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COVID-19 Vaccine: 29 Candidates begin Clinical Trials
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
August 18, 2020
The announcement by Russia about the approval of a COVID-19 vaccine has set the alarm bells ringing around the world. Russia has approved the vaccine while WHO’s official database shows that this vaccine is only at Phase-1 trials. As per WHO’s database, a total of 29 vaccine candidates are at different stages of clinical trials while 6 of them are at Phase-3 clinical trials.
Across the globe, scientists and researchers are racing against time to find a vaccine for COVID-19 caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. As is evident from the data on number of cases across the world, COVID-19 is highly contagious and till a vaccine is available for large scale public use, the only way that one can stay safe is through social distancing, wearing masks, and personal hygiene. Since vaccine is essential to make a large section of the population immune to the infection, the entire world is waiting for a vaccine with bated breath.
Vladimir Putin announced the world’s first vaccine approved in Russia
The Russian President Vladimir Putin made an announcement on 11 August 2020 that the world’s first COVID-19 vaccine, named Sputnik V has been approved by Russia and that one of his daughters got vaccinated. The Government of Russia tweeted on the same day saying that- ‘the Russian Healthcare Ministry had given regulatory approval to the world’s first coronavirus vaccine. Its effectiveness and safety were confirmed in clinical trials.’ However, concerns have been raised on its ‘effectiveness’ and ‘safety’ since the vaccine has not completed large-scale clinical trials. Large-scale clinical trials on thousands of persons are necessary in order to study the side effects of a vaccine which may not be evident in smaller trials.
The Russian Healthcare Ministry has given regulatory approval to the world's first coronavirus vaccine. Its effectiveness and safety were confirmed in clinical trials pic.twitter.com/t9CTOnoHml
According to clinicaltrials.gov,  the vaccine developed by Gamaleya Research Institute of the Russian Health Ministry, has been tested on 38 persons each in two early stage trials.  Meanwhile, as per the World Health Organization’s list of vaccine candidates and status of trials, as on 13 August 2020, the Adeno based vaccine was at the Phase-1 of clinical trials.
Three phases of clinical trials need to be passed by vaccine candidates before approval
Phase-1 of clinical trials involves the testing of the vaccine among a small number of healthy adults, say around 20. During this phase, the properties of the vaccine and its tolerability are tested, and if found appropriate, its clinical laboratory and pharmacological parameters are also recorded. In phase-2, a target population based on certain parameters like age, and physical health is selected and preliminary information on vaccines ability to produce desired effect among the persons and general safety is recorded. The last stage, phase-3, is when thousands of persons are tested. A large number of people are given the vaccine to assess protective efficacy and safety on a larger scale. A detailed story by Factly on vaccines and their stages of development can be read here.
29 candidates are in the clinical evaluation stage
According to the WHO’s list as on 13 August 2020, there are 29 vaccines in the clinical evaluation stage, where at least phase-1 clinical trials have begun. Out of these, the following six (6) candidates in phase-3 trials
There are two other candidates in phase-2 from China – CanSino Biological Inc. – Beijing Institute of Biotechnology and Anhui Zhifei Longcom Biopharmaceutical/Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Of the ten candidates in phase-1/2 trials, there is one candidate each from China, Japan, South Korea, and Belgium. In addition to two US based candidates in this stage, vaccine developed by Inovio Pharmaceuticals in collaboration with UNDP’s International Vaccine Institute also falls in phase 1/2 of trials. Bharat Biotech and Cadilla Healthcare Ltd, are two Indian candidates in phase 1/2 of trials. Bharath Biotech has developed Covaxin- which is India’s first indigenous COVID-19 vaccine in collaboration with Indian Council of Medical Research and National Institute of Virology. Zydus Cadilla’s vaccine is named ZyCoV-D.
There are 138 vaccine candidates in the pre-clinical stage
The pre-clinical stage of testing is when the vaccine is tested on animals. Currently, there are 138 vaccine candidates at this stage.
Mynvax, Indian Immunologicals Limited (in collaboration with Griffith University in Australia), Cadilla Healthcare Ltd.’s measles vector vaccine, are few other candidates from India which are in the pre-clinical trial phase. Bharat Biotech’s vaccine in collaboration with UW Madison and Flugen, and another in collaboration with Thomas Jefferson university are also in pre-clinical phase. Serum Institute of India is also collaborating with Codagenix and currently the vaccine is also in the pre-clinical phase.
Three vaccines are being tested in India
In his address to the nation on the eve of 74 Independence Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi stated that testing for three different COVID-19 vaccines is taking place in the country and are at different stages. He said that once the scientists give a green signal, massive production of the vaccines will be launched. He further added that all preparations are in place, and an outline has been drawn to ramp up the production of vaccines and ensure that each and every person gets it in the shortest possible time.
Serum Institute of India has already prepared for mass production
Serum Institute of India, which is the world’s largest vaccine maker by number of doses produced and sold globally, has partnered with AstraZeneca to manufacture the vaccine being developed by the University of Oxford which is currently at Phase-3 of clinical trials. The Pune based company has already started preparation to manufacture millions of doses of the vaccine. The Bill and Melinda Gates foundation will also be providing a funding of USD 150 million to manufacture 100 million doses of the vaccine for India and other low- and middle-income countries so that the firm can charge a maximum of only $3 per dose of the vaccine.
Featured Image: COVID-19 Vaccine trials


