulwama attack in 2019. However, it’s important to note that the company is not based in Pakistan but is registered in India.
Electoral Bond Scheme:
Under the current electoral bond scheme, these bonds are purchasable by any Indian citizen or organization registered in the country, provided they meet the RBI’s Know Your Customer (KYC) requirements. Additionally, a foreign company can contribute through its subsidiaries registered in India.
Given this, our search on the Ministry of Corporate Affairs portal did not result in any information regarding a private limited firm named ‘Hub Power Company.’ If the company were truly a subsidiary of a Pakistani firm as asserted, its details would be available on the ministry’s website. Nonetheless, we were unable to locate any such information.
However, a search on India Mart using the company name provided us with the GST number of the company in question. Following this lead, a subsequent search on the GST website provided us with details about a company bearing the same name. According to the information available, it is a company based in Delhi, registered in 2018. Notably, it is a proprietorship firm registered under the name ‘Ravi Mehra’. This confirmation dispels the notion that it is a subsidiary of any foreign company.
Pakistan’s ‘Hub Power Company’ issues Clarification :
There exists a power production company based in Pakistan known as ‘Hub Power Company Limited (HUBCO)’. The logo shared in the viral post corresponds to this specific company. However, it’s important to note that this company is not associated with the company under scrutiny.
Following the widespread circulation of news linking the Pakistan-based company to electoral bonds, the company has issued a clarification to dispel any misunderstanding. In their statement, the company asserted that they have no connection whatsoever to the matter or any company based in India.
pic.twitter.com/TIed2fBYvj
To sum it up, the ‘Hub Power Company’ that made political contributions is registered in Delhi and is not affiliated with any Pakistani company as a subsidiary.


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Political Parties & RTI – What is it all about? - Factly
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
July 9, 2015
The issue of political parties coming under the ambit of Right to Information Act was in the news again, after the Supreme Court issued notices to the six national parties to explain their stand. The issue dates back to 2013 when the Central Information Commission made a historic order bringing the six national parties under RTI. Since then, the parties refused to comply with the order and the matter has now reached the Supreme Court.
Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) filed a Writ Petition in the Supreme Court against the Government of India and the six National Parties that failed to comply with the Central Information Commission order bringing these parties under the ambit of the Right to Information (RTI). The Supreme Court admitted this petition and issued notices to the six National parties as well as the Government of India. Here is the entire issue explained in brief.
The full bench of the Central Information Commission (CIC) in its historic order on June 3, 2013 ruled that the Six National Parties (INC, BJP, CPI, CPM, BSP & NCP) are public authorities under Section 2(h) of the RTI act and that they are supposed to comply with the provisions of the act. The order cited the following reasons in detail for categorizing the political parties as Public Authorities.
The political parties on their part said that none of the benefits can be construed as substantial financing as such practices exist in most democracies. But the CIC did not agree with them.
The six National parties did not comply with the decision of the CIC by not appointing a Public Information officer (PIO). In the meanwhile, the political parties unanimously decided to introduce a bill in the Lok Sabha towards the end of 2013, to amend the RTI act. This amendment would effectively nullify the CIC order and exempt Political Parties from RTI. This amendment was also supposed to be retrospective in nature. After a public outcry, the bill was referred to a department related standing committee. The bill could not be passed before the expiry of the 15 Lok Sabha and hence got lapsed.
In the meanwhile, the original petitioners moved the CIC again against the non-compliance of its orders by the political parties. The CIC conducted two hearings on the matter in November 2014 & January 2015. The political parties decided not to send any representative to these hearings. After the hearings, the CIC in a fresh order in March 2015 reiterated its earlier ruling and effectively said that it cannot do more than issuing an order and it is not in a position to get its own order implemented. Following this, the petitioners have approached the Supreme Court.
Section 29C of the Representation of People Act (R.P. Act), 1951, mandates that all donations made to Political Parties by any individual or a company, in excess of Rs. 20,000 should be reported to the Election Commission (EC) before the due date. The issue with such a rule is that parties list the names of only such individuals/companies who donate in excess of Rs 20000. The donations below Rs 20000/- do not have any record. The reports compiled by ADR based on the information available with the Election Commission reveal a very dangerous trend. Close to 75% of all the donations to political parties fall into the below 20000 category. In other words, there is no record of the source of funds for almost 3/4 of the funds received by parties. In some political parties, 100% donations fall into this category. This is one of the major reasons for demanding greater transparency in political party funding so that people get to know the source of funds. Most parties mention sale of coupons, small donations as the source but it is impossible to verify because they do not submit any proof to the Election Commission. If they come under the RTI act, then citizens can ask for such information from the political parties.
The transparency in the functioning of Political Parties was also recommended by the Law Commission of India in their 170th Report on ‘Reform of Electoral Laws (1999)’. It said, “On the parity of the above reasoning, it must be said that if democracy and accountability constitute the core of our constitutional system, the same concepts must also apply to and bind the Political Parties which are integral to parliamentary democracy. It is the Political Parties that form the Government, man the Parliament and run the governance of the country. It is therefore, necessary to introduce internal democracy, financial transparency and accountability in the working of the Political Parties. A political party which does not respect democratic principles in its internal working cannot be expected to respect those principles in the governance of the country. It cannot be dictatorship internally and democratic in its functioning outside.”
Even the 255th report of the Law Commission of India on ‘Electoral Reforms’ made certain recommendations on contributions, reporting, Disclosure etc.

source: news-factly

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

author: Sai Krishna Muthyanolla


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Political Parties & their Changing stands on NRC & CAA
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
December 27, 2019
Both the CAA & NRC have been contentious issues which  led to widespread protests across the country. Various political parties changed their stand on these issues over a period of time. We take a look at the parties and their changing stand on these issues.
TheNational Register of Citizens (NRC) and Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) havebeen contentious issues since their conception. Refugees, illegal migration,cultural identity, language, religion etc are few of the many factors that haveinfluenced the discourse around citizenship and NRC.
Variouspolitical parties over a period of time have changed their stand depending ontheir political alliance, prevailing mood, political opportunity etc.
Inthis story, we look at the different stands taken by the political parties and theirleaders on NRC & CAA.
Shiv
Sena – from a key proponent of NRC to Uncertainty
ShivSena was a long-term ally of BJP and was one of the most ideologically closepartners in NDA.  Unlike its currentuncertain stand on CAA and NRC, the party earlier had an assertive stand onthese issues.
In August 2018, Shiv Sena came out in support of Narendra Modi’s government with respect to the implementation of NRC.
Postthe implementation of NRC in Assam, Shiv Sena MP Arvind Sawant, who was alsothe Union Minister for Heavy Industries in Narendra Modi’s cabinet has laudedthe NRC activity undertaken in Assam.
Speaking
to reporters on 31 August 2019, he stated that NRC in Assam washelpful in resolving the problems of original inhabitants of that region, andhence they supported the government. He further went on to say that the sameneeds to be implemented in Mumbai as well.
Whenthe Citizen Amendment Bill (CAB) was presented in the Lok Sabha, Shiv Senavoted in favour of the bill. However, when the bill was presented in the RajyaSabha, the party abstained from voting and were
not present when the voting process took place in the house.
On its part, Shiv Sena maintained that they staged a walkout from the Rajya Sabha since they did not get any satisfactory answers to their concerns over the bill.
The official stance of Shiv Sena on CAA is still uncertain as they await the Supreme Court’s judgement on a clutch of petitions filed on the constitutionality of the CAA. Meanwhile, Uddhav Thackeray, the CM of Maharashtra and Shiv Sena chief while meeting a delegation of Muslim representatives recently, stated that CAA would not be implemented in Maharashtra.
Its’coalition partners in Maharashtra government i.e. INC & NCP are opposing NRC and CAA, which may be influencingthe recent shift away from Shiv Sena’s pro-NRC stand.
Congress:
Support NRC & Oppose CAA in Assam, but oppose both elsewhere
TheIndian National Congress is at the forefront
of opposing both CAA as well as NRC. The party has voted againstthe bill in both the Lok Sabha as well as the Rajya Sabha.
TheCongress and its allies across the country are leading the protests in opposing
CAA and NRC. Contrary to its firm stand against the nationwideNRC, the Congress was supportive of NRC in Assam.
Inan interview in July 2018, the former Congress Chief Minister of Assam, TarunGogoi claimed that it is the Congress party which initiated the process of NRC in Assam.
TheBJP, whose government undertook the activity of NRC in Assam following thedirections of the Supreme court, claims that it is in accordance with the Assamaccord, signed by Rajiv Gandhi, the former Prime Minister of India fromCongress party in 1985, that NRC in Assam was undertaken.  Factly has written a story earlier, which provides details of the Assam Accord.
The opposition of the Congress about the NRC in Assam was with respect to the implementation, especiallywith claims of over 40 lakh people being excluded in the draft NRC. Meanwhile,Assam’s state Congress has not been clear in its opposition to NRC when thedraft was released.
Inan attempt
to counter CAA, the Assam state Congress  made public statements supporting NRC andclaimed that CAA goes against the purpose of NRC and the tenets of the AssamAccord.
Mamata
Banerjee: Opposed illegal migrants a decade ago, now opposes NRC & CAA
MamataBanerjee, the chief minister of West Bengal and chief of Trinamool Congress isone of those CMs who made a public statement that they would not be supportingthe implementation of CAA in their state.
On05 December  2019, Parliamentary affairsminister of West Bengal, Partha Chatterjee stated that the party would be opposing NRC & CAB.
While,as per their current stand, Mamata Banerjee and TMC state that there is fear ofpeople losing their citizenship status through the NRC, she had in 2005 raised the issue of illegal Bangladeshi
immigrants in West Bengal, when she was in the opposition.
One of the main concerns of TMC about the NRC in Assam was the possible migration of those who could not prove their citizenship into West Bengal and also a backlash towards the Bengalis living in Assam and North-East.
By extending citizenship under CAA to the persecuted minorities from the three countries, the concern is that West Bengal might need to absorb a significant portion of such migrants from Bangladesh as West Bengal shares a long boundary with Bangladesh.
Some
Regional Parties announce opposition to NRC after supporting CAA
While Shiv Sena voted for CAB in the Lok Sabha and abstained from voting in the Rajya Sabha, other regional parties like TRS, DMK have voted against it in both the houses.
However,parties like JD(U), BJD, YSRCP , TDP, AIADMK, Akali Dal etc have voted infavour of CAB in both the houses.  The BJPwas able to pass the bill in Lok Sabha due to its own majority, however, in theRajya Sabha, these regional parties played the key role in ensuring the billwas passed where BJP did not have the required numbers on its own.
However,post the passage of the CAB in parliament, few of these regional parties announcedtheir opposition to a nationwide NRC.
Naveen Patnaik, CM of Odisha and the Chief of BJD said that they would not be supporting NRC. He reiterated that the reason for supporting CAB was because the bill applies only to foreigners and does not have any bearing on Indian Citizens.
Similarly, YSRCP which supported CAB in both the houses, confirmed that they would be opposing NRC in any form. The Deputy Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, SB Amzath Basha has on 18 December 2019, conveyed their party’s stand on NRC and clarified that they supported CAB only after receiving assurances from the centre that it would not be affecting the Muslims who are citizens of the country.
AkaliDal, an ally of BJP while supporting CAB in both the houses has raised the
question of not including Muslims in the CAB.
Continuingtheir stand to include Muslims in Citizenship Bill, Akali Dal has recently saidthat they would not
be supporting NRC.
Meanwhile,JD (U) which is a key ally of BJP in the ruling coalition in Bihar
is split on the issue of CAB and NRC. The party has supported CABin both the houses. However, since the beginning,  there has been dissent within the party aboutthe leadership’s stand especially of Nitish Kumar, the CM of Bihar and partychief. Party’s General secretary Pawan Varma and Party’s Vice President Prashant
Kishore were few of the senior leaders who have expressedtheir dissent. The JD(U) has now
announced that they are also against a nationwide NRC anddemanded that the BJP immediately convent a meeting of NDA allies on the issue.
BJP now backtracks, says no official discussion on NRC yet
Addressingthe Rajya Sabha on 20 November 2019, Union Home Minister Amit Shah stated that there would be a nationwide NRC. There has also been a mention of the samein BJP’s manifesto for 2019 General elections.
However,addressing a political rally recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that,there has been no discussion on NRC by his government since 2014. Furthermore,Amit Shah in an interview with ANI has stated that currently there is no discussion on a nationwide NRC.
Most
parties vacillated in their support or opposition to NRC
Most of the political parties have had a change in their stand on CAA and NRC over a period of time.  For a party like INC, which has a pan-India base, its views on NRC in Assam and for rest of India varies. Even the rationale for opposing CAA is different when it comes to the North-East and the rest of India.
TrinamoolCongress had its apprehensions about illegal migrants. However, now it has a majorconcern about exclusion in the name of religion in CAA-2019.
Thecountry has witnessed widespread protests in opposition to CAA, especially overexclusion of Muslims and prospect of a nationwide NRC. The extent of thesecontinuing protests could have influenced the political parties to change theirstand accordingly. It is surprising to note that political parties that havesupported the CAB are now trying to differentiate between CAA and NRC and theirdiverse stand on both these issues.