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COVID-19 Vaccine: More than 50% of the confirmed purchases by High Income countries
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
December 14, 2020
The race to get everyone vaccinated has just begun with UK, USA & Canada issuing EUA for the Pfizer- BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. Data maintained by the Duke University indicates that more than 50% of the confirmed purchases are by High-Income countries. The vaccination in India could begin soon with three different vaccine candidates having applied for EUA.
A second wave of COVID-19 infection is sweeping across the USA with over 2 lakh cases being reported daily. Meanwhile, the second wave experienced in the major European countries appears to have subsided with fewer numbers being reported barring Germany. Meanwhile, based on the earlier trends and timelines, it is estimated that the second wave of COVID-19 infection could soon hit countries like India & Brazil, which are among the countries with several COVID-19 cases during the first wave.
The World Health Organization (WHO), and governments across the world have been advocating the use of masks, social distancing, sanitizing, etc. to contain the spread of COVID-19.  While these measures are in place, countries across the world have been waiting for a vaccine with bated breath.
The expectation is that a vaccine could inoculate the population from COVID-19. The Center for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC), emphasizes the benefits of getting a COVID-19 vaccine which would protect individuals against the infection and help contain the pandemic.
Multiple vaccine candidates are being developed world-wide and are at different stages of development process.
As per WHO’s latest Draft landscape of COVID-19 candidate vaccines, 52 candidate vaccines are in clinical evaluation of which at least 13 are in phase-3.  An update on the New York Times states that 7 vaccines are approved and are in the stage of early/limited used or approved for full use.
United Kingdom has begun its vaccination drive with the first-person receiving the vaccine  developed by Pfizer last week. The United States Food & Drug Administration (US FDA) also issued the first emergency use authorization (EUA) for the vaccine developed by Pfizer-BioNTech. It is expected that the inoculation will begin in a day or two in the USA. Even the Indian drug regulator has sought more data & information from three different vaccine candidates that have applied for EUA.
However, the vaccine strategy followed by the countries around the world is not uniform. Few of the richer countries have been proactive in sourcing vaccines while many other poor & middle-income countries are lagging behind.  Access to vaccines, distribution infrastructure, healthcare infrastructure, economic status etc. are few of the factors that influence the approach of these countries.
High income countries have already reserved more than half of the confirmed purchase of Vaccine doses
The imbalance among the countries in procuring the COVID-19 vaccine is evident from the consolidated information provided by Launch & Scale Speedometer, an initiative of Duke University’s Global Health Innovation Center.
In a recent press release, they have pointed out that the low-income countries would have access to fewer vaccine doses as a majority of the vaccine doses to be made available are already reserved by the rich countries.
Vaccines generally take multiple years to develop with extensive trials being undertaken to ensure safety and desired outcomes. However, in the context of the global pandemic, many of the vaccine candidates have been fast-tracked and as highlighted earlier, few of them are in the final stages to be rolled out while few others have been given EUA.
However, the major challenge is to manufacture enough doses to meet the global demand. The current manufacturing capacity is limited and there is a race among the countries to gain first access to the vaccine doses being manufactured.
Launch & Scale Speedometer reports that various countries have already finalized contracts to the tune of nearly 7.2 billion doses even though none of the vaccines are yet approved for public use except for EUA in a few countries. There are another 2.4 billion doses that are under negotiation.
High income countries have reserved a major chunk of these vaccine doses
As per the latest information available as of 11 December 2020, High-income countries have made transactions for nearly 3.91 billion doses. Meanwhile, Lower Middle-income countries and Upper Middle-income countries have reserved 1.6 billion and around 1 billion doses respectively. None of the low-income countries have got into any contracts for at least the initial doses expected to be manufactured.
COVAX is an initiative aimed towards equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccine
The volume of the vaccine doses blocked by a few of the wealthier nations can be used to inoculate its citizens multiple times. For example, the USA has made deals for around 1 billion doses which are around 3 shots on average per person.  The same can be said of Canada & U.K.
Meanwhile, the lower-income countries could be in a situation where the available number of vaccine doses would not be enough to inoculate even a major section of the population. To ensure equitable distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine when it is made available, an initiative called COVAX was launched as part of the ‘Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT)’ Accelerator. COVAX is a coordinated effort by Gavi- the Vaccine Alliance, Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), and the WHO.
All the participating countries, irrespective of their income status would have equal access to these vaccines once they are developed.  This initiative is especially helpful for Low-income countries that would otherwise not be able to afford the vaccines. The initial effort is to procure at least 1 billion doses by end of 2021 so that at least the high-risk vulnerable sections of the population gain access to the vaccine.
While this is a much-needed initiative, the direct bi-lateral deals of self-financed rich countries with the manufactures may prove to be hampering the equitable efforts. While the USA is not part of COVAX, U.K and Canada are part of the COVAX alliance but have also entered into large-scale individual deals. Such deals could create challenges in ensuring access of vaccines to lower-income countries. With no direct deals, the low-income countries would be reliant on the 20% population support that COVAX would provide.
India has the largest advanced confirmation of COVID-19 vaccine doses thanks to its manufacturing capacity
Different countries are using multiple strategies to gain access to the COVID-19 vaccine. While the higher income countries were able to get into advance deals with manufacturing companies thanks to their economic strength, few of the middle-income countries can gain leverage due to their other strengths. Peru, for example, has been able to negotiate deals for vaccine in exchange for the clinical trials they are offering.
Meanwhile, India and Brazil, two of the largest middle-income countries were able to negotiate substantial deals thanks to their vaccine manufacturing capacity.
As per the data provided by Launch & Scale Speedometer, India has already done advanced deals for 1.5 billion doses. This is only topped by the advance deals made by the European Union. Of this, 500 million doses are for Oxford University developed the vaccine and 1 billion doses are for Novavax. While there is no confirmation on any payment by the Government of India for these deals, the claim is based on the manufacturing companies based in India.
Pune-based Serum India Institute (SII) would be manufacturing Oxford University Vaccine in India. As per the update provide by SII, they have already manufactured 5 crores doses of this vaccine and plan to manufacture 10 crores does per month starting from 2021. India would be the first priority for the Oxford vaccine. This vaccine would be called Covishield in India.
The 1 billion doses of Novavax as claimed in Launch & Scale Speedometer, is thanks to the agreement between SII and Novavax to manufacture COVID-19 vaccine in India.
However, this vaccine is still under development and as per the latest update in November 2020, it was granted fast-track designation by the US FDA.
Apart from Oxford University’s Covishield, two more vaccines are under consideration in India. One being developed by Pfizer and another is the indigenously developed vaccine – Covaxin. Covaxin is being developed by Hyderabad-based Bharath Biotech in collaboration with the India Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
As per the available information, Pfizer has applied for Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) with the Drug Controller General of India (DGCI). It ought to be noted that the vaccine currently being administered in the U.K is the one developed by Pfizer.  As per the update from ICMR, indigenously developed Covaxin has received approval from DGCA and currently is in phase-3 of clinical trials.
Apart from these vaccines, other vaccines are also under trial. One of them is the Sputnik vaccine from Russia. Dr. Reddys Laboratories in collaboration with the Gamaleya Research Institute of Russia is conducting phase-2 of clinical trials. Another vaccine is being developed by Biological-E ltd, which is under phase 1/2 of human clinical trials.
Therefore, the higher number indicated for India in the Launch & Scale speedometer report is thanks to the vaccine manufacturing companies based in India. India will be given priority over these vaccines.  However out of the 1.5 billion doses, only the 500 million doses of Covishield is an immediate reality, provided there is emergency approval from the government. The 1 billion doses of Novavax could take more time as it is still under development.
The government of India puts plans in place for vaccinating the first 30 million Indians
Procurement of the COVID-19 vaccine is the first step towards vaccinating the population.  With the large scale capacities of the vaccine manufacturers in India, we are well-positioned to get access to the vaccine as and when they are approved.
However, the major challenge would be in logistics involving the distribution of the vaccine. The efficacy, suitability, and sustainability of a particular vaccine candidate is a choice which the country has to make. For example, Pfizer has a higher efficacy rate at 95 % compared to Oxford University’s Covishield. However, in terms of infrastructure needed, Oxford and other Indian developed vaccines have an edge as Pfizer’s vaccine has to be kept at -70 degree Celsius, which could pose a logistical challenge to ensure the vaccine reaches even the remotest parts of the country.
In a first formalized step towards Vaccine distribution, the Government of India has recently announced its plan through a Press release by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
Highlights of the plan announced by the government include:
In the press interaction, it was also updated that the National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for COVID- 19 (NEGVAC) was formed in August’2020 to aid in prioritization of population groups, procurement, and inventory management, vaccine selection, vaccine delivery & tracking mechanism.
With the initial plan set in motion, it is to be seen how it would be implemented at the ground level. Creating awareness about the vaccine, identifying any side effects and immediate responses, developing infrastructure for facilitating the delivery across the country would be the key in ensuring the vaccine reaches every person. Given the manufacturing capabilities, delivery infrastructure, the development process of the vaccine, etc. it ought to be understood that it could take more than a year for the vaccine to be available for everyone. WHO’s ‘Roadmap for prioritizing population groups for vaccines against COVID-19’ can act as a guide.
While the government maintained that  ‘Every single Indian who needs to be vaccinated will be vaccinated’, it can look at various studies that suggest the vaccination for only a certain part of the population to be enough to achieve immunity against COVID-19. This would be beneficial especially for a highly populated country like India.

source: news-factly

created: December 14, 2020

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

author: Sai Krishna Muthyanolla


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COVID-19: What is the status of Vaccine development?
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
June 8, 2020
While some countries are talking about herd immunity, a vaccine for COVID-19 looks like the only possible way to contain the spread. Here is a look at the status & progress of vaccine development across the world.
Globally, the highest ever daily increase in the number of COVID-19 positive cases was recorded on 04 June 2020, when close to 1.3 Lakh new cases were reported. The total number of positive cases globally has crossed 65 lakhs, according to WHO’s dashboard. The number of deaths has crossed 3.9 lakh. Vast majority of the global population is still vulnerable to COVID-19. In India, the number of daily cases has increased substantially ever since the relaxation of lockdown measures. The entire world is waiting for the vaccine to become available. Here is a look at the progress in the development of a vaccine for COVID-19.
Vaccination helps boost immunity against a disease
Scientists and other experts around the world have been working rigorously to develop a vaccine for COVID-19. Vaccination helps a body’s immune system to identify and combat certain pathogens such as virus and bacteria, thereby keeping the person safe from the diseases they cause, some of them which can even be deadly. Through vaccines, the disease-causing germs, which are either killed or weakened such that the person does not get sick, is injected into the body. This stimulates the immune system to produce antibodies which will prevent the disease without actually getting infected.
It can take decades to develop a vaccine
Development of vaccine is a long process and can take years or even decades. Many factors about the infection need to be understood such as its cause – virus or bacteria, how the germs/pathogen infects cells, and how the human immune system will respond to it. The process is long drawn and a complex one which requires the involvement of both public and private organizations. For instance, the first vaccine for the deadly Ebola virus which was discovered around forty-three years ago, was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration, only in December 2019. Now that the COVID-19 pandemic is a global emergency, resources and funding might also be diverted for vaccine development, which will facilitate quicker completion of the vaccine development process.
Vaccine development happens in various stages
There are broadly three stages that vaccine development must undergo, according to WHO. These are developmental, licensure, and post-licensure. The developmental stage can be further sub- classified into preclinical, clinical research and development.
Preclinical research and development are carried out in the laboratory assays and on animals, if necessary. At this stage, information such as  details of development and production of vaccine along with reports of control testing are collected, to justify further clinical study in humans.
Clinical trials in humans take place in three phases
Clinical trials in humans are classified into three phases- phase I, phase II, phase III. For this, prior approval is required in some countries like UK and USA.
In phase I, the vaccine is tested among a small number (~20) of healthy adults mainly concerning safety. The vaccine’s properties, and tolerability are tested, and if found appropriate, its clinical laboratory and pharmacological parameters are also recorded.
Gradually, in phase II, the study is expanded. A target population is selected based on characteristics such as age and physical health similar to those for whom the vaccine is intended, to obtain preliminary information on the vaccine’s ability to produce desired effect among them and general safety.
Phase III involves mass testing of thousands. The vaccine is given to a larger number of people to assess protective efficacy and safety yet again. But this time, adequate data needs to be collected so as to clearly show that it is safe and effective for the intended purpose. By the time this stage is reached, vaccine characterization should be complete, that is, virus’ properties should be analysed and how it is  related to other viruses should be assessed. Also, final manufacturing process, specifications, and batch release testing procedures must also be ready.
Once clinical trials are done, market authorization can be applied for the vaccine
The data from phase III is used to apply for market authorization at the national regulatory authority in the country. If there are genetically modified organisms, an Environmental Risk Assessment and approval are required. Licensure is when approval is granted to conduct vaccine trial on the general public. Once this process is complete, the vaccine is introduced and used in general population. Both active and passive methods of surveillance are employed to monitor the safety and immunizations post licensure.
COVID-19 Vaccine: 10 candidates in clinical trial stage &123 in preclinical stage
According to WHO’s list of covid-19 vaccine candidates released on 02 June 2020, there are 10 candidate vaccines in the clinic evaluation stage, and 123 in the pre-clinical evaluation stage. Of the ten vaccines in the clinical trial stage, researchers at the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca is in phase III. In phase III, 10,260 subjects will be covered, predominantly from the 18 to 64 years age group. In phase II, the sample size was 1112.
As per a latest report in LANCET, there are seven candidates who are at the phase II of clinical trials. These include CanSino Biological Inc./Beijing Institute of Biotechnology, Moderna/NIAID, Wuhan Institute of Biological Products/Sinopharm, Beijing Institute of Biological Products/Sinopharm, Sinovac, Novavax, and BioNTech/Fosun Pharma/Pfizer. Two candidates are in phase I of vaccine development.
Five candidates out of 123 preclinical trial candidates are from India
Among the 123 candidates at the preclinical stage as of 02 June 2020, the following are from India or have an Indian partner.
The Health Minister had recently said that four out of the 14 COVID-19 vaccine candidates from India may enter the clinical trial stage in the next three-five months.
Prioritization will be key as supply will be limited in the first few months
Even as countries are racing to develop a vaccine for COVID-19, debates have already begun about who will be able to access the vaccine first and who will be given priority. Even if a fast-track approval is given, the supply of the vaccine will be limited in the first few months. The supply may not enough to cater to the demand for a vaccine as large sections of population are affected. There are already calls for prioritization. Some argue that first priority should be given to the frontline healthcare workers working in close proximity with COVID-19 patients. However, if vulnerable individuals are to be given priority, then the older people have to be administered with the vaccine since this age group is highly vulnerable. But this section of the population may need more doses or adjuvants to enhance their immune response.
There are multiple hurdles in the development of a vaccine. Since this is a new virus, the several strains, possible mutations etc. have to be considered while developing the vaccine. Further, there are ethical regulations which cannot not be flouted and safety reasons, that inadvertently cause delay in each stage of the process.
The WHO has warned countries not to depend on herd immunity for managing COVID-19 pandemic. To achieve herd immunity, a certain percentage of population will have to have immunity. Until this immunity level is achieved, there is every possibility that the pandemic will spread, affecting a large population, which may result in the situation going out of control. All this means that the need for vaccine is greater than ever.
Featured Image: COVID-19 Vaccine Development


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Cow dung is not generally used as an ingredient to make Kachori or its sabzi. - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
May 29, 2023
A video (here and here) circulating on social media allegedly shows the process of making a special Indian Cow dung food. Let’s fact-check this claim through this article.
Claim: The process of making a special Indian Cow dung food.
Fact: This video contains two different clips. The first shows a woman picking up cow dung and mixing it with water, and the second shows the process of making Kachori, an Indian street food. Kachori, or the curry with which it is eaten, is not made using cow dung. Hence the claim made in the post is False.
The viral video implies that the food item made uses cow dung as an ingredient. Although we could not find the source of this video, we could decipher that this video tries to concoct a fake story. Although it seems like a video showing the process of making an Indian snack with Cow dung as one of its ingredients, we observed a few abnormalities in it. In the video, after the woman mixes water with cow dung, the video transitions to a person pouring a greenish-coloured food item into a dish. This clearly shows vegetables that are not present in a cow dung and water mixture.
Further, through a reverse image search on the internet, we learned that the food item which is being cooked in the video is Kachori, a famous Indian street food/snack. Plenty of videos on the internet show the process of making Kachori and its curry. These (here, here, and here ) match with the process being shown in the viral video. None of them uses cow dung as an ingredient. Many videos on the internet show the process of making various types of Kachori, and it is usually prepared using maida, ghee, lentils, and various other spices (here).
To check whether there is any place in India where Kachori made of Cow dung is sold, we searched the internet with relevant keywords. This search did not yield any relevant results. This clearly proves that the viral video is just made to fool the audiences into believing that Indian cuisine has a food item made of cow dung. Except for using cakes made of Cow dung as fuel, Indian cuisine contains no food item with cow dung as its ingredient.
To sum up, Cow dung is not generally used as an ingredient to make Kachori or its sabzi as alleged in this viral video.


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Finance Minister bats for Plastic Currency, Card Transactions grow by over 10% in one year
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
June 4, 2015
The Finance Minister believes that India should slowly move towards greater use of Plastic Currency. The data available with the RBI shows that the use of Plastic Currency is growing at a steady pace with both transactions & amounts growing at more than 10% in one year. Public Sector Bank State Bank of India leads in ATMs & Debit Card transactions while the private banks lead in POS machines & Credit Card Transactions.
The Finance Minister Arun Jaitley reiterated that India should slowly move towards greater use of Plastic Currency like the developed world while speaking at a conference on ‘Make in India – Indigenisation of Currency’. With greater penetration of the banking system, it looks like India is on the right track. Card transactions grew by over 10% in one year (March 2014 to March 2015).
There is close to 13% increase in the number of ATMs & 6% increase in the number of POS (Point of Sale) machines between March 2014 and March 2015. While there were 1.6 lakh ATMs in March 2014, the number went up to 1.82 lakh in March 2015. Similarly, the number of POS machines went up to 11.3 lakh in March 2015 from 10.7 lakh in March 2014.
State Bank of India leads the pack with more than 40000 ATMs in both years. This is more than 3 times the number of ATMs of the next bank in the top 5. In fact, the number of ATMs of SBI is more than the combined total of the next four banks in the top 5. While SBI leads the number of ATMs, the private banks lead the number of POS machines with ICICI, HDFC & Axis Bank in the top three. This in a way indicative of the penetration of PSU banks in the rural areas while private banks have expanded their presence in the urban areas.
Both the Credit & Debit card transactions (ATM & POS) grew substantially from March 2014 to March 2015. While the Credit Card transactions grew by 23.6%, Debit Card transactions grew by 11.4% during the same period. In terms of absolute numbers, 5.73 crore Credit Card transactions were made in March 2015 compared to 4.64 crore transactions in March 2014. The Debit Card transactions were far higher than the Credit Card transactions. While more than 70 crore Debit Card transactions were made in March 2015, 62.84 crore such transactions were made in March 2014. In other words, the number of Debit Card transactions was more than 12 times the number of Credit Card transactions in both years.
Volume of transactions follows the similar trend as the number of ATMs & POS. While the State Bank of India leads in the number of Debit Card transactions, private banks leads the number of Credit Card transactions.
The amount of transactions also follows the same trend as the number of transactions. The amount of Credit Card transactions grew by 23.2% while the amount of Debit Card transactions grew by 11.4%. A total of 14715 crore was the amount of Credit Card transactions in March 2014 while it stood at 18133 crore in March 2015. For Debit Card transactions, the amount was 1,88,187 crore in March 2014 and 2,09,576 crore in March 2015. The individual banks follow the trend similar to the number of transactions.
The average amount per transaction for Credit Cards is slightly more than the average amount per transaction for Debit Cards. While the amount for Credit Cards is more than 3100 rupees per transaction, it stands at more than 2990 rupees per debit card transaction.
Source: Data Releases, Reserve Bank of India
Featured Image: wikipedia commons


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Cricket played inside a quarantine center in Baramulla (Jammu & Kashmir) is shared as that from multiple other locations - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
June 12, 2020
Video showing a few men playing cricket inside an indoor stadium while few others are lying aside on beds is shared on social media claiming that the incident happened at a quarantine facility in the Expo Center of Lahore (Pakistan). The same video is also shared as that of a quarantine center in Indian states Telangana, Kerala, Tripura and Maharashtra. But FACTLY has found that the video shows people playing cricket inside a quarantine facility in Baramulla (Jammu & Kashmir). In April 2020, the Jammu & Kashmir government converted an indoor stadium in Baramulla into a COVID-19 quarantine centre to treat the patients. Earlier, when the same video went viral as that of a quarantine centre in Hyderabad (Telangana), FACTLY had debunked the claim which can be read here.
Sources:
Claim –
1. Facebook post (Archived)
Fact –
1. ‘Times of India’ article – https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/videos/news/covid-19-guys-play-cricket-inside-a-quarantine-facility-in-jks-baramulla-video-goes-viral/videoshow/76303468.cms
2. Journalist tweet –
https://twitter.com/rifatabdullahh/status/1270387671580409856
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Cricketers still dominate the Padma Awardees list but others catching up
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
February 12, 2020
Of all the Padma awards conferred on Sportspersons till date, 24% went to Cricketers. In the last 22 years, Cricketers accounted for 20% of the awardees. However, sportspersons from 29 different disciplines received an award during this period. Here is a detailed analysis.
One of the highest civilian
awards in the country, the Padma Awards, areawarded every year in three categories- Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan andPadma Shri, to recognise and honour the services rendered by Indians in variousdisciplines ranging from art, sports and literature, to medicine, science andengineering irrespective of gender, religion or race. This year, on the eve ofIndia’s 71  Republic Day,141 Padma Awards were announced including 7 Padma Vibhushan, 16 Padma Bhushanand 118 Padma Shri awards.
This year, 33 out of 141 Padma Awardees were Women
Factly
had earlier done an explainer on what the awards are, who they are given to and award trends so far. Thisyear, 33 awardees were women, 18 persons from NRI/POI/OCI/Foreigners category and 12 wereposthumously awarded. Women awardees include Olympic Medallists, M C Mary Komand P V Sindhu among many others. There were reports that the nine athletes nominated by the Sports Ministry for the 2020 PadmaAwards were all women. This story analyses the trend of Padma
awards to sportspersons.
242 Sportspersons have been recipients of the Padma
Awards since inception
Since theinception of the awards in 1954 till 2020, a total of 242 awardees were sportspersons.Of these, 241 were Padma Awards and one Bharat Ratna. Of the 241 Padma Awards,206 were Padma Shri, 31 were Padma Bhushan and 4 Padma Vibhushan. The onlyBharat Ratna in the field of sports was conferred to Sachin Tendulkar in 2014.The 4 Padma Vibhushan awardees are
Around 24% of the awards conferred to sportspersons
went to Cricketers.
Of the 242 awardsto sportspersons, 57 went to cricketers. Mountaineers were conferred 35 of themwhile Hockey players received 27 of them. Majority of the mountaineers werefrom the North East. The top ten sports in terms of awards received account for194 of the awards or 80% of the awards conferred to sportspersons till date.  In addition to those mentioned in the followingchart, six awards each have been conferred to Billiards players, Shooters andSwimmers. Four awards have been given to Archers and three to Weightlifters.
Cricket is the only sport with award recipients in all
four categories
Cricket not onlydominates in the total number of awards conferred to sportspersons, but also dominatesin each of the category of awards. More than 21% of the Padma Shri awards weregiven to cricketers. Further, 11 out of 31 (35.5%) Padma Bhushan awards wereconferred to cricketers. One of the four Padma Vibhushan awardees is acricketer. The only Bharat Ratna conferred to a sportsperson was also to acricketer.
Mountaineeringaccounted for the second highest number of awards with more than 5% of PadmaShri awards, five Padma Bhushan awards and a Padma Vibhushan.
27 awards receivedby Hockey players constituted of 26 Padma Shri and one Padma Vibhushan award.  Dhyan Chand was one of the firstsportspersons to receive a Padma Award. He received Padma Bhushan for Hockey in1956.
All the 23 awardsgiven to athletes were  Padma Shri.
20 sportspersons received Padma Awards at least two
times
While a total of242 awards were conferred to sportspersons, it is observed that 43 of these awardswent to 20 persons or in other words, 20 persons were the recipients of theawards at least twice. Sachin Tendulkar, Vishwanathan Anand and Mary Kom wererecipients of these awards thrice. In the following table, Bharat Ratna, PadmaVibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri have been abbreviated as BR, PV, PB andPS respectively.
Six cricketershave received Padma Awards multiple times. Three persons each from Badminton,Mountaineering and Tennis received the award at least twice. Pullela Gopichand,Saina Nehwal and P V Sindhu, the three recipients of multiple awards inBadminton are from Telangana.
Nine states account for almost 75% of the awards
conferred to sportspersons
Three states have more than 20 awardees each while nine states have more than ten awardees each. Maharashtra tops the list with 35 awardees followed by Delhi with 28 and West Bengal with 20 awardees. Haryana and Karnataka have 17 awardees each followed by Punjab and Tamil Nadu with 16 each. Telangana has 15 awardees and Uttar Pradesh has 14. These nine states alone account for almost three-quarters of the awardees in sports. Of the 35 awardees in Maharashtra, 16 were cricketers.
Cricketers still dominate the Padma Awardees list but
others catching up
In the 66 odd years, from when Padma Awards were introduced in the country, the trend of padma awardees from various sports has fluctuated. Between 1954 and 1976, a total of 60 awards were given to sportspersons. In the subsequent period, 1977 to 1998, only 54 awards were given in total to sportspersons. However, in  the 1999-2020 period, sportspersons received a total of 128 awards, a lot more than the total number of awards in the previous years- 52% of the awards in sports were given out in this period. This increase is also to do with the general increase in the number of padma awards given during this period.
It is evident fromthe data that cricket dominated in each of these periods with the maximumnumber of awards conferred. In the 1954-1976 period, one out three sportspersonswho received the award was a cricketer. However, in 1977-1998 and 1999-2020,cricketers accounted for one-fifth of the awardees in sports.
Similarly, thepercentage of awardees in Mountaineering has dropped from 30% up to 1976 to 11%in 1977-98 and further down to 8.6% in 1999-2020. Same is the case with Hockey,from 15% in 1954-76 to 8.6% in 1999-2020. However, the percentage of awardeesin other sports such as Badminton, Tennis, Athletics and Shooting haveincreased recently.
Between 1954 &1976, sportspersons belonging to 10 different sports disciplines wererecipients of padma awards compared to 13 between 1977 & 1998. This numberhas more than doubled to 29 in the 1999-2020 period which is an encouragingsign.