created: December 27, 2019


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BJP Government toes the Congress line, says Political Parties cannot be brought under RTI - Factly
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
August 25, 2015
The issue of political parties coming under the ambit of Right to Information Act was in the news again after the Supreme Court issued notices to the six national parties to explain their stand. The issue dates back to 2013 when the Central Information Commission made a historic order bringing the six national parties under RTI. The BJP government in its counter affidavit in the Supreme Court said that the political parties cannot be brought under the RTI act.
The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) had filed a Writ Petition in the Supreme Court against the Government of India and the six National Parties that failed to comply with the Central Information Commission order bringing these parties under the ambit of the Right to Information (RTI). The Supreme Court had admitted this petition and issued notices to the six National parties as well as the Government of India.  Now the Government of India filed a counter affidavit in the Supreme Court saying that the Political Parties cannot be brought under the RTI act, thus toeing the line taken by the previous UPA government.
The CIC Order
The full bench of the Central Information Commission (CIC) in its historic order on June 3, 2013 ruled that the Six National Parties (INC, BJP, CPI, CPM, BSP & NCP) are public authorities under Section 2(h) of the RTI act and that they are supposed to comply with the provisions of the act. The order cited the following reasons in detail for categorizing the political parties as Public Authorities.
The political parties on their part said that none of the benefits can be construed as substantial financing as such practices exist in most democracies. But the CIC did not agree with them.
What happened after that?
The six National parties did not comply with the decision of the CIC by not appointing a Public Information officer (PIO). In the meanwhile, the political parties unanimously decided to introduce a bill in the Lok Sabha towards the end of 2013, to amend the RTI act. This amendment would effectively nullify the CIC order and exempt Political Parties from RTI. This amendment was also supposed to be retrospective in nature. After a public outcry, the bill was referred to a department related standing committee. The bill could not be passed before the expiry of the 15 Lok Sabha and hence got lapsed.
In the meanwhile, the original petitioners moved the CIC again against the non-compliance of its orders by the political parties. The CIC conducted two hearings on the matter in November 2014 & January 2015. The political parties decided not to send any representative to these hearings. After the hearings, the CIC in a fresh order in March 2015 reiterated its earlier ruling and effectively said that it cannot do more than issuing an order and it is not in a position to get its own order implemented. Following this, the petitioners have approached the Supreme Court.
What did the Government say now?
The Government of India in its counter affidavit in the Supreme Court said that the CIC has made a very liberal interpretation of Sec 2(h) of the RTI act and that it led to an erroneous conclusion that political parties are public authorities under the RTI act.
The counter affidavit further said that the RTI act was never visualized to bring political parties within the ambit of the RTI act. It went onto say that the bringing political parties under the ambit of the RTI act would hamper the smooth internal working of the parties and that political rivals with malicious intentions would file RTI applications thereby adversely affecting the functioning of the parties.
The government in its counter affidavit also contended that there are already provisions in the Representation of People Act, 1951, as well as the Income Tax act of 1961 that lead to transparency regarding the financial aspects of the political parties.
The counter affidavit then goes onto cite the relevant provisions of the above said acts in detail. The counter affidavit also mentions the bill introduced in the Lok Sabha to amend the RTI act during the UPA regime that, lapsed with the dissolution of the 15 Lok Sabha.
What does this mean?
We will have to wait and see how the Supreme Court responds. But one thing is clear, that all the political parties are united sans ideology when it comes to parties being brought under the ambit of the RTI act. While there might be genuine concerns about the potential misuse by political opponents, neither the government nor the political parties have come forward with any plan to implement the recommendations of the various Law Commission reports regarding financial transparency of political parties.


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When is a Political Party recognized as a National or State Party? - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
May 29, 2019
Trinamool Congress became the 7th political party to be recognized as a National Party in September 2016. But when is a political party recognized as National or State?
All India Trinamool Congress became the 7th political party to be recognized as a National Party in the country in the year 2016. BJP, Congress, CPI, CPI(M), BSP & NCP are six other political parties to be recognized as National Parties. But when is a party recognized as a State or National Party and what are the advantages of being recognized?
The Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968
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.
Recognition as a State Party
For any political party to be eligible for recognition as a State Party in a 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 now 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 to 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.
As on date, there are 7 national parties, more than 50 state parties and more than 2300 registered parties that are unrecognized. Independents and candidates from the unrecognized parties can choose the from the list of more than 100 free symbols available as their election symbol.


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Politicians and the media did mourn the death of former Indian hockey player Balbir Singh - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
June 29, 2022
A photo is being shared on social media claiming that the media and politicians have not mourned the death of former Indian hockey player Balbir Singh Sr. The photo shows a shrouded dead body with a Hockey stick lying on it. This post claims that Balbir Singh, a three-time Olympic gold medalist, was not given a worthy farewell by politicians and media after his death. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Politicians and the media did not mourn the death of former Indian hockey player Balbir Singh.
Fact: The former Indian hockey player Balbir Singh Sr died at the age of 95 at a hospital in Chandigarh on 25 May 2020. At that time, all the mainstream media channels have covered the news of Balbir Singh’s death. Several prominent politicians including Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed their grief over the death of Balbir Singh. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
On reverse image search of the photo shared in the post, a similar picture of a shrouded dead body with a hockey stick on it was found in a tweet made by TV9 Network Executive Director Aditya Raj Kaul on 25 May 2020. Aditya Raj Kaul tweeted this photo informing the death of former hockey player Balbir Singh Senior. The ‘Times of India’ published the same photo with a description, “Aged 95, Balbir Singh Sr. died in Chandigarh on this day last year (May 25, 2020) after fighting a pulmonary illness for two years”.
In May 2020, several mainstream media news channels have published articles and videos reporting the news of Balbir Singh’s death. A few of those articles and videos can be seen here, here and here. The three-time Olympic gold medalist Balbir Singh was cremated with full state honours on 25 May 2020. The then Punjab Sports Minister Rana Gurmeet Singh Sodhi and other senior officials from the Punjab Government and Chandigarh administration have reportedly attended the funeral of Balbir Singh Sr.
Mourning the death of Balbir Singh Sr, several prominent Indian politicians including Prime Minister Narendra Modi have tweeted on 25 May 2020. From all these pieces of evidence, it can be concluded that the media and politicians had mourned the death of Balbir Singh.
Padma Shri Balbir Singh Sr. Ji will be remembered for his memorable sporting performances. He brought home lots of pride and laurels. Undoubtedly a brilliant hockey player, he also made a mark as a great mentor. Pained by his demise. Condolences to his family and well wishers.
To sum it up, the media and politicians did mourn the death of former Indian hockey player Balbir Singh.