created: February 12, 2020


text:
Is it a crime to download movies
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
June 11, 2017
Is it a crime to download movies? Here is our brand new explainer video in partnership with Nyaaya.
Read more here: http://nyaaya.in/law-explainers/downl…


text:
Crimes against Women: Crime Rate touches an all-time high of 59 in 2018
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
January 16, 2020
The 2018 Crime in India report was released by the NCRB recently. A total of 3.78 lakh crimes against women were reported in 2018 with crime rate touching an all-time high of 59 crimes per lakh women.
Within threemonths of releasing the 2017 report, National Crime Records Bureau released the ‘Crime
in India (CII)’ report for 2018 alongwith three other reports- ‘Prison
Statistics 2018’ and ‘Accidental
Deaths and Suicides in India’, 2017 and 2018.The 2017 CII report was released after a long delay of 22 months.
In 2017, thereport was modified to incorporate the evolving crimes. The 2018
edition of the crimes report has includednotes stating that reporting mechanism for some offences in certainstates/cities have been made easier because of which more cases may have beenreported in these places. Thus, NCRB says statistical comparison is notfeasible.
Section on ‘Word of Caution’ introduced in 2018 report
Unlike in theprevious editions, the latest report has also included a ‘Word
of Caution’ section in which thefollowing disclaimers have been made:
Overall Crime rate has declined but rate of crimes
against Women has increased
Installation of women help-desks in police stations to encourage more women to register complaints without any hesitation has also been highlighted in the 2018 report. The overall crime rate in 2018 dropped to 383 crimes per lakh population from 389 in 2017. However, the rate of crimes against women has witnessed an increase from 57.9 in 2017 to 58.8 per lakh women in 2018.
More than 3.78 lakh cases of crimes against women
reported in 2018
Whether in the mother’s womb or in the world outside, the safety of women has always remained a topic of debate in the country. In 2018 alone, NCRB data reveals that more than 3.78 lakh cases of crimes against women have been registered in India. In other words, every hour, at least 43 crimes against women are reported across the country.
The number of cases reported of crimes against women is on the rise, as is evident from the chart. This increase is more prominent in the immediate aftermath (2012 & 2013) the Nirbhaya incident in Delhi. This increase in the number could be because of more women coming forward to report crimes and police, in turn, registering these cases. The increase in the actual number of crimes against women also cannot be ruled out.
Uttar Pradesh continues to report largest number of
crimes against women
Uttar Pradesh continuesto report the greatest number of registered crimes against women in 2018,constituting 15.7% of the total. This is understandable because of the higherpopulation in UP.
Only Uttar Pradeshhas reported more than 50,000 crimes against women in 2018. Maharashtra andWest Bengal have reported more than 30,000 crimes each. The ten statesdisplayed in the chart alone contribute to 74% of the number of cases reportedin 2018.
Crime rate touches an all-time high
However, thescenario varies if the crime rate is taken into consideration. In the year2018, 59 cases of crime were reported for every lakh women population. Thecrime rate has increased from around 42 in 2012 to 59 in 2018. The crime rateof 59 per lakh women in 2018 is the highest ever. It has to be noted that the femalepopulation has been estimated on the basis of 2011 census data.
Assam has the overtaken Delhi in Crime Rate
In terms of thecrime rate, Assam has reported the highest – 166 crimes per one lakh women. Thisis 2.85 times the national average of 59.  Delhi follows Assam with almost 150 crimes perone lakh women. While Assam and Delhi continue to consistently report more than100 crimes per lakh women, Haryana has also reported a crime rate of more than100 in 2018.
27.3% of crimes are under Section 498A- Cruelty by
husband and his relatives
A closer look at the
types of crime reveals that 27.3% ofthe crimes against women are related to ‘cruelty by husband and relatives’covered under Section 498A, popularly known as domestic violence. Assaultaccounts for the next highest crime head following by Kidnapping. These two accountfor 42.7% of the crimes against women. Including rape cases, the four IPCcrimes alone constitute 79% of the cases of crime against women.
SLL (Special &Local Laws) crimes amount to 15% of the total crimes. The most prominent arethe cases registered under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences(POCSO) Act, 2012. A total of 38,802 cases on offences against girls under theage of 18 years have been reported under this Act.
Gruesome cases ofrape and murder of Dalit women, Nirbhaya case in Delhi, Disha gang-rape case inTelangana and Unnao rape case in Uttar Pradesh, continue to make headlinesevery year. After more than 7 years of the Nirbhaya incident, the convicts areset to be  executed on 22 January 2020.
Compared to 2017,the number of rape cases has increased marginally by 2.4% in 2018. However, casesof murder with rape have increased by 31% in the same period.
An average of 91 cases of rape are reported every day,
15 from Madhya Pradesh
In 2018, a totalof 33,356 cases
of rapes and 294 cases of murder with rape werereported. This is an average of 91 rape cases every day and 15 of these caseswere reported from Madhya Pradesh.
About 16% of the totalrape cases were reported in Madhya Pradesh, 13% in Rajasthan, 12% in UttarPradesh and 6% each in Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra. Of the 294 cases of rape& murder,  66 cases were reported inAssam, 46 in Madhya Pradesh and 41 in Uttar Pradesh. In 93.7% of the rapecases, the offender was known to the victim.
Rape Cases – 11% disposal & 27% Conviction in 2018
NCRB report alsoshows that in 2018, 1.56 Lakh rape cases were on
trial. The trial was completed only in17,313 cases with conviction only in 4,708 cases and acquittal in 11,133 cases.1.38 Lakh cases remained pending by the end of 2018. In other words, only about11% of the rape cases that were on trial in 2018 were disposed by courts.
Does NCRB data represent the true picture of Crime
against Women?
Whether or not the numbers presented in the NCRB report represent the actual state of crime against women is debatable since the report is prepared on the basis of reported crimes. In the case of certain cognisable crimes such as murder which cannot be hidden, the numbers might represent the actual situation. However, in the case of offences against women, it should be kept in mind that not every woman reports crimes owing to social reasons. The comparison between states may not also be a proper marker since the reporting is better in some states compared to the rest. So, a pure number comparison may not be the best way to analyse the state-level trends.
Nevertheless, a significant number of offences against women are reported every year, be it in domestic set up or public set up despite various schemes rolled out for women safety. Only a mere 20% of the funds approved under the Nirbhaya fund have been utilised so far by the State & Central governments.
Strict law enforcement, quick action, and justice without delay are just some of the steps that need urgent attention. At the same time, a lot more needs to be done at the societal level to achieve gender equality. Even the latest Niti Ayog SDG index shows that India still has a long way to go to achieve gender equality.

created: January 16, 2020


text:
Crocodile Babiya did die recently; This clarification message from Ananathapura lake temple is from 2019 - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
October 12, 2022
A post with a notice, supposedly from Ananathapura lake or Shree Ananthapadmanabha Swamy temple, quashing the rumours about the temple’s crocodile Babiya’s death, is being shared on social media. The post description reads, ‘The news about passing away of the crocodile turns to be fake. After seeing this i deleted my earlier message. Regret for this.’ Let’s verify this post through this article.
Claim: Ananathapura lake temple releases a circular quashing the rumours circulating regarding the death of the temple’s crocodile ‘Babiya.’
Fact: The Ananathapura lake temple’s notice is real, but it was released in 2019 when fake rumours were spread about the death of ‘Babiya’, the temple’s crocodile. However, Babiya lost its life at the age of 75 on 09 October 2022. Hence, the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
Running a keyword search on the internet led us to various news reports on the death of the crocodile, Babiya, which lived in Ananthapura lake temple in Kerala. The Hindu reported that ‘The crocodile which attracted several devotees and visitors was found dead in the temple lake on Sunday night.’
Reportedly, Babiya only ate rice and jaggery offered at the temple and lived on the temple premises for more than seven decades. More news reports on Babiya’s death can be read here, here and here.
To know more about the post, which contains a clarification supposedly issued by the Ananthapura lake temple, we performed a reverse image search on the post’s image. It led us to the temple’s official website, which contained the same circular from the viral post. Titled ‘Clarification on fake news about Divine Crocodile’ Babiya‘, this circular was posted on the temple’s website on 18th January 2019. Reportedly, the temple’s administration released this because fake news regarding the death of ‘Babiya’ was spreading on social media. Clearly, the viral post is incorrectly sharing the old clarification message issued by the temple as a recent one issued in the context of Babiya’s death.
To sum up, this clarification message from Ananathapura lake temple on the fake news of its crocodile Babiya’s death is from 2019.

created: October 12, 2022


text:
Cropped video of PM Modi’s Uttrakhand speech is being shared out of context - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
March 4, 2022
A short video clip of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in which he can be heard giving a slogan in Hindi which loosely translates to ‘divide everyone and loot together’ is being widely circulated across all the social media platforms. The video is being shared with a claim attributing the slogan to BJP. Through this article, let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: ‘Divide everyone and loot together’ – BJP slogan delivered by Modi.
Fact: Viral video is an excerpt of PM Modi’s public address during an election rally in Uttarakhand’s Amora on 22 February 2022. According to the full footage PM Modi attributed the viral slogan ‘सब में डालो फुट, मिलकर करो लूट’/ ‘Divide everyone and loot together’ as policy of  parties opposing them and specifically to the Congress party. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
The viral video carries the logo of ‘ABP Ganga’. Taking a cue from this, a YouTube search led us to the full-length footage of PM Modi’s election rally in which he gave the viral slogan.
As per the ABP Ganga report, the viral clip is an excerpt of PM Modi’s speech during a public meeting in Almora, Uttarakhand, on 11 February 2022. From the complete footage of Modi’s speech, it is evident that he attributed the slogan ‘सब में डालो फुट, मिलकर करो लूट’/ ‘Divide everyone and loot together’ to parties opposing the BJP and specially to the Congress party.
In his address, speaking about growth, Modi goes on to say that his government is working towards inclusive growth with any discrimination., whereas the formula of those opposing them is  ‘सब में डालो फुट, मिलकर करो लूट’/ ‘Divide everyone and loot together’. After this Modi specifically alleges that not just in Uttarakhand but in the entire country, Congress Party’s policy has been ‘सब में डालो फुट, मिलकर करो लूट’.
The official Twitter handle of Prime Minister Narendra Modi also shared a lengthier video of Modi’s speech, wherein he can be heard attributing the viral slogan to opposition parties. Thus, it is clearly evident a part of Modi’s speech is cropped and being shared out of context, alleging it as the BJP’s slogan.
To sum it up, cropped video of PM Modi’s Uttarakhand speech is being shared out of context.


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CSR provisions made more stringent, but Government amends the law before the recommendations of the HLC
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
August 23, 2019
Parliament recently amended the Companies
act 2013 which made the CSR provisions more stringent. However, the government
amended the act before the High Level Committee appointed to look into the CSR
framework in India submitted its report. Here is a detailed story.
One of the Government of India’s stated goals is to become a $5 trillioneconomy by 2024.  And to achieve this,India has to grow consistently at 9% or more and be one of the fastest growingeconomies in the world. Along with economy, there are other socio economicissues like malnutrition, poverty, education and health that need to beaddressed to truly become one of the leading nations in the world.
Despite there being a considerable improvement in business environment in the country post globalisation and liberalisation, stark urban and rural divide is still one of the major issues in the country. To bridge this gap and to make the corporate sector more involved with the development sector, the government came up with statutory obligations under Corporate Social Responsibility (referred to as CSR), in Section 135 of the Companies Act in 2013.
By doing so, India has earned the label of being the first country in the world which has made CSR mandatory for all profit making companies. One of the stated objectives of including this provision in the law is to increase the accountability and disclosure of corporates and make them partners in social development. According to the CSR provision, fiduciary duties are bestowed upon the directors of the company. The act promotes responsible and sustainable business and makes it mandatory for the large companies in the country to channel their efforts in addressing social and environmental concerns across the country and hence, work towards the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Mandatory CSR expenditure is 2% of Company’s average
net profit for previous 3 financial years
If a company has a net worth of minimum ₹ 500 crores, ora turnover of at least ₹ 1000 crores, or a profit of at least ₹ 500 Crores inany financial year, it should spend a minimum of 2% of its average of netprofit for the previous three financial years on CSR activities as per thecompany’s policy, based on the Government’s guidelines. If the company has not completed three financial years ofincorporation, the immediately preceding financial years must be taken intoconsideration as per the latest amendment to the act made duringthe recent monsoon session of parliament.
The Ministry of Corporate Affairs revealed in the Lok Sabha, the data pertaining to the number of companies- both private and Public SectorUndertakings( PSUs), the amount spent by them in CSR projects, the sectors inwhich the projects are being undertaken and the state wise CSR expenditure till2017-18.
The number of companies undertaking CSR activities has increased
A glance at the data shared by the government indicates that the number of companies who filed details of CSR expenditure (including NIL expenditure) increased from 16,785  in the financial year 2014-15 to 22,064  in the following year 2015-16. As of the 30 October 2018, a total of 21,470 companies filed details for 2016-17 and only 3117 companies filed details for 2017-18.
PSUs constitute only around 2% of the total number of companies that have filed CSR expenditure details, but the share of their CSR expenditure is close to 30%.  Compared to the first year of implementation, there has been an increase in the number of companies (both private and PSUs) undertaking CSR projects. In 2015-16, there was a 34.6% increase compared to 2014-15. However, in 2016-17, the number of such companies which filed returns reduced by 2.6% compared to 2015-16.
Private Companies expenditure
on CSR increased by more than 50% in 3 years
Along with the increase in the number of companies filing CSR returns,the annual expenditure on CSR has also increased substantially. In the case ofprivate companies (Non-PSUs), the total expenditure on CSR increased from ₹ 7,249 Croresin 2014-15 to ₹ 10,957 Crores in 2016-17, an increase of 51.2%. In the case of PSUsalso, the CSR expenditure increased from ₹ 2,817 croresin 2014-15 to ₹ 4,202 crores in 2015-16. But this has subsequently decreased to ₹ 3,286 croresin 2016-17.
About 31% of the CSR
expenditure has been on improving Education in 2016-17
There are a total of 29 major development sectors as per theGovernment’s classification in data presented in the Lok Sabha about CSR expenditure.
Of all the sectors where companies have spent CSR money in 2016-17, Education sector is the most prominent receiving 31.3% of the funds. Following Education is Healthcare where 17.3% of the CSR money was spent in 2016-17. CSR amounts spent on Rural development projects and Environmental sustainability projects were 10.8% and 7.5% respectively. These are the only four sectors where more than ₹ 1000 crores each was spent under CSR in 2016-17. The remaining 25 sectors including safe drinking water, poverty eradication and malnutrition reduction, livelihood enhancement, sanitisation, art and culture, sports, etc. together accounted for the remaining 32.9% of the CSR funds in 2016-17.
Highest CSR expenditure
in Maharashtra
The following chart shows the CSR expenditure in the top ten states. PanIndia covers all such expenditure where companies have not mentioned the statein which the expenditure was made or if they have undertaken projects in morethan one state in India. The Pan India CSR expenditure has been the highest inall the three years for which data is available.
Among the other states, highest CSR expenditure was in Maharashtra wherea whopping ₹ 2,466 Crores were spent in 2016-17 which is 26.6% of the totalexpenditure on CSR projects excluding Pan India. This is also due to the fact thatMaharashtra has the largest share of companies (registered and active) in India followed by Delhi and West Bengal.
Government amended the CSR provisions before the submission of the HLC
report
A High Level Committee (HLC) was set up in 2018 to study the existing CSR framework in the country  and make relevant recommendations. The committee has made about 25 recommendations with respect to the Section 135 of the act after analysing the pros and cons.  In the meanwhile, parliament amended the CSR provisions in the Companies act during the recent monsoon session of parliament. The amendment invited a lot of criticism because the CSR High Level Committee presented the report on 13 August 2019 while the amendment was passed on 31 July 2019– thereby not incorporating the committee’s recommendations and passing amendments in a rush. However, the Government hasn’t notified a date on which these amendments will come into force.
What are the major recommendations of the High Level committee?
It has to be noted that some of the recommendations made by thecommittee are already addressed in the amendment recently passed in theParliament. However, many other recommendations are yet to be incorporated.
In the report, clarity has been given on CSR for newly incorporated companies whichhave not completed three years. The recommendations also include the need foropening a separate designated account for the unspent CSR funds whereas the recentamendment requires the unspent money if not dedicated to any CSR Project betransferred to another account named ‘Unspent Corporate Social Responsibility account’within 30 days from the end of a financial year. Failing to spend this amountin three financial years, the amount should be transferred to National CSRFunds such as PM National Relief Fund as per Schedule VII of the Act.
In the case of unspent funds allocated for on-going CSR projects of thecompany, the amount will be transferred to the National Fund as above if notspent within six months after the end of financial year.
Violation of law will
result in penalty up to ₹ 25 Lakhs and jail term up to 3 years
The recommendations of the committee mentioned the need for imposingpenalties so that companies do not defy the rules. The government’s amendment onthe other hand included not only a penalty for violation of these rules butalso a prison term. Companies which violate the CSR provisions will be legallybound to pay a fine ranging from ₹ 50,000 to ₹ 25 Lakhs.Every individual in the company who is responsible is liable to pay a finebetween ₹ 50,000 to ₹ 5 Lakhs and/or face imprisonment up to three years.
With these amendments, the CSR provisions have been made more stringent to ensure compliance. However, the opinion is divided on changes like prison term and transfer of the unspent amount to a government fund. It remains to be seen if the government makes further changes to the act based on the recommendations of the HLC.