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Polls to 55 Rajya Sabha Seats: NDA may lose 4 to 5 seats
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
March 2, 2020
The biennial elections to 55 Rajya Sabha seats from 17 states are due later this month. 25 of these seats are currently held by the NDA while 18 are held by the UPA. The current assembly composition of these 17 states indicates that while the NDA may lose 4-5 seats, the UPA may gain around 3 seats.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) has issued notification for Biennial Elections to the Council of States (Rajya Sabha) to fill the seats of the members who would be retiring in April-2020. These elections will be contested for 55 seats across 17 states. The previous biennial elections were conducted in March 2018 and since then 14 states went to the polls, resulting in significant change in the composition of the respective state assemblies. The changes in the strength of various political parties in the state assemblies could be reflected in their respective strength in the Rajya Sabha. Here is an explainer on how the strength of parties/coalitions could change after these elections.
Ithas to be noted that the elections for Rajya Sabha follow the system ofproportional representation by means of Single
Transferable Vote (STV). Factly’s detailed explaineron the process of the Rajya Sabha (RS) elections can be read
here.
What
is the current strength of political parties in the Rajya Sabha?
For the purpose of this analysis, the following parties & coalitions are considered. Some of these parties are tagged as others since their support to the government has varied from issue to issue. It has to be noted that these projections are purely based on the strength of the respective coalitions in the state assemblies. Things could change based on local alliances, support to independent candidates etc.
NDA currently has 111 members in the Rajya Sabha and UPA’s strength is 69.  Another 58 members belong to parties which are not part of any of these alliances. Some of these parties have supported or opposed the government on various occasions.
BJP,which has a clear majority in the Lok Sabha has 82 members in the Rajya Sabhaand was able to push through few critical bills with the support of its NDAallies and few other parties. The upcoming biennial elections to 55 seats couldalter the strength of these alliances. The current strength of the alliances inthese 55 seats is given below.
Hereis a state by state look at probable changes in the Rajya Sabha compositionpost these elections.
Andhra
Pradesh (No. of Vacancies – 4)
INCheld two of these four seats. However, with no seats in AP legislativeassembly, it is set to lose the two seats. TRS and TDP have held one seat each.Since TRS has no presence in AP, it will lose this seat. Based on its currentstrength of 23 MLAs , even TDP is set to lose its seat. YSRCP which won a landslidevictory in the recent AP Assembly elections with 151 seats, would be winningall the 4 seats. The YSRCP is officially not with any of the alliances.
Net
Gain : NDA (0), UPA  (-2), Others (+2)
Assam
(No. of Vacancies – 3)
2 of these seats were held by INC and the other by NDA ally BPF (Bodoland People’s Front). However, with its current strength, the INC would be able to retain only one seat, that too with the support of AIUDF. The NDA could win two seats with its current strength.
Net
Gain : NDA (+1), UPA (-1), Others (0)
Bihar
(No. of Vacancies -5)
All these 5 seats are held by NDA today of which BJP has two seats and JDU has 3 seats. In view of the current strength in the state assembly, the BJP along with JD(U) can win 3 seats. The remaining two seats might go to the UPA led by the RJD.
Net
Gain : NDA (-2) , UPA (+2)
Chhattisgarh
(No. of Vacancies- 2)
BJPand INC hold one seat each currently. With its current strength in theassembly, INC is set to win both the Rajya Sabha seats from the state.
Net
Gain : NDA (-1), UPA (+1), Others (0)
Gujarat
(No. of Vacancies – 4)
BJPholds 3 of the 4 seats which are up for elections. However, with the fall intheir numbers in the current assembly compared to the earlier one, they arelikely to retain only 2 seats. Meanwhile, INC may improve its tally to 2 from theexisting one seat.
Net
Gain: NDA (-1), UPA(+1), Others (0)
Haryana
(No. of Vacancies -2)
INCand INLD currently share the two seats. With only 1 assembly seat, INLD is setto lose their Rajya Sabha. The BJP will be able to win one while the INC may retainits seat.
Net
Gain : NDA (+1), UPA(0), Others (-1)
Himachal
Pradesh (No. of Vacancies -1)
INCwhich currently holds the one seat up for election in Himachal Pradesh is setto lose the seat and BJP would be gaining it.
Net
Gain : NDA (+1), UPA (-1), Others (0)
Jharkhand
(No. of Vacancies – 2)
RJDholds one of the seats and the other seat is held by an independent. JMM, whichis now part of the UPA will be able to win one of the seats while the BJP hasenough MLAs along with JVM(P) to win another seat. However, the NDA won’t gainsince the Independent was supporting the BJP. UPA also won’t gain any seatsince the RJD’s seat is going to JMM.
Net
Gain : NDA (0), UPA (0), Others (0)
Madhya
Pradesh (No. of Vacancies – 3)
BJP currently holds 2 of the three seats while the INC holds one. INC which has majority of the seats in MP assembly, will win 2 seats i.e. a gain of one seat while the BJP will win the remaining.
Net
Gain : NDA (-1), UPA (+1), Others (0)
Maharashtra
(No. of Vacancies – 7)
In line with the complex post-poll alliance following the Maharashtra assembly elections in 2019, the Rajya Sabha elections can as well throw up complex equations. NCP currently holds 2 of the seven and the other three major parties of BJP, INC and Shiv Sena have a seat each. RPI(A), an NDA ally has one seat while the last one is held by an Independent who supported the BJP. In other words, the NDA currently holds three and the UPA holds four considering that the Shiv Sena is currently part of the UPA.  In view of the current coalition of Shiv Sena, NCP and INC , the three parties could win a total of 4 seats. BJP can win the rest of 3 seats.
Net
Gain : NDA (0), UPA (0), Others (0)
Manipur
(No. of Vacancies – 1)
BJP would be able to retain the Rajya Sabha seat in Manipur it currently holds.
Net
Gain : NDA (0), UPA(0), Others(0)
Meghalaya
(No. of Vacancies -1)
INCwith only 19 seats in Meghalaya Legislative assembly would be losing the RajyaSabha seat to NPP, who is an NDA ally. Hence there will be a net gain of oneseat to the NDA.
Net
Gain : NDA (+1), UPA (-1), Others (0)
Odisha
(No. of Vacancies-4)
Currently, BJD holds 3 of the 4 seats while the INC holds the remaining seat. The BJD can comfortably retain 3 of the seats. It is difficult to guess the winner of the remaining seat since no party has enough numbers to win this seat in its own. The fourth seat could either go to BJD or the BJP.  INC is not a position to retain its lone seat.
Net
Gain : NDA (0 or +1), UPA(-1), Others(0 or +1)
Rajasthan
(No. of Vacancies – 3)
BJPcurrently holds all the 3 Rajya Sabha seats. Since the INC won the 2018assembly elections in Rajasthan, it would be able to win 2 seats while the BJPcan retain only one seat.
Net
Gain: NDA (-2), UPA(+2), Others(0)
Tamil
Nadu (No. of Vacancies – 6)
AIADMK, an ally of the NDA currently holds 4 of the 6 seats up for election. DMKand CPI(M) hold the other two seats.  Basedon the current numbers in Tamil Nadu legislative assembly, AIADMK and DMK areset to share the 6 seats with 3 seats each. DMK is a part of the UPA.
Net
Gain : NDA (-1), UPA (+2), Others (-1)
Telangana
 (No. of Vacancies – 2)
BJPand INC currently hold one each of the two Rajya Sabha seats up for elections fromTelangana. The TRS has a comfortable majority in the assembly and will be ableto win both these seats.
Net
Gain : NDA (-1), UPA (-1), Others (+2)
West
Bengal  (No. of Vacancies – 5)
TMCcurrently holds 4 of the 5 seats up for election while the remaining seat isheld by an Independent who was earlier part of the CPI(M). The TMC will be ableto retain all these four seats. INC has a greater chance of winning the lastseat.
Net
Gain : NDA (0), UPA(+1), Others (-1)
NDA’s
strength might be reduced by 4 to 5 seats
WhileBJP and NDA had a thumping victory in the Lok Sabha elections, theirperformance in the assembly elections over the past 18 months was not on parwith the performance in Lok Sabha elections. Consequently, they lost manystates like Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand &Maharashtra to the opposition. This decreased strength in the state assemblies couldreflect in the results to the biennial elections to the Rajya Sabha.
Outof the 55 seats on offer, the NDA could win 20 or 21 which is a net loss of 4to 5 seats from its previous tally. The UPA could win 21 of the 55 seats whichis a net gain of 3 seats. The other parties could win 13 or 14 seats which is anet gain of 1 to 2 seats.
The net gain of other parties is not significant since the gains made by parties like the YSRCP & TRS are offset by the losses of the Communist parties.
The next set of biennial elections to the Rajya Sabha will take place in 2022 by which time assembly elections will take place in the States of Bihar, Assam, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu & West Bengal. Whether the NDA will be able to offset losses in other states will largely depend on its performance in these states.
Featured Image: Polls to 55 Rajya Sabha Seats


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‘Popular’, ‘Social Work’, ‘Demanded by Workers’ are some of the reasons by Political parties for selecting candidates with criminal cases
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
November 10, 2020
The 2020 Bihar Assembly general elections are the first general elections to be held following the Supreme Court’s directions to political parties to disclose reasons for selecting candidates with declared criminal cases. Analysis of these disclosures indicates that ‘Popular’, ‘Social Work’, ‘Demanded by Workers’ are some of the reasons mentioned by Political parties.
It is results time for the Bihar assembly general elections. These are the first general elections to be held following the Supreme Court’s Judgement that directed all political parties to disclose the details of pending criminal cases against contesting candidates along with reasons for their selection in a format called the C-7 form. But what are all the reasons mentioned by political parties in choosing these candidates in their C-7? In this story we look at all the mentioned by some of the major political parties like BJP, INC, JD(U), RJD and CPI-ML which contested the Bihar elections.
What is the Supreme Court’s judgement on Criminal antecedents?
On 13 February 2020, the Supreme Court in Public Interest Foundation vs Union Of India, directed political parties to publish criminal antecedents of contesting candidates along with reasons for fielding each one of these candidates, notwithstanding their ‘winnability’. Factly had written a detailed story about this order and the expectations.
1201 or 32% of all the candidates contested who contested Bihar elections have declared criminal cases
The 2020 Bihar assembly elections witnessed a 2% increase in candidates with declared criminal cases. This increased from 30% in 2015 to 32% in 2020, according to a report published by the Association for Democratic Reforms(ADR). In terms of percentage, JD(U) is the only major party where the percentage of candidates with declared criminal cases decreased from 57% in 2015 to 49% in 2020.
Among the other major parties RJD-(98) has fielded the highest number of candidates with criminal cases against themselves followed by BJP-(76), LJP-(70) , JD(U)-(56) and INC-(45) as against 61, 95, 21, 58 and 23 respectively in 2015 Bihar assembly elections. However, these numbers could be misleading as parties contested different number of seats in both 2015 & 2020. In 2015 for instance, the BJP contested the most seats whereas it is the RJD in 2020 that is contesting the most seats among major parties.
A total of 115 candidates have declared cases related to crime against women. Out of these, 12 candidates have declared rape cases (IPC Section- 376)  against themselves. 73 candidates have declared cases related to murder (IPC Section-302) and 278 candidates have declared cases related to attempt to murder (IPC Section-307) against themselves.
‘Popularity’ is the top reason for selection of the candidate with criminal cases
According to C-7 forms submitted by the major political parties (BJP, INC, JD(U), RJD, CPI-ML),  ‘Popularity’ followed by ‘Social Work’ and ‘Educational Background’ are the top reasons mentioned for the selection of candidates with declared criminal cases. It has to be noted that multiple reasons are mentioned for each candidate and hence the totals for all the reasons put together would be more than the total number of candidates.
While BJP and JD(U) have mentioned ‘Social Work’ as the topmost reason, the INC, RJD and  CPI-ML have mentioned ‘Educational background’, ‘Popularity’ and ‘Popularity and False case’ as the topmost  reasons for the selection of candidates with criminal cases. ‘High probability of Victory’, ‘Demanded by party workers’, ‘Trivial & False cases’ are some of the other reasons mentioned by the major parties.
‘Demanded by party workers’  followed by ‘Trivial cases’, ‘High probability of Victory’, ‘Previous experience’ and ‘Popularity’ are the top 5 reasons mentioned by BJP, INC, JD(U), RJD and CPI-ML while selecting the candidates with declared criminal cases.
BJP has mentioned ‘Social Work’ as the topmost reason while INC, JD(U), RJD have mentioned ‘Demanded by party workers’, ‘Popularity’, ‘Popularity’  as the topmost reason respectively. CPI-ML has stated that ‘Candidate is the best choice’ and ‘cases are false & political in nature’ as the reasons for almost all the candidates.
Candidates with highest number of criminal cases chosen for their ‘Popularity’
Top five candidates with the highest number of criminal cases have been chosen for their ‘popularity’ and because the cases against them are false. BJP and JD(U) are the only parties which have mentioned that they have selected the candidate because of their relief work during COVID-19 pandemic. Only JD(U) has stated that they want to give an opportunity to women or minority candidates in the fray. Vague reasons like the candidate is matriculated, spouse is former public representative are few of the other reasons mentioned by parties in selecting the candidates with criminal cases
The Disclosures sound more like a formality
While the disclosure of reasons is a step in the right direction towards increasing accountability and transparency in the decision making of political parties, we may not see dramatic changes in the quality of candidates as noted by Trilochan Sastry, one of the founders of ADR, in an article in ‘The Hindu’. It is quite clear that these reasons won’t add anything to the existing pool of information available on the criminal antecedents of contesting candidates. The intention of the Supreme Court in directing such disclosures was that the political parties would be forced to think in the direction of choosing candidates with a clean record, than those with declared criminal cases. That at least doesn’t seem to have happened in the 2020 Bihar elections.

created: November 10, 2020


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Population Growth: Migrants in Urban districts & Locals in districts of Northern states are driving factors
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
August 29, 2019
Comparison of population data from the 2001 and
2011 census for some of the highly populated and high growth districts
indicates that migrants in urban districts and locals in districts of the Hindi
heartland states are the driving factors for population growth.
As highlighted in an earlier story of Factly, the Hindi speaking states havecontributed  majorly towards thepopulation growth in India. In most of these states, the high population growthis witnessed across districts with more than 2/3of the districts registeringa population growth rate more than the national average.
There are few districts in these statesand few others across the rest of India, where the population growth rate issignificantly high. The actual population in these districts is also high whichin turn has a significant impact on the overall population growth.
Urban districts are among the highest populated
districts with varying population growth rates
Most of the top-20 highly populateddistricts in India are urban districts. With the exception of few districts,the rest of them registered population growth rates that are significantlyhigher than the national population growth rate.
The district of Thane, which comprisesparts of the India’s most populous city of Mumbai is the largest district bypopulation as per 2011 census. It has a population of 1.1 crores and registereda population growth rate of 36% during the 2001-11 period.
Other districts with large populationand have registered a high growth rate include -Bangalore, Pune, Ahmedabad,Murshidabad, Jaipur, Nashik, Surat, Allahabad, Patna, Rangareddy and PurbaChamparan. All these districts have registered growth rates that are more thanIndia’s average over 2001-2011 period. With the exception of Purba Champaran,the rest of the districts are Urban centers.
On the other side, there are districtswith large population that have registered lower population growth ratecompared to the national average. The districts of Medinipur and NorthTwenty-Four Parganas, which have the 2 & 3 largestpopulation in India registered population growth rate of 14.6% and 12.1%respectively. Other highly populated districts with lower population growthinclude – Mumbai Suburban, Bardhhaman, Hugli, Nadia and East Godavari.
It can be noted that of these districtswith lower population growth rate, majority of them (Medinipur, North Twenty-FourParganas, Bardhhaman, Hugli and Nadia) are in West Bengal and East Godavari inAndhra Pradesh, a reflection of the lower population growth rate in therespective states despite larger population in the district.
Higher migrant population cause for
higher population growth rate in major Urban districts
Twenty-five (25) districts with aminimum population of 40 lakh as per the 2011 census and a population growthrate of over 20% were considered for following analysis. Majority of these districtsbelong to the Hindi heartland states with India’s major urban centers being theexception.
The higher population growth rateobserved among the major urban districts correlates with the increase in theshare of migrant population. For instance, in 2001, Thane had a ratio of 52:48for local and migrant population, which as per 2011 census has flipped to49:51.
Bangalore had a local & migrantratio of 70:30 in 2001, whereas the share of migrant population has increasedto 43% as per the 2011 census. This has resulted in 47% population growth rate overthe 2001-11 period.
The district of Rangareddy surroundingHyderabad has also seen an increase in the share of migrant population from 30%to 44% (this district registered a population growth rate of 48%).
The other urban districts of Pune,Ahmedabad, Surat & Ghaziabad (near New Delhi) have also recorded asubstantial growth in share of migrant population which correlates with thesubstantial increase in respective population growth rates.
The district of Kancheepuram alsoregistered a population growth rate of 39% which is an exception for state ofTamil Nadu. During this period, the share of migrant population has increasedfrom 16% to 40% which explains the high population growth rate.
Unlike in the case of above mentioned districts,the other districts with high population and high growth rates have not seen muchof a variance in the local and migrant population ratio.  Most of these districts are located in theHindi heartland states of UP & Bihar and have high share of localpopulation compared to the migrant population. Therefore, the high populationgrowth rates, unlike in the earlier case can be attributed to the increase in thelocal population.  A marginal increase inthe share of migrant population is observed in most of these districts.
Less variance in the share of
population of the major religions in the highly populated districts.
As per 2001 census, the share ofpopulation who identify themselves as Hindu was 80.45% and as Muslim being 13.4%.Christians, Sikhs, Jains and others made up the rest of the population. As per2011 census, Hindus comprise 79.8% of population and Muslims make up 14.2% ofthe population. The marginal change reflected at the national level for therespective religions is similarly reflected in the highly populated districtswith higher population growth rate.
With the exception of Murshidabad inWest Bengal and Moradabad in UP, the rest of the highly populated districts havea majority of Hindu population in line with the national share of Hindupopulation.
Murshidabad and Moradabad had 35.9% and53.8% Hindu population in 2001 with share of Muslim population being 63.7% and45.5% respectively. However, as per the 2011 census, in these two districts, therespective figures for Hindu population are 33.2% and 52.1% and that of Muslimpopulation is 66.3 % and 47.1% respectively. Raipur (95.5%), Patna (91.8%),Agra (89.6%), Samastipur (89.4%), Kancheepuram (89.8%), Gaya (88.2%), andJaipur (88.2%), have comparatively higher share of Hindu population than thenational average as per 2001 Census. They show a marginal variance as per 2011census with the share of Hindu population as indicated in the chart below.
Population growth rate in the highly
populated districts may not be linked to any specific community
There is very little variance in the population share of various religious communities between 2001 & 2011 as far as the highly populated districts are concerned. Further, the difference in growth rates of these communities is in line with the trend of overall population growth rate. Little or no variance between the population share of the respective communities shows that, religious community may not be an influencing factor for population growth, at least in the high population & high growth districts. Initiatives by respective local and state administrations are key in controlling the population growth rates as evident from the southern states. The trend of migration, especially towards urban and semi-urban locations is on the rise and the migrant population is contributing towards the population growth rates as is evident from the data related to the major urban districts.
Featured Image: Migrants in Urban districts


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Post claiming that it is not mandatory to use helmets in the municipal corporation boundaries is false. - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
October 17, 2019
A post with a lawyer’s name ‘Devendra Pratap Singh Chauhan’ is being shared on Facebook with a claim that it is not mandatory to use helmets in the municipal corporation boundaries, and also that the court has rejected inspection of helmet usage in all states. Let’s try to analyze the claim made in the post.
The court has rejected inspection of helmet usage in all states. It is not mandatory to use helmets in the municipal corporation boundaries.
Fact: Devendra Pratap Singh Chauhan has posted a video on his Facebook wall in June clarifying that there is no truth in the message which was circulating under his name. Also, no information was found about the verdict given by any court rejecting inspection of helmets in all states. In the recently passed ‘Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act 2019’ also, there is no exemption for the helmet rule in municipal corporation limits. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
When searched on Google about ‘Devendra Pratap Singh Chauhan helmet’ a video of him giving an explanation about the viral message was found. According to the video, there is no truth in that message which was circulating under his name.
He also posted an explanation in June about this viral message on his Facebook wall.
Also, neither the supreme court nor any other court has given a verdict rejecting helmet inspection in all states. In the recently implemented ‘Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act 2019’, section 129 talks about the usage of the helmet and does not mention any exemption within municipal corporation limits.
Articles about the enforcement of helmet rules in different states can be read here, here and here.
Lastly, the post, which is circulating with a lawyer’s name Chauhan, claiming that there is no need for helmet usage in municipal corporation boundaries is fake.
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created: October 17, 2019