text:
CSR spending of PSUs up 35% & Private Companies up 2.5% in 2015-16
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
March 10, 2017
The total CSR spending by various companies in 2015-16 has increased by 11.6% as per the latest data compiled by MCA. While the spending by PSUs has increased by 35%, it has only increased by  2.5% in the case of private companies.
The provisions of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) under Section 135 of the Companies Act 2013 mandate companies with a net worth of Rs 500 crore or more OR turnover of Rs 1000 crore or more OR a net profit of rupees five crore or more, to spend at least two per cent of their average net profits earned during three immediately preceding financial years on CSR activities.
As per latest data compiled by the government, the total CSR spending has increased by about 11.6% in 2015-16 compared to 2014-15.
More than Rs 9800 crore spent on CSR in 2015-16
As per the data shared by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) in response to a RTI application, 5097 companies spent a total of Rs 9822 crore on CSR in 2015-16. In contrast, 7334 companies spent Rs 8803 crore in 2014-15 on various CSR activities.
Compared to 226 PSUs for which CSR data is available with MCA for 2014-15, data of only 172 PSUs is available till date for 2015-16. In case of private companies, CSR data is available for only 4925 companies in 2015-16 compared to 7108 companies in 2014-15. For the year 2015-16, the data for other companies might be available in the future.
CSR spending by PSUs up by 35%
The CSR spending by PSUs has substantially increased in 2015-16 compared to 2014-15. From Rs 2497 crore in 2014-15, the spending has gone up to Rs 3360 crore in 2015-16, an increase of 35%. This follows adverse comments by the parliamentary standing committee on the CSR spending of PSUs. On the other hand, the spending by private companies has increased only marginally from Rs 6306 crore in 2014-15 to Rs 6462 crore in 2015-16.
Education, Health & WASH still the favourites
Among the various activities for which CSR funds are used; Education, Health & WASH (Water, Sanitation & Hygiene) remain the clear favourites with more than 60% of the funds in 2015-16 spent on these activities. Education also includes livelihood generation activities. The Health & WASH sector has seen almost a 6% increase in the CSR spending in 2015-16. Spending on environment related activities has decreased in 2015-16 compared to 2014-15. The contribution to Swachh Bharat Kosh has seen an increase in 2015-16  while the contribution to both the PM relief fund & Clean Ganga have decreased in 2015-16.
Featured Image:  CSR Spending


text:
Cultivable land down by 12 lakh Hectares in 10 years
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
August 3, 2016
As per the data shared by the government, the average cultivable land in the country decreased by over 12 lakh hectares from the 10th plan period (2002-03 to 2006-07) to 2013-14. The average area put to non-agricultural uses was up by 20.8 lakh hectares during the same period.
As per the information shared by the government in the Lok Sabha, the average area under cultivation or cultivable land has come down by 12.25 lakh hectares from 2002-03 to 2013-14. In the same period, the average size of the operational land holding has also come down from 1.33 hectare in 2000-01 to 1.15 hectare in 2010-11.
Most Cultivable land in Rajasthan
The average area under cultivation (cultivable land) was 18.29 crore hectares during the 10 plan period (2002-03 to 2006-07) and was 18.22 crore hectares during the 11 plan period (2007-08 to 2011-12). It has come down to 18.17 crore hectares as per the latest available data from 2013-14.
A total of seven states have more than crore hectares under cultivation as of 2013-14. Rajasthan has the highest cultivable land with 2.55 crore hectares followed by Maharashtra with 2.11 crore hectares. Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh (including Telangana), Karnataka & Gujarat make up the top seven. Except for Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh (to a small extent), the average area under cultivation has gone down in rest of the seven states from 2002-03 to 2013-14.
Only 0.04% of the net sown area in Punjab is Rainfed
Of all the states, Punjab has the lowest percentage of rainfed area of the net sown area in 2013-14 (0.04%). Uttar Pradesh has only 16% rainfed area. Of the states, only Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana have less than 20% rainfed area of the net sown area. Assam on the other hand has the highest percentage of rainfed area (94%) followed by Jharkhand (85%). Only 9 States/UTs have a lesser percentage of rainfed area compared to the national average. At an All India level, more than 50% of the area is rainfed.
Gujarat added about 2.5 lakh hectares of cultivable land while Odisha lost over 6 lakh
Between the 10 plan period (2002-03 to 2006-07) and 2013-14, the cultivable land came down by more than 12 lakh hectares across the country. Among the states, there was a mixed trend with some states adding to the average cultivable land while some other states losing. Odisha was the biggest loser with over 6 lakh hectare decrease in the available cultivable land followed by Uttar Pradesh that lost over 3 lakh hectares during this period. Maharashtra, Haryana and West Bengal also lost more than a lakh hectare during this period. Gujarat added 2.48 lakh hectares during this period followed by Manipur that added 1.53 lakh hectare. Only 9 states had a net addition in the available cultivable land while 20 States/UTs were in the negative. Seven (7) States/UTs did not see any change in the available cultivable land.
Average area put to Non-Agricultural uses up by 20.8 lakh hectares
During the same period, the average are put to non-agricultural uses has gone up by 20.8 lakh hectares. Of the various states, Uttar Pradesh saw the highest addition at 3.82 lakh hectares followed by Andhra Pradesh at 2.91 lakh hectares. A total of 7 states added more than a lakh hectare during this period. Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand are among the states that saw a decrease in the average are put to non-agricultural uses during this period.
Featured Image:By Raj[CC BY-SA 2.0]

created: August 3, 2016


text:
Sachin & Rekha submitted just 3 leave applications in 5 years
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
September 5, 2017
There is eight more months to go before both Sachin & Rekha retire as nominated MPs of the Rajya Sabha. Sachin now has an attendance record of 7% while Rekha is at 5%. Sachin submitted only 2 leave applications till date while Rekha submitted only one. Both of them have avoided disqualification by attending 1 or 2 days every session.
Factly had earlier reported that Sachin & Rekha have the worst attendance record among all the nominated MPs of the Rajya Sabha (RS). As of August 2017, Sachin has attended 25 out of 373 sittings (7% attendance) while Rekha attended 18 out of the 373 sittings (5% attendance). As if this is not enough, Factly’s investigation found that Sachin has applied for leave of absence from the house only twice while Rekha applied only once.
Attending 1 or 2 days every session to avoid disqualification
Article 101(4) of the constitution prescribes one of the many criteria for disqualification of a Member of Parliament (MP). As per this clause, a MP of either house of parliament can be disqualified if he/she is absent from the house for a period of 60 days without permission.
Both Sachin & Rekha have been attending 1 or 2 days per session so that the continuous 60-day period is not applicable. Out of the 22 sessions of the RS held after both of them were nominated in 2012, Rekha attended only one day per session in 18 sessions while she did not attend a single day in the rest of the 4 sessions. In the case of Sachin, he did not attend a single day in 8 sessions, only one day per session in 6 sessions, 2 days per session in 5 sessions and 3 days per session in 3 sessions. Rekha’s best attendance in a single session was ONE (1) while Sachin’s was slightly better at THREE (3).
Only 3 leave letters between them
Unlike in the Lok Sabha where there is a committee to decide on the leave applications of members, the Rajya Sabha does not have any dedicated committee. The chairman of the RS reads out the leave application in the house to seek the permission of the house.
In response to an application by Factly under Right to Information (RTI), the Rajya Sabha secretariat confirmed that as of August 2017, Sachin submitted only two leave applications while Rekha submitted only one.
One of Sachin’s leave applications was in March 2013 when he was still playing test cricket. The second leave application was August 2014 and cites professional & personal commitments and family exigencies as the reason for absence. On the other hand, Rekha’s leave application in February 2013 cites film shooting as the reason for absence. After this, neither of them submitted even a single leave application for their absence from the house. It has not be noted that they were seen outside attending commercial engagements during these sessions.  Ideally, they should have submitted leave application in every session since there is not a single session where their attendance is even close to 20%.