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Post claiming that MBBS degree obtained from China is not valid in India is fake - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
July 21, 2020
A post is shared on social media claiming that the Union Government has removed that validity of MBBS degree from China in the country. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Central Government: ‘MBBS degree obtained from China is not valid in India’.
Fact: Central government has not made any such statements. Anyone who pursued MBBS or any other equivalent course elsewhere in the world (including China), has to pass ‘Foreign Medical Graduates Exam’ to start medical practice in India. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
When we searched for the information regarding the claim made in the post, we did not find any such announcement made by the central government. According to Embassy of India in Beijing, China website,  anyone who pursued MBBS or any other equivalent course elsewhere in the world (including China) apart from India, has to pass ‘Foreign Medical Graduates Exam’ to start medical practice in India. Also, according to the website, those who want to study MBBS in China had to clear ‘NEET-UG’
As per the information provided on the embassy website, every year the PRC Ministry of Education (MOE) issues a list of Institutions and scale of enrolment in China that are authorized to enrol international students for undergraduate clinical medical programs in English medium and MCI will issue eligibility certificates to only those who studied in these institutions and only those students are eligible to write FMGE exam.
List of accredited institutions/universities can be seen on Medical Council Of India website. For the academic year 2019-2020, 45 Chinese colleges have been listed on the website.
Even in the recently released FMGE exam bulletin there is no mention about the invalidity of the MBBS degree obtained in China. Also according to the embassy website, the pass percentage of students appearing for the FMGE has been very low and continues to be below 20%. For the year 2018-19 among the students who appeared for the FMGE exam, most number of students had pursued MBBS degree from China, the data of which can be seen here. Further information regarding FMGE exam can be found in this article by FACTLY.
According to The National Medical Commission Act, 2019 within three years from the act came into effect, ‘National Exit Test’ should be conducted for those undergraduates who are studying MBBS final year in India and also those who graduated in foreign countries to obtain a license to start medical practice in India.
To conclude, the post claiming MBBS degree obtained from China is not valid in India is FALSE.
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Poster saying, ‘Brahmins Are Foreigners, Their Homes Have ACs’ is morphed - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
August 6, 2021
A post is being widely shared on social media claiming that the attached image contains a poster saying, ‘Brahmins Are Foreigners, Their Homes Have ACs’. Let us fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Poster saying, ‘Brahmins Are Foreigners, Their Homes Have ACs’.
Fact: The poster is morphed. It is taken from an original poster saying ‘Brahmins Are Foreigners, Their DNA Is Eurasian’. The poster was displayed in a rally by the Bahujan Mukti Morcha who were protesting the incident of Bhima Koregaon, in January 2018. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
When reverse image search is done on the image, a similar image was found in a Facebook post. This Facebook post was published on 15 January 2018 by a page named ‘India News’. It simply says ‘Bahujan Kranti Morcha’.
When the image is observed closely, we can see that the text ‘Their Homes Have ACs’ (in Hindi) had been digitally added. The text alignment is also different – the text in the lower line is aligned differently from the text on the upper line.
Taking a cue that this could be a rally by ‘Bahujan Kranti Morcha’, we searched for similar images. We found a Facebook post saying that these were people of Bahujan Kranti Morcha protesting against the Bhima Koregaon incident, in Bhiwani District Haryana. We searched for news articles about this protest and found an article by Dainik Jagran where the same poster could be seen in its image.
We searched for news articles about the posters displayed in the rally that ‘Brahmins’ DNA is Eurasian’, an article by India Today is found that mentions a controversial 2001-study where the study says, ‘upper caste Indians are closer to Europeans than lower castes to Asians’. But nothing is concluded yet and the ‘final verdict on that is far from out yet’.
To sum it up, the poster saying, ‘Brahmins Are Foreigners, Their Homes Have ACs’ is morphed.

created: August 6, 2021


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Posting a note on Facebook or Instagram will not prevent Facebook or Instagram from using one’s data - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
August 22, 2019
A note is being shared widely on social media with a claim that a new Facebook rule will come into effect tomorrow and only posting the note will prevent Facebook from using one’s data. The note is being shared in two versions: the Facebook version and the Instagram version. Let’s try to analyze the claim made in the post.
Posting the note on Facebook and Instagram profiles will prevent Facebook and Instagram from using one’s data.
Fact: The message (note) is a hoax which is being circulated on social media for the last 7 years. Both Facebook and Instagram have specified in their privacy/data policies that they use users’ data for specific operations. So, when a user sign’s up on these platforms, he/she gives permissions to these platforms to use his/her data. Instagram also mentions that a user ‘can end this license anytime by deleting your (his) content or account. However, content will continue to appear if you (he) shared it with others and they have not deleted it’. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
When looked for the news on this change in Facebook/Instagram’s privacy policy, it was found that the message/note is a hoax which is in circulation on social media from the last 7 years. The message again went viral this week. In an article by CBS News, it was found that a Facebook spokesperson (Facebook owns Instagram) has said to CBS News that there is no truth in this post.
In the ‘Terms of Use’ of Instagram, it can be seen that a user gives Instagram the license to use his content when he agrees to the permissions while signing up on the platform. Instagram also mentions: “You can end this license anytime by deleting your content or account. However, content will continue to appear if you shared it with others and they have not deleted it.” So, just posting a notice on your wall/feed will not prevent Instagram from using your content. Similar provisions can be seen in the ‘Data Policy’ of Facebook, where it mentions that it uses user data to show relevant ads and for customized experience.
A fact-check article by Snopes, when the same post went viral in 2012, can be read here.
To sum it up, posting a note on Facebook/Instagram will not prevent Facebook/Instagram from using your data.
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Who is in power
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
May 22, 2016
The political story of the last 5 years


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As Power availability improves, some states fall behind
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
October 13, 2017
While power availability in the country has significantly improved over the last few years, per capita availability of power in some states is just about 1/4th of the national average.
The Prime Minister recently launched the ‘Saubhagya’ scheme to ensure electrification for all willing households across the country.While we await the implementation of the scheme, data shows that availability of power has substantially improved in the last decade and at the same time some states have fallen behind. Per capita availability of power in 15 states is less than the national average and in some states is only about 1/4th of the national average.
Power requirement crossed 1000 billion units
The assessment of power requirement is made using the past data and trend analysis. This is done for each region/state and then aggregated at the national level. The power requirement at an All-India level almost doubled in 12 years between 2004-05 and 2015-16. The requirement in 2004-05 was 591 billion units. The requirement crossed 1000 billion units for the first time in 2013-14.
Only three states (Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh & Gujarat) reported a requirement of more than 100 billion units each in 2015-16. A total of nine (9) states reported a requirement of more than 50 billion units each. Except Uttar Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir, all the other states have reported to have met more than 90% of the requirement.  Five (5) states reported to have met 100% of the requirement.
Power requirement does not reveal the true picture
But the requirement figures do not reveal the true picture of power availability in various states since it is calculated based primarily on past trends. There are multiple states where more than 40% of the rural households are yet to electrified. As of August 2017, 56% of the rural households are yet to be electrified in Jharkhand followed by 55% in Nagaland and 53.5% in Bihar. In Uttar Pradesh, 49% rural households are yet to be electrified. In fourteen (14)  states, more than 20% rural households are yet to be electrified.
Some states way behind on per capita availability
As with the overall availability of power in the country, the per capita availability has also increased over the years. From 533 units per capita in 2004-05, the availability of power increased to 901 per capita in 2015-16. Except for the reduction in 2011-12, the per capita availability has increased continuously.
Per Capita Availability in Bihar & Jharkhand is just 1/4th the National average
Goa reported the highest per capita availability in the country  with 3512 units. Fourteen (14) states have reported a per capita availability of more than 1000 units. Fifteen (15) other states reported a per capita availability of power in 2015-16 which is less than the national average of 901 units. Bihar with 229 units reported the least per capita availability of all the states. This is almost 1/4th of the national average. Jharkhand also reported only 230 per capita units. Nine (9) states reported less than 500 units of per capita availability in 2015-16.

created: October 13, 2017


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Power Losses are three times Power Deficit in the Country
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
August 8, 2015
Power Cuts is one of the most important election issues in the country. Governments are on the overdrive to increase the generation capacity in a bid to reduce the power deficit. But data shows that the Aggregate Technical and Commercial (AT & C) losses in the country are almost three times the power deficit. In almost all the states, the power losses are 2-3 times the amount of power deficit.
Power Cuts is probably one of the important election issues across the country. Almost every sphere is affected by uninterrupted supply of power or the lack of it. States that have enough Power make it a point to highlight this in their bid to promote Industry & Investment. In this context, it is interesting to note that the aggregate Power Loss in the country is almost three times the amount of Power Deficit. In almost all the states, the losses are 2-3 times the amount of power deficit.
Power Deficit
At an all India level, the power deficit almost halved to 4.2% in 2013-14 from 8.7% the previous year. Though the complete data for 2014-15 is not yet available, data up to January 2015 indicates that the power deficit has come down to 3.8%.  The deficit was 8.5% in 2011-12. The steep fall in the deficit is because of the steep increase in power production while the demand has gone up only slightly.
Power Deficit in States
It is interesting to note that the states that had the most power deficit kept changing each year from 2011-12 to 2013-14. In 2011-12, Meghalaya almost had a 1/4 deficit followed by Jammu & Kashmir. Bihar, Madhya Pradesh & Maharashtra made up the top five. In 2012-13, Jammu & Kashmir had a 25% power deficit followed by Andaman & Nicobar. Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu & Bihar were the remaining states in the top five. In 2013-14, Andaman topped the charts with a 25% deficit followed by Jammu & Kashmir. Uttar Pradesh, Meghalaya & Karnataka were the remaining states in the top five.
But the following states were consistently in the top 10 power deficit states from 2011-12 to 2013-14 in no particular order.
Remarkable improvement in 2013-14
All the states in general improved the power deficit scenario going with the All India trend. But some states in particular have shown remarkable improvement in 2013-14. Bihar’s power deficit came down to 4.1% in 2013-14 from 21.3% in 2011-12. Madhya Pradesh’s power deficit on the other hand came down to 0.1% from 16.9% in 2011-12. Rajasthan’s power deficit was 0.3% in 2013-14 compared to 3.9% in 2011-12.
Aggregate Technical and Commercial (AT&C) Losses
In India, power distribution to the last mile is done by the Distribution Companies, popularly known as Discoms. Every state has one or more Discoms in charge of power distribution. Some states like Uttar Pradesh have five Discoms while some other states like Maharashtra has a single Discom.
Traditionally, losses in the power sector are accounted as Transmission & Distribution losses (T&D). These losses are accounted as a percentage of output. T&D losses, as a measure of grid losses, have been replaced by Aggregate Technical and Commercial (AT&C) Losses for better clarity. T&D losses together with loss in revenue collection give AT&C losses.
As per information available with the government, the following are the major factors responsible for AT&C losses.
Power Deficit Vs AT&C Losses
It is startling to note that AT&C losses are almost three times the amount of power deficit at an all India level. In 2011-12, the losses were 26.6% of the output while this came down to 25.4% in 2012-13, only a marginal improvement. In most developed countries, the losses are less than 10% and in Israel, the losses are just about 3%.
In almost half the states, the losses are more than 30% consistently across years. Some of the states that had the most power deficit like Jammu & Kashmir, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh are in the top 10 in terms of AT & C losses. In fact, in almost all the states, the percentage of losses is much greater (2-3 times) the percentage of power deficit.
It is clear that the Government needs to focus its energies on reducing losses than just improving the generation capacity.

created: August 8, 2015


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PPAC confirms that the Modi government repaid Oil Bonds worth only ₹ 3500 crore - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
September 29, 2018
BJP’s official twitter handle posted an infographic which said that the current government repaid more than  ₹ 1.3 lakh crore worth oil bonds which were issued during the previous UPA government. RTI response from PPAC under the Ministry of Petroleum, confirms that the Modi government repaid only ₹ 3,500 crore worth oil bonds while bonds worth more than ₹ 1.3 lakh crore are still pending.
What the economist PM Manmohan Singh said & did on petroleum prices? He said that money does not grow on trees & left unpaid bills of oil bonds worth Rs. 1.3 lakh crore. Modi govt paid off the pending bills with interest because ‘we should not burden our children’. #NationFirst pic.twitter.com/Z8zTV1kG1i
— BJP (@BJP4India) September 10, 2018
Factly had earlier done a Fact Check based on data available in the budget documents to conclude that the Modi government has only repaid oil bonds worth ₹ 3,500 crore. Now, the Petroleum Planning & Analysis Cell (PPAC) under the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas has confirmed that the government indeed repaid only ₹ 3,500 crore worth oil bonds.
What are oil bonds & who all issued these bonds?
Oil Bonds were issued by the governments during the days when the prices of petrol/diesel were regulated. Instead of paying the Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) for the subsidies extended on petrol/diesel & other oil products, the governments used to issue oil bonds as compensation to these companies which are like government securities. These securities are usually long dated securities of 10-20 years. For instance, look at this notification of the Oil Bonds issued during the  UPA.
Oil Bonds were issued by all the previous governments till 2010 when the petrol price was deregulated. Even the previous NDA government under Vajpayee issued oil bonds. In his budget speech of the 2002-03 budget, the then Finance Minister, Yashwant Sinha mentioned that the government will issue oil bonds.
What is the worth of Oil Bonds pending to be repaid by the government?
The PPAC’s reply clearly indicates that since 2004-05, Oil Bonds were issued on 17 occasions totaling an amount of ₹ 1.42 lakh crore. Since then, only six such bonds have matured and the government has repaid them. Two bonds matured in 2009, two in 2012 and the remaining two in 2015. The pending amount for bonds matured in 2009 & 2012 was repaid by the UPA-2 government. Only two bonds with a total amount of ₹ 3,500 crore (₹ 1,750 crore each) matured in 2015 and this amount was repaid by the current government. A total of 11 bonds are yet to mature with a total amount of more than ₹ 1.3 lakh crore. The earliest maturity is only in 2021.
What about interest on Oil Bonds?
The interest payments of Government of India are captured in a document titled ‘Interest Payments’ in the demand for grants of the Ministry of Finance under the expenditure budget. All the interest payments made by the government are given in this document including the interest on special bonds to oil companies. The data of the last 20 years suggests that various government (both UPA & NDA) have been paying interest on oil bonds. The interest liability increased substantially during the UPA-1 because of the issue of multiple oil bonds. The UPA-2 paid a total of ₹ 53,163 crore in interest for oil bonds in the 5-year of period between 2009-10 and 2013-14. On the other hand, the current NDA government paid a total of ₹ 40,225 crore in the 4 year period between 2014-15 and 2017-18. They have also budgeted an interest payment of ₹ 9989.96 crore in 2018-19.
The interest payments for the last 4 years also clearly indicate that there was no change in the outstanding amount, hence no repayments in the last four years except in 2015. Though it is true that the Modi government paid an interest of over ₹ 40,000 crore in the last 4 years, the UPA-2 had also paid similar if not a greater amount of interest during their term.
How do these payments match up with the increased excise duty on Petrol & Diesel?
The total amount of excise duty collected by the Government of India between 2014-15 & 2017-18 is ₹ 7,49,485 crore. During the same period, the government made a total payment of ₹ 43,725 crore towards repayment & interest on oil bonds. The payment on oil bonds is less than 6% of the total excise duty collected on petrol/diesel. Hence to say that this was the reason for increase in taxes does not seem justified.

created: September 29, 2018


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Prabhas did not comment on Pathaan's trailer being displayed on Burj Khalifa - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
January 18, 2023
A video on social media claims that actor Prabhas in an alleged recent press conference, said that ‘..It (Pathaan’s trailer playing on Burj Khalifa) is a very beautiful moment; I have never seen such a grand event before…’. This was allegedly his response to a reporter’s question about his reaction after seeing Pathaan’s trailer was displayed on the world’s tallest building Burj Khalifa. Let’s fact-check this claim through this article.
Claim: Actor Prabhas in a recent press meet lauded Pathaan’s trailer getting displayed on Burj Khalifa.
Fact: There are no news reports on Prabhas’ alleged comments, as claimed in the viral post. The video in the post is edited from an interview of Prabhas with ‘Film Companion’ YouTube channel in 2019. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
We performed a keyword search on the internet to see if any news media outlets have uploaded videos or published any news reports on Prabhas’s alleged comments on Pathaan trailer getting displayed on Burj Khalifa. The search results did not lead us to any conclusive evidence to prove that he has indeed made such statements. In the process, we also looked for relevant evidence on his Instagram page, where we could not find any posts in which he made these comments.
Also, to find out the origins of the clip of Prabhas’s press interaction shown in the viral video, we searched for his interview videos on YouTube. This search led us to an interview  of his and Shraddha Kapoor with Film Companion in 2019. The viral video contains bits from this interview, starting from 17:42 to 18:02. The viral post contains an edited version of these clips in which mics were added in front of Prabhas, and Pathan’s poster was added in the background.
To sum up, actor Prabhas has not commented anything on Pathaan’s trailer being displayed on Burj Khalifa.

created: January 18, 2023


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Pradeep Mishra’s son has passed 8th class and in fact got promoted to 9th class - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
May 18, 2022
A social media post that claims popular God man Pradeep Mishra’s son failed in 8 class is being widely shared across social media platforms. The viral post juxtaposes a video of Mishra where he advises students to offer a honey laced leaf of Bel to Shivling in order to pass the exam, with that of a news paper clip that reported about his son failing the 8 class exam. Through this article let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Popular God man Pradeep Mishra’s son failed to clear 8 class exam.
Fact: As per the news reports, Pradeep Mishra’s son has passed 8 class and in fact got promoted to 9. The school management also confirmed the same. However, they clarified that as per RTE act, he had to take reappear in exams for subjects where he scored low initially. This reappearance is misconstrued as him failing the exam.  Hence the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
This alleged news of Pradeep Mishra’s son failing 8 class went viral after Sehore district’s Congress spokesperson Pankaj Sharma claimed so. However, the available information related to the issue says otherwise.
Google search with relevant keywords yielded news articles that reported Pradeep Mishra’s son has passed 8 class and is admitted to 9 class. ‘Pandit Pradeep Mishra’s son Raghav Mishra is a student of Sharda Vidya Mandir Sehore. He has passed class VIII examination and has taken admission in class 9. We saw his mark sheet; he has not failed in any subject in the 8th examination. It is clear from this that politicization has also taken place to tarnish the reputation of Pradeep Mishra’ reported abplive.
As per this article, Pradeep Mishra’s son is studying in Sharda Vidya Mandir and the article also shared the mark-sheet of Pradeep Mishra’s son. Another news article which shared the mark-sheet of Mishra’s son can be read here. From this, it is evident that he is passed in all the subjects and got promoted to 9.
Digital news agency Lallantop contacted Gaurav Sharma, the class teacher of Pradeep Mishra’s son, according to Gaurav, ‘the story of the failure of the son of Pradeep Mishra is just a rumour. Term-2 numbers are made the base in the final result. The marks of Pradeep Mishra’s son were low in two papers of the same term-2, Maths, and Social Science. After that, he had to give re-exam and he passed in it. The Right to Education Act also says that if the marks are low, then there will be a chance for re-exam. Some people spread misleading news by calling this re-exam a failure. A total of ten children, including Pradeep Mishra’s son, gave the re-exams. Pradeep’s son has just reached the ninth standard and I am still his class teacher.’
Further, Lallantop spoke to Sehore district’s Congress spokesperson Pankaj Sharma, to which he said ‘Pradeep Mishra’s son failed in the first time but passed in the re-exam. I raised questions on failing in the paper before the re-exam.’
Thus, it is evident that reappearance in exams in subjects wherein he scored low is misconstrued as him failing 8 class. However, as per the RTE act, 5 and 8 class students are allowed to retake exams in they scored low marks.
To sum it up, Pradeep Mishra’s son has passed 8 class and in fact got promoted to 9 class.