created: September 5, 2017


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Currency in Circulation reached a new high, crossed 27 Lakh Crores
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
January 16, 2021
The COVID-19 induced lockdown seems to have pushed people to turn to cash again. As per the latest data available with the RBI, the currency in circulation crossed Rs. 27 lakh crores by the beginning of January 2021, an increase of 22% in the last year. The Cash to GDP ratio is also set to reach a new high in 2020-21.
One of the stated goals of demonetization was to build a less-cash society. In an earlier story, we observed that the cash in circulation more than what it was prior to demonetization. Simultaneously, there has also been an increase in the volume of digital transactions since 2017. However, post the imposition of lockdown due to COVID-19, there has been a fall in the digital transactions for April’2020. This unprecedented period of lockdown & subsequent unlock phases has had an impact on various sectors of the economy including digital transactions. Meanwhile, what has been the impact of these unprecedented times on the currency in circulation? In this story, we take a look at the various trends and indicators relating to currency in circulation.
Currency in circulation at the end of 2020 is 22% more than last year
As per the Weekly Statistical Supplement provided by RBI under “Reserve Money Components & Sources”, the total Currency in Circulation as of 01 January 2021 was Rs. 27.7 lakh crores.  By the end of the previous year, the Currency in Circulation (CiC) was Rs.22.7 lakh crores. In other words, the CiC increased by around 22% in one year.
The yearly growth of the CiC during 2020 is higher than that of the previous two years when it was 12% and 19% respectively. However, the growth seen in the last year is much less than the increase in the CiC during 2017 i.e., the year after Demonetization.
Currency with Public has increase during lock down and after
Around the time a nationwide wide lockdown was announced, the total currency in circulation was Rs. 24.39 Lakh crores (as of 27 March 2020).  Of this, 96% i.e., Rs. 23.41 lakh crores were “Currency with the Public” and the balance of Rs. 97.5 thousand crores were the Cash with the banks.  As per RBI’s definition, Currency with Public is “Currency in Circulation” minus “Cash with Banks”.
By the end of the year, i.e., as of 18 December 2020, Currency with Public was Rs. 26.82 lakh crores, which is 96.58% of the total currency in circulation. The increase in the CiC and the increase in the proportion of Currency with the public indicates the propensity of the public to retain money in the form of cash.  However, the growth was not uniform throughout the year.
Currency to GDP ratio is estimated to have increased for 2020-21
Apart from the goal of reduction in the circulation of cash, a lower Currency-GDP ratio is also stated as one of the intended objectives of demonetization. At the time of demonetization (2015-16), the Currency-GDP ratio of India was 12.1%.
In an earlier story, based on RBI’s information, we have highlighted that post demonetization the ratio fell to 8.7% in 2016-17 but has since increased to reach 11.2% in 2018-19.  As per RBI’s annual report for 2019-20, the Currency-GDP ratio has further increased to 12% i.e. reaching the pre-demonetization levels of 2015-16.
While the RBI’s annual report for 2020-21 would be available only later in the year, we can estimate this ratio based on available information. As per First Advance Estimates of National Income 2020-21, released on 07 January 2021, the estimated Nominal GDP (at Current Prices) is likely to be Rs. 192.82 lakh crores as against the provisional estimate of Rs. 203.4 lakh crores. The Currency in Circulation at the beginning of 2021 is Rs. 27.7 lakh crores. Based on this, the currency to GDP ratio works out to 14.36%. Even factoring in the fall in estimated GDP compared to the provisional GDP, in which case the Cash to GDP ratio would be around 13.6%. In other words, cash seems to have made a comeback into the system even at greater levels compared to the period before demonetization.
Data indicates an increase in Currency in Circulation during lockdown
Data from the RBI indicates an increase in the cash with the public over the last year. This is in continuation of a trend observed over the past 4 years post-demonetization, where there has been a gradual increase in the currency in circulation. Data also indicates the increase has compounded during the lockdown meaning people have turned to cash.
The increasing trend on Currency-GDP ratio and the potential spike this year belies the argument that the increase in currency circulation is due to the expansion of the economy. The uncertainty during the lockdown period might have necessitated people to hold on to cash as a safer option. The higher increase during that period was followed by only a marginal increase during the next two quarters. But it has to be noted that the higher levels of currency in circulation during lockdown have not fallen and in fact, the CiC is reaching new levels with every passing month.
The cash transfers as part of the government’s Atmanirbhar package could have also contributed to an increase in cash circulation. Whether these levels of cash circulation sustain in the coming months remains to be seen. At the same time, it would also be interesting to compare the growth of digital transactions in the last year to understand this comprehensively.

created: January 16, 2021


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Currently, Indian Railways charges Rs. 10 for platform ticket at most stations - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
April 10, 2024
A graphic (here, and here) comparing two railway platform tickets is circulating widely on social media platforms. It claims that before 2014, the railway platform ticket was Rs. 3, and now it is Rs. 50. In this article, let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Before 2014, the railway platform ticket was Rs. 3, and now it is Rs. 50.
Fact: According to reports and information available on various railway zone websites, Indian Railways increased the fare of platform tickets from Rs. 3 to Rs. 5 in the year 2012. Later, in the year 2015, Indian Railways further raised the fare of platform tickets to Rs. 10. They also granted additional powers to Divisional Railway Managers to increase the rate of platform tickets beyond Rs. 10 to regulate rush at platforms during specific events such as melas and rallies. During COVID-19, Indian Railways increased the platform ticket fare to Rs. 50 to avoid and control crowds on platforms. Later, Indian Railways rolled back the increased platform ticket price to Rs. 10 after COVID-19. However, according to news reports, certain railway divisions increased platform ticket fares during special occasions and melas like Diwali and Dussehra. Hence, the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
In the viral social media graphic, the first ticket is dated 14 December 2011 and the second is dated 17 March 2020. To verify the authenticity of the viral claim, we conducted a relevant keyword search on the internet. This search led us to several news articles published in the year 2020 (here, here, & here). According to these news reports, “Railway Board Chairman VK Yadav stated that instructions have been issued to divisional railway managers to take local decision to increase platform ticket fare to control the crowd at the stations during COVID-19. This decision will be reviewed after the pandemic. Railways issued this clarification after the Rs. 50 platform ticket issued at Pune Junction railway station went viral on social media. Earlier, Congress leader Digvijay Singh had tweeted, stating that under BJP rule, the platform ticket price has increased from Rs. 3 to Rs. 50.
According to a press release by ‘The Press Information Bureau(PIB)’ dated 05 March 2021, the increase in platform ticket prices is a temporary measure. It is a regional activity undertaken by the Railway Administration to control crowds at stations. Platform ticket charges have been increased from time to time over the years to manage station crowding, which is not a new practice. In March 2020, several divisions of the Railways had increased the prices of platform tickets at various stations. However, this increase was later cancelled (for example, Central Zone and ECR). Such temporary extensions are often withdrawn in different areas and during festivals like Chhath pooja, Diwali, or fairs, etc.
We have accessed the circular mentioned in the PIB press release. According to this circular, the Ministry of Railways raised the platform ticket price from Rs. 5 to Rs. 10 in the year 2015. Additionally, the power is delegated to Divisional Railway Managers to increase the rate of platform tickets beyond Rs. 10 to regulate rush at platforms during specific events such as melas and rallies.
Subsequently, we also found several news reports (here, here, & here) stating that platform ticket prices were increased to control crowds on platforms on various occasions. The official press release of South Central Railway (SCR) regarding the increase in platform ticket fares to control unnecessary public movement on platforms during the 2019 Dussehra festival can be viewed here.
During this search, we also found several reports (here, here, & here) stating that the Indian Railways increased the platform ticket price from Rs. 3 to Rs. 5 in the year 2012. A press release regarding the increase in platform ticket fares on Southern Railway can be seen here.
News reports stating that Indian Railways have rolled back the increased platform ticket price to Rs. 10 after COVID-19 can be seen here and here.
Further, we also contacted the office of the Chief Public Relations Officer, South Central Railway (Secunderabad), regarding the price of platform tickets in the zone. They have confirmed that the current price of platform ticket is Rs. 10.
To sum it up, currently, Indian Railways is charging Rs. 10 for platform tickets. The viral graphic shows a platform ticket dating back to 2020 when Indian Railways hiked the fare to control the crowd on platforms during COVID-19.


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More than 20 cases wait for prosecution sanction from the NDA government as the new CVC takes over
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
June 9, 2015
As per the latest information available with the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC), 25 cases involving 55 officials are pending for sanction for prosecution from various central government departments. The Ministry of Personnel directly under the Prime Minister leads the list with five such pending cases.
The Narendra Modi government finally appointed Mr. K.V. Chowdary, retired Chairman of Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) as the Chief Vigilance Commissioner, after the post was vacant for close to 9 months. The government has come under criticism over both the delay and the appointment itself.
The CVC
The Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) was established in 1964, as an apex body for exercising superintendence and control over vigilance administration, through the Government of India Resolution. The main mandate of the Commission was based on the report of the Committee on Prevention of Corruption, popularly known as the Santhanam Committee. The establishment of the Commission was considered essential for evolving and applying common standards in deciding cases involving lack of probity and integrity in administration. Subsequent to the directions of Hon’ble Supreme Court in the judgement of the Writ Petition filed in public interest by Shri Vineet Narain and others in Jain Hawala Case, the Government promulgated an Ordinance in 1998. The Ordinance of 1998 conferred statutory status to the CVC.
On multiple occasions, the Supreme Court has issued guidelines to the Government directing them to grant sanction for the prosecution of a public servant under section 19 of the Prevention of Corruption Act within a period of three months (4 months in special cases) of the receipt of the proposal by the concerned authority like the CVC. Government departments have violated this guideline consistently irrespective of the party in power. It is even more surprising that the NDA government that rode to power on an anti corruption plank, is sitting on more than 20 cases without granting sanction for prosecution.
The Pending Cases
The CVC publishes the list of Ministry/ Department wise summary of cases pending sanction for prosecution over four months. As per the list published by the CVC, 25 cases involving 55 officials are pending for sanction for prosecution over four months. In 20 of these cases, the sanction was solicited after the NDA government came to power.
Incidentally, the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions directly under the Prime Minister leads the list with 5 cases pending for sanction. Three of these cases are pending for over 30 months now.  The Ministry of Railways, Finance and CBDT follow with two cases pending each. Ministry of Home Affairs, Petroleum & Natural Gas, Urban Development, Labour & Employment, Information & Broadcasting, South Delhi Municipal Corporation have one pending case each. The rest of the eight cases are pending from Public Sector Banks like the State Bank of India, IDBI, Punjab National Bank etc.
The average duration for which a case is pending for sanction is about 12 months or a year while the Supreme Court mandated three months as the time frame. In four of these cases, sanction was first sought in the year 2012. The sanction is awaited for more than 12 months on 6 of these 25 cases. Two of these cases from 2012 involve nine IAS officers from the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh.
Let’s hope that the government walks the talk in its fight against corruption by immediately granting sanction for prosecution of these 55 officials.