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States will now play a greater role in the implementation of PMKVY - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
July 14, 2016
The Union Cabinet approved two major changes to the PMKVY scheme. States will now have a major role to play in this scheme with 25% of the targets assigned to them. The monetary reward to the student will now be replaced by a grant to the training partner.
Two years after coming into power, the NDA government has made a major change to the flagship skill development program of the government, the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY). In a major decision based on the recommendations of a sub group of Chief Ministers on Skill Development, the union cabinet has now approved allocating 25% of the total training targets to the state governments. The 25% of the total training targets (physical & financial) will now be allocated to the state governments to address the unique skill requirements in various states.
STAR & PMKVY
While different ministries/departments have been implementing their own skill development schemes for many years now, the mention of a mission-mode project to launch a world class skill development program was made in the budget speech of 2008-09. Thus NSDC was launched in 2009 to bring in uniform norms and scale up skilling activities across the country. The Government of India (GoI) holds a 49% stake in NSDC while the private sector holds 51% stake.
At present, there are more than 40 skill development programs of the Government of India (GoI) being implemented by 18 different central ministries/departments. Some the schemes follow the National Skills Qualifications Framework (NSQF), notified in the year 2013.
The first ever monetary reward scheme for skill development was launched in the year 2013 after it was announced in the 2013-14 budget.  Thus the STAR (Standard Training Assessment and Reward) scheme was launched in August 2013.
The STAR scheme was rechristened as PMKVY after the NDA came to power. Both PMKVY and STAR are Skill Certification & Monetary Reward programs. Both the schemes were implemented by the Government of India through the various Sector Skill Councils (SSCs) and NSDC. Training Partners affiliated to NSDC and SSCs are entrusted with the job of skilling. Thus state governments had very little role to play in the implementation of these schemes. The decision of the Union Cabinet seeks to change that.
States will have a major role to play & monetary reward dropped
The Union Cabinet has approved an outlay of Rs.12000 crore for PMKVY to impart skilling to one crore people over the next four years (2016-2020). PMKVY will impart fresh training to 60 lakh youth and certify skills of 40 lakh persons acquired non-formally under the Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL).
As per the decision of the Union Cabinet, State Governments would be involved through a project based approach under the PMKVY with 25% of the total training targets, both financial and physical. The financial budget for achieving 25% of the total training targets would be directly allocated to the States.
In another major change, PMKVY would now be a grant based model where the training and assessment cost would be directly reimbursed to training providers and assessment bodies instead of the monetary reward that was being extended to students.
However, financial support to trainees will be given in the form of travel allowance, boarding and lodging costs. Post placement support would be given directly to the beneficiaries through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT). PMKVY will also focus on skill training aligned to international standards for overseas employment in Gulf countries, Europe and other overseas destinations. There will be scholarship for student undergoing training in high end job roles under the Scheme.
Will these changes result in better outcomes?
There is definitely a need for a massive skilling initiative in India. As per National Policy for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship 2015, only 4.69% of the total workforce in India has undergone formal skill training as compared to 68% in UK, 75% in Germany, 52% in USA, 80% in Japan and 96% in South Korea.
The NSDC’s targets and achievements in the last few years present a mixed picture. While the skilling space was definitely galvanized, placements were definitely off the mark. The training targets were achieved, but that does not show in the placements. In the last two years, placements were less than 50% of the trainings completed. In fact, these placement numbers are not reflected in the statistics of the labour bureau.
(The numbers of 2014-15 include the numbers from the previous STAR scheme as well)
The mismatch between training and placement numbers could be because of the lack of proper monitoring, very little role for the states to play etc among other reasons. The monetary reward also became a tool for committing financial fraud leading to allegations of irregularities. The two major changes mooted now could make a significant impact. States can now choose the skill programs and courses relevant to the Industry in that state. This could in itself boost the placement numbers. The grant model would also reduce scope for irregularities provided it is coupled with a strong monitoring & evaluation system.


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Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
June 10, 2016
The Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana was launched recently to provide free LPG connections to 5 crore families across the country in the next 3 years. The scheme is a step in the right direction, but implementation will hold the key.
Under the recently announced Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana scheme, free LPG connections will be provided to women who belong to BPL (below-poverty-line) households. It has been estimated that nearly 5 crore families will benefit from this. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has chosen Ballia, a district in Uttar Pradesh, to launch this scheme as the district’s average gas penetration is one among the lowest in the country. This scheme was sanctioned by the Union Cabinet of Economic Affairs on 10 March 2016. According to available data, approximately Rs. 8000 Crore has been reserved for the scheme. According to the scheme, each beneficiary will receive monetary support of Rs.1600 to get a cooking gas connection.
Consequences of using other fuels for cooking
In India the poor especially those in rural areas have limited access to LPG (liquefied petroleum gas), which is the household cooking gas. The spread of cooking gas has mainly taken place in the semi-urban and urban areas covering mostly the affluent and the middle-class families. Additionally, serious health hazards are associated with the alternate fuels such as wood, dried cow dung, kerosene and low quality coal which the poor use for cooking. World Health Organization reports an estimated 5 lakh deaths a year in India are caused by unclean cooking fuels, while a much larger number suffer from a range of respiratory illnesses. The indoor air pollution caused by low quality fuels is responsible for a significant number of respiratory illnesses which occur among small children. Studies reveal that having an open wood fire in the kitchen is almost as poisonous as 400 cigarettes in an hour.
Serious health hazards caused
Crores of women and girls are exposed to household air pollution which is caused by the use of solid fuels such as coal, dung cakes or biomass which is used for cooking in improperly ventilated kitchens and houses. Health experts have confirmed that smoke released from the burning process contains hazardous substances such as particulate matter and carbon monoxide which may lead to disease like lung cancer, heart disease, stroke and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. According to WHO, around 3 billion people cook and heat their homes using open fires and simple stoves burning biomass (wood, animal dung and crop waste) and coal across the world and over 4 million people die prematurely from illness attributable to the household air pollution from cooking with solid fuels.
Implementation of the social welfare scheme
To tackle these challenges and promote well being of the economically challenged, the Ujjwala Yojana scheme has been announced. It is the first social welfare scheme which will be implemented by the Union Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas. All other schemes till date such as the Jan Dhan Yojana for opening of savings accounts, the Sukanya Sammridhi Accounts, etc. have been implemented by other government ministries. As LPG connections are provided to the below-poverty-line households, it will empower the disadvantaged women in our society and protect their health as well as the health of their family. Additionally, it will reduce the time which these women spend on foraging wood, dung and other cooking fuel. Additionally, the Ujjwala Yojana is also expected to provide the rural youth with additional employment opportunities in the cooking gas rural supply chain.
How to apply for the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY)
The eligible BPL candidates who are interested in the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana will have to go to the nearest LPG outlet or distribution center and ask for the prescribed application form. The application form can also be downloaded online. The applicants need to fill in their Aadhar number, contact details, savings account number, contact details and the declaration form on the last page. The applicants can opt either for a 5KG or 14.2 KG cylinder. Key documents that need to be submitted with the completely filled out form include:
The application form along with the attached documents will have to be submitted with the LPG office in the area. The LPG field officials will check the details of the applicant and match them against SECC (Socio Economic and Caste Census) data to confirm eligibility. The LPG gas cylinder will be provided as soon as the applicant is found eligible. The applicant can also opt for an EMI option to cover the stove’s cost and the cost of the first refill.
The subsidies for LPG would be provided directly into the savings accounts of the women in need so that the possibility of corrupt practices is eliminated. This measure is expected to also increase the number of savings account applications especially in the rural areas.
Eligibility Criteria for the Scheme
According to reports, the BPL families will be identified after consultation with the Union territories and the state government. The social welfare scheme will be implemented over a three years period, FY 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19. Covered under the “Give Back” programme, the PMUY scheme aims to provide five crore connections over a three year period
Ensuring Affordability
The move to provide concessional LPG connections is a crucial move in the right direction but additional steps need to be taken to ensure that all homes in India use modern fuel for cooking by 2019. Affordability is one major concern as households shift from solid fuels to modern fuels. Merely subsidized connections provided by the Ujjwala Yojana Scheme will not be sufficient. There have been state level schemes earlier like the Deepam Scheme in Andhra Pradesh, but they were not successful in meeting their goals. As per the current scheme, these low income households will still have to bear the cost of the stove and other accessories as well as the price of the LPG cylinder (less the subsidy).
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Prahlad Jani died in May 2020; not recently - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
October 12, 2022
A photo of Prahlad Jani Baba is being widely shared on social media claiming that he died on 10 October 2022. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Prahlad Jani died on 10 October 2022.
Fact: According to several media reports, Prahlad Jani died on 26 May 2020, not recently. Hence the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
We searched the internet about Prahlad Jani and found many news reports about him. According to these reports, Prahlad Jani had died on 26 May 2020. These reports can be read here and here.
According to a BBC report, Prahlad Jani claimed that he had given up eating and drinking for the last 79 years and meditation gives him energy. Though several tests were conducted on this breatharian monk, several doctors questioned the credibility of the tests and dismissed the observation results as impossible.
To sum it up, Prahlad Jani died on 26 May 2020, not recently