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Cyber Crimes in India: Which state tops the chart? - Factly
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
September 2, 2016
With increasing internet penetration, cyber crimes have also increased in the last few years. Between 2011 and 2015, the number of cyber crimes registered in the country has gone up 5 times. Maharashtra & Uttar Pradesh alone accounted for 1/3rd of these crimes.
With increasing mobile and internet penetration in the country, cyber crimes have also increased proportionately.  Between 2011 and 2015, more than 32000 cyber crimes were reported across the country. More than 24000 of these cases are registered under the IT Act and the remaining under the various sections of IPC and other State Level Legislations (SLL).
What are Cyber Crimes?
Cyber Crimes in India are registered under three broad heads, the IT Act, the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and other State Level Legislations (SLL). The cases registered under the IT Act include
On the other hand, cases are also registered under the IPC and those include
Cyber Crimes up by more than 3 times in 5 years
The numbers of cases registered under the IT Act and IPC have been growing continuously. The cases registered under the IT act grew by more than 350% from 2011 to 2015. There was almost a 70% increase in the number of cyber crimes under the IT act between 2013 and 2014. The cases registered under the IPC increased by more than 7 times during the period between 2011 and 2015. Similar trend is observed in the number of persons arrested. The government also acknowledges the increase in the number of such crimes and that the introduction of technologies, devices including smart phones and complex applications, and rise in usage of cyber space for businesses has resulted in such an increase.
Maharashtra & Uttar Pradesh on the top
The list of states with the highest incidence of cyber crime for the period 2011 to 2015 throws no surprises. Maharashtra tops the list with more than 5900 cases in the 5 years followed by Uttar Pradesh with close to 5000 such cases. Karnataka is third with more than 3500 cases. The top states in this list are the ones with a greater internet subscriber base. The bottom 10 are relatively smaller states with lower population & lower internet penetration.
What is the Government Doing?
The government says that use of social media has also emerged as a key tool for committing cyber crimes and attacks that affect nation and society and is conscious of increase in cyber crimes. It has taken various steps in the form of awareness, training, legal framework, emergency response and implementation of best practices to prevent occurrence of such cyber crimes
In response to a question in the Lok Sabha, the government mentioned that the following measures are being taken to tackle cyber crimes.

created: September 2, 2016


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Cyclists & other Non-Motorized vehicles should not be allowed on main roads in Metros – Parl. Standing Committee on Transport
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
March 4, 2017
The Parliamentary Standing committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture has recommended that Non-Motorized vehicles (cyclists etc) should not be allowed to use highways and main roads in cities. The committee mentioned that they create a lot of nuisance.
The Parliamentary Standing committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture has recommended that Non-Motorized vehicles (cyclists etc) not be allowed to use highways and main roads in cities. In its report presented to parliament on February 8th, 2017 for amendments to Motor Vehicles Act, the bizarre recommendation undermines rights of pedestrians and cyclists. India has always been opposed to the idea of rights to people in cities including opposing inclusion of “Right to City” at the UN Habitat in September 2016.
‘Non-Motorized vehicles create nuisance and do not follow road rules’
In its 243rd report on ‘The Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, 2016’, the committee made some bizarre remarks about non-motorized vehicles. It mentioned that non-motorized vehicles do not follow road rules and create a lot of nuisance. The committee also felt that there is a need to streamline non-motorized vehicles by introducing minor penalty or punishment. And the committee recommended that the non-motorized vehicles should not be allowed on national highways and main roads of metro cities.
36% People use non-motorized transport
According to the Census 2011, only 13% population of India use motor cycles for transport. But Non-Motorized Transport (NMT) has a combined share of 36% with people travelling through cycles at 13% and pedestrians at 23%. In India cycle is so popular that few regional parties have it as their election symbol. NMT has many advantages for India, it can help reduce traffic in our clogged cities, improve health of citizens and the most important being its minimal carbon footprint. With the rise of pollution levels in Indian cities, it is important to promote these options than penalizing them. In fact, cars need to be discouraged and heavy penalties imposed for offences.
The committee notes while pedestrians are most vulnerable to accidents, it thinks pedestrians and cyclists do not follow rules and cause lot of nuisance on the road. The act of not following rules by pedestrians is termed as “Jaywalking” and India is not strange to the laws that penalize Jaywalking.  State like Karnataka and West Bengal already implement them in major cities. This brings us to the question of “Right to Walk”, which has been contested multiple times in various high courts of  Madhya Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana as a constitutional right under article 21 of “Right to Life”.
In his book “Walkable City” the author Jeff Speck proposes “General Theory of Walkability” which talks about how fragile pedestrians are and under the right conditions they thrive and multiply. The theory proposes a walk must be useful, safe, comfortable, and interesting. Several cities around the world are promoting Non-Motorized Transport options of walking and cycling. Indian cities are also slowly promoting Non-Motorized Transport options under the smart cities mission. Communities of pedestrians are also claiming the road spaces through campaigns like Equal streets and Raahgiri days around the country.
At this important juncture of urbanization when equality on road is required to minimize accidents and solve traffic issues of cities, the committee’s recommendations are appalling. It seems the policy makers of the country are unaware of ground realities and that is very concerning. As the bill has not been passed in the Parliament, it is important for other members of Parliament to act and reason themselves of what future they are planning for citizens.
Featured Image: www.dailytravelphotos.com


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Cyclone Tauktae visuals are passed off as cyclone Yaas from West Bengal - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
May 26, 2021
In view of the very severe cyclone named Yaas which is set to hit the east coast, particularly Odisha and West Bengal, a social media post with a video is being shared on social media. The video shows waves engulfing houses along the shore and it is being claimed that the video shows the present situation in West Bengal’s Digha. Through this article, let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Video showing the present situation in West Bengal’s Digha due to cyclone Yaas.
Fact: This video actually shows visuals of cyclone Tauktae from Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala earlier this month. While it is true that Digha is facing high tides and heavy winds due to cyclone Yaas, this video is not related to cyclone Yaas. Hence the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
This video is not related to cyclone Yaas. Google search with relevant keywords led us to an India Today news report regarding the recent cyclone Tauktae earlier this month. The report carried the same visuals as in the post. According to the report, the video shows visuals related to cyclone Tauktae from Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala. More visuals of cyclone Tauktae from Kerala can be seen here.
It is true that Digha in particular is facing high tides with strong winds as cyclone Yaas is expected to make landfall along the east coast of West Bengal & Odisha. However, the video in the post is not related to Digha and cyclone Yaas.
To sum it up, cyclone Tauktae visuals from Kerala earlier this month are passed off as cyclone Yaas from West Bengal.


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Daily Change of Petrol & Diesel Price – Here is what you should know & do
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
June 17, 2017
With Petrol & Diesel prices changing on a daily basis, it is important for one to know the price at a specific petrol pump. Here are some ways to know the exact price.
Since yesterday (16 June, 2017), Petrol & Diesel prices are being revised every day at 6am. The revision will be based on the global crude oil price. This change will be applicable for all the retail petrol pumps of the three PSU Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) IOCL, BPCL & HPCL. Together, they account for more than 95% of all the petrol pumps in the country. Since this change is going to affect most people, here is what we should know.
Information on Price Revision
The price of petrol & diesel varies from state to state because of difference in tax rates. It has to be noted that the tax on petrol & diesel has been exempted from GST and we will continue to see these different prices going forward. The price can also vary from place to place within a state based on the cost of transport etc. Since the prices are going to be different from petrol pump to another, it is always advisable to check the right price as fixed by the OMC. There are many ways to find out the price at a particular petrol pump.
Basic Pricing from PPAC: The basic daily pricing can be found on the website of the Petrol Planning & Analysis Cell (PPAC) under the Ministry of Petroleum.
IOCL: For petrol pumps of IOCL, the daily price can be found in the following ways.
BPCL: For petrol pumps of BPCL, the daily price can be found in the following ways.
HPCL: For petrol pumps of HPCL, the daily price can be found in the following ways.
How to make a complaint?
In case one finds a discrepany in the price on the portal and the price being charged by the dealer, a complaint can be lodged with the relevant OMC.
For IOCL: Call on customer care number 1800-2333-555 or make a complaint on their website.
For BPCL: Call on customer care number 1800-22-4344 or make a complaint on their website.
For HPCL: Call on customer care number 1800-22-6550 or make a complaint on their website.
A petrol pump of the three OMCs is also supposed to provide many facilities to the customers. Watch this video to know more.


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Dance video of a construction worker in China is falsely shared as that of Hyderabad Metro worker - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
June 13, 2019
A Facebook post with a dance video of a construction worker is being shared by many users. The post claims that the man seen in the video is a worker of Hyderabad Metro Rail Limited. Let’s try to analyze the claims made in the post.
The dance video is that of a Metro Rail worker in Hyderabad.
Fact:  The video is actually that of a construction worker in South-Western China’s Sichuan province. So, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
When one goes through the comments section of the video posted, in one of the comments, it is mentioned by a user that the video is actually from China.
On searching in YouTube with keywords “Metro dance China”, the similar video posted on Facebook was found to be uploaded by the Hong Kong based ‘South China Morning Post’. The video carries the description as: “A construction worker in southwestern China’s Sichuan province learned how to dance, and posting his smooth moves online has made him a star”.  The same video was posted by multiple Chinese users on Twitter as well as YouTube  way back in February 2019.
The video gained momentum on social media platforms after it was tweeted by the MD of Hyderabad metro.  Among others, it was retweeted by TRS Leader KTR. He later deleted his tweet because it was not from Hyderabad.  But some media channels took it up and shared it as Hyderabad metro worker dance.
To sum it up, this dance video is not that of a worker in Hyderabad Metro Rail Limited. It is that of a construction worker in South-Western China’s Sichuan province.
Did you watch our Facebook live on Fake News (Misinformation)