created: October 12, 2022


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చంద్రయాన్-3 ప్రయోగాన్ని అపహాస్యం చేసే విధంగా ట్వీట్ పెట్టారని కర్ణాటకలో ఫైల్ అయిన కేసులో పోలీసులు ప్రకాష్ రాజ్‌ను ఇంకా అరెస్ట్ చేయలేదు - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
August 23, 2023
నటుడు ప్రకాష్ రాజ్ చంద్రయాన్-3కి సంబంధించి పెట్టిన ఒక పోస్టు గురించి బెంగళూరు పోలీసులు అతన్ని అరెస్ట్ చేసి చితకబాదారంటూ సోషల్ మీడియాలో ఒక పోస్ట్ బాగా షేర్ అవుతోంది. సాయివిశ్వతేజ అనే వెబ్సైట్ పబ్లిష్ చేసిన ఒక ఆర్టికల్‌ను షేర్ చేస్తూ ఈ క్లెయిమ్ చేస్తున్నారు. ఆ పోస్టులో ఎంతవరకు నిజముందో చూద్దాం.
క్లెయిమ్: నటుడు ప్రకాష్ రాజ్‌ను బెంగళూరు పోలీసులు అరెస్ట్ చేసి చితకబాదారు
ఫాక్ట్ (నిజం): ప్రకాష్ రాజ్ సోషల్ మీడియా సైటు ‘X’లో పెట్టిన ఒక ట్వీట్ చంద్రయాన్-3 ప్రయోగాన్ని అపహాస్యం చేసే విధంగా ఉందని ఆరోపిస్తూ కొందరు హిందూ సంఘాల నాయకులు కర్ణాటక బాగల్‌కోట్ జిల్లాలోని బనహట్టి పోలీస్ స్టేషన్లో ప్రకాష్ రాజ్‌పై కేసు ఫైల్ చేశారు. కానీ, బనహట్టి పోలీసులు ఈ కేసుకి సంబంధించి ప్రకాష్ రాజ్‌ను ఇంతవరకు అరెస్ట్ చేయలేదు. కావున, పోస్టులో చేస్తున్న క్లెయిమ్ తప్పుదోవ పట్టించే విధంగా ఉంది.
పోస్టులో చేస్తున్న క్లెయింకు సంబంధించిన వివరాల కోసం కీ పదాలను ఉపయోగించి వెతికితే, చంద్రయాన్-3 ప్రయోగానికి సంబంధించి ప్రకాష్ రాజ్ సోషల్ మీడియా సైటు ‘X’లో పెట్టిన ఒక పోస్టుకి సంబంధించి అతనిపై కేసు నమోదైందని తెలిసింది. కర్ణాటక రాష్ట్రం బాగల్‌కోట్ జిల్లాలో ఈ కేసు నమోదైనట్టు తెలిసింది.
Actor Prakash Raj booked in Karnataka for mocking 'Chandrayaan-3'
Read @ANI Story | https://t.co/6SdNcQuidc#Chandrayaan_3 #PrakashRaj #Karnataka pic.twitter.com/HpRslssr6z
ప్రకాష్ రాజ్ ‘X’లో పెట్టిన ట్వీట్ భారత్ ప్రతిష్టాత్మకంగా చేపట్టిన చంద్రయాన్-3 ప్రయోగాన్ని అపహాస్యం చేసే విధంగా ఉందని ఆరోపిస్తూ శివానంద్ గైక్వాడ్ అనే వ్యక్తి, మరి కొందరు హిందూ సంఘాల కార్యకర్తలతో కలిసి బాగల్‌కోట్ జిల్లాలోని బనహట్టి పోలీస్ స్టేషన్లో కేసు ఫైల్ చేశారు. ఈ విషయాన్ని రిపోర్ట్ చేస్తూ పలు వార్తా సంస్థలు ఆర్టికల్స్ పబ్లిష్ చేశాయి. ఆ ఆర్టికల్స్‌ను ఇక్కడ, ఇక్కడ మరియు ఇక్కడ చూడవచ్చు. కానీ, బనహట్టి పోలీసులు ఈ కేసుకి సంబంధించి ప్రకాష్ రాజ్‌ను అరెస్ట్ చేసినట్టు ఎక్కడ ఆధారాలు లేవు.
‘విక్రమ్ ల్యాండర్ చంద్రుడి నుంచి పంపుతున్న మొదటి ఫోటో’ అంటూ ఒక వ్యక్తి ఛాయ్ (టి) తయారుచేస్తున్న ఫోటోని షేర్ చేస్తూ ప్రకాష్ రాజ్ 20 ఆగస్టు 2023 నాడు ‘X’లో ఒక ట్వీట్ పెట్టారు.  ఈ ట్వీట్‌కు వస్తున్న వ్యతిరేకత గురించి ప్రకాష్ రాజ్ స్పందీస్తూ మరొక ట్వీట్ కూడా పెట్టారు. ద్వేషం ద్వేషాన్ని మాత్రమే చూస్తుంది అని, కేరళ ఛాయ్‌వాలాల గురించి నీల్ ఆర్మ్‌స్ట్రాంగ్ రోజుల నుండి చేస్తున్న ఒక జోక్‌ను సూచించే విధంగా మాత్రమే ఆ ట్వీట్ పెట్టాను అని ప్రకాష్ రాజ్ స్పష్టం చేశారు. ఈ కేసు వివరాలను కర్ణాటక పోలీస్ వెబ్సైటులో అందుబాటులోకి పెట్టిన వెంటనే ఈ ఆర్టికల్‌ను అప్డేట్ చేస్తాము.
Hate sees only Hate.. i was referring to a joke of #Armstrong times .. celebrating our kerala Chaiwala .. which Chaiwala did the TROLLS  see ??  .. if you dont get a joke then the joke is on you  .. GROW UP #justasking https://t.co/NFHkqJy532
చివరగా, చంద్రయాన్-3 ప్రయోగాన్ని అపహాస్యం చేసే విధంగా ట్వీట్ పెట్టారని కర్ణాటకలో ఫైల్ అయిన కేసులో ప్రకాష్ రాజ్‌ను పోలీసులు ఇంకా అరెస్ట్ చేయలేదు.


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Pranab Mukherjee assented 6 out of every 7 State bills referred to him
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
June 26, 2017
A total of 188 State bills were sent for the consideration of President Pranab Mukherjee till date, out of which he assented 155.
Bills that are passed by various state legislatures are usually assented by the Governor of the state. But in special cases where the Governor feels that a Presidential intervention is necessary, he sends it to the President for his consideration. Till date, a total of 188 state bills were sent for the consideration of President Pranab Mukherjee during his term. He assented 82% (155) of them. The data for the previous presidents is not available to compare his performance with his predecessors.
Why does the President intervene in State bills?
As per article 200 of the constitution, the Governor of a state can reserve a bill passed by the state legislature for the consideration of the President. Usually, bills whose subject matter may be in conflict with a central law or bills on sensitive and important issues are sent for the consideration of the President.
Once the bill is received, the President can either assent the bill or withhold assent. He may also return the bill to the state legislature with a message. Any such bill which is returned by the President has to be reconsidered by the state legislature within six months.
Pranab Mukherjee withholds assent for 18 State bills
Out of the 188 state bills sent for his consideration, President Pranab Mukherjee assented 155 and withheld assent for 18 bills. As on date, 12 bills are returned with a message. Out of the 155 assented bills, there could be other bills which have been earlier returned with a message and are now assented.
Most state bills sent in 2014
Out of the 188 bills, the most were sent in 2014 (51) followed by 2015 (48). The number reduced to 38 in 2016 and further reduced to 14 till date in 2017. There doesn’t seem to be any discernible pattern for the variation in number of bills across years.
Most bills sent from Maharashtra
Maharashtra with 24 such bills, accounted for most of the bills sent for the President’s consideration. One out of every eight state bills sent to Pranab Mukherjee was from Maharashtra. Karnataka was second with 17 bills followed by Tamil Nadu with 14 bills. Only seven (7) states had 10 or more bills sent to the President. Less than five (5) bills each were sent to the President from 9 states. Only one bill was sent to the President from Jammu & Kashmir, Tripura, Sikkim and Telangana.
None of the bills from Delhi assented till date
There is very little in common among the bills whose assent is withheld by the President. Three of these bills were to amend the Code of Criminal Procedure. The Presidential assent is withheld for bills from 12 different states. Assent is withheld for 2 bills each from six states while it is withheld for a bill each from another six states. The assent is withheld for the ‘Plachimada Coca-Cola Victims Compensation claims Special Tribunal Bill, 2011’ also from Kerala.
Out of the 5 bills sent from Delhi for the consideration of the President, none of them received the Presidential assent. The assent is withheld for 2 bills while the remaining three bills were returned with a message. All these bills were brought in by the Aam Aadmi Party government. The two bills whose assent is withheld include the amendment to the disqualification criteria of MLAs in the wake of controversy surrounding AAP MLAs being appointed as Parliamentary secretaries. The other bill seeks to amend the code of criminal procedure to extend the magisterial enquiry to cases referred by the state government. On the other hand, all the 24 bills sent from Maharashtra were assented by the President.
Three states (Telangana, Tamil Nadu & Gujarat) passed bills related to the land acquisition (The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement), and all these three bills were assented by the President.
Featured Image: President intervention in State bills


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Praveen Kumar Sobti, who essayed the character of Bheem in the Mahabharat serial, passed away in February 2022 - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
November 7, 2022
A post is being shared on social media claiming that Praveen Kumar Sobti, the actor who played the character of Bheem in the Mahabharat serial, had passed away recently at the age of 74. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Mahabharat serial actor Praveen Kumar Sobti passed away recently at the age of 74.
Fact: Actor Praveen Kumar Sobti, who essayed the character of Bheem in BR Chopra’s Mahabharat serial, passed away nine months ago in February 2022. The actor died due to a heart attack at the age of 74, on 07 February 2022. A nine-month-old news shared as a recent incident in the post. Hence, the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
When we searched the claim made in the post using relevant keywords on the internet, we found that actor Praveen Kumar Sobti, who essayed the character of Bheem in BR Chopra’s Mahabharat serial, had passed away nine months ago in February 2022. Several news websites published articles and tweets reporting the death of Praveen Kumar Sobti in February 2022. They can be seen here, here and here.
Praveen Kumar Sobti popularly known for his role as Bheem in BR Chopra's Mahabharat passes away at 74 pic.twitter.com/4XYqTztkc8
According to the news reports, Praveen Kumar Sobti died on 07 February 2022, after suffering a heart attack at his house in Delhi. Besides being popular for essaying the role of Bheem in the Mahabharat, Praveen Kumar Sobti is a four-time Asian Games medallist, an Arjuna Awardee and a two-time Olympian (1968 Mexico Games and 1972 Munich Games). Mourning the death of Praveen Kumar Sobti, Kiran Rijiju, the BSF and other prominent figures and organizations made tweets on 08 February 2022.
The iconic role of 'Bheem' essayed by Sh Praveen Kumar Sobti in B R Chopra's Mahabharat will continue to bring back memories of the 'gentle giant'.#Mahabharat #Bheem #PraveenKumarSobti #RIP pic.twitter.com/qgfT1psUk0
To sum it up, actor Praveen Kumar Sobti, who played the character of Bheem in BR Chopra’s Mahabharat, passed away in February 2022.

created: November 7, 2022