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The Government of India has not launched any scheme to distribute mobile phones and tabs to Class X and Class XII students - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
February 23, 2024
A video featuring a woman claiming that the central government is distributing 4.34 lakh mobile phones and tabs to students scoring 80 percent or more in the upcoming Class X and Class XII board examinations in 2024, along with a yearly scholarship of Rs. 20,000, is being widely shared across social media platforms. In this article, let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Central government is distributing 4.34 lakh mobile phones and tabs to students scoring 80 percent or more in the upcoming Class X and Class XII board examinations 2024.
Fact: There are no reports about Central government distributing mobile phones and tablets to Class X and Class XII students. If the central government had indeed launched such a scheme for students, it would have been widely reported by news agencies and Press Information Bureau, Government of India. However, there are reports about various state governments distributing mobile phones, laptops, and tabs to students. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
To verify the authenticity of the viral claim, we conducted a relevant keyword search on the internet. However, we didn’t find any reports about the central government distributing 4.34 lakh mobile phones and tabs to students scoring 80 percent or more in the upcoming Class X and Class XII board examinations in 2024. If the central government had indeed launched such a scheme for students, it would have been widely reported by news agencies and  Press Information Bureau, Government of India.
In this search, we found multiple reports (here, here & here) regarding several states distributing smartphones and tablets to students. According to these reports, the Uttar Pradesh Government launched a scheme in December 2021 planning to distribute one crore smartphones and tablets to students in the state. In the year 2022, the Andhra Pradesh government distributed tablets worth ₹620 crore to 4.34 lakh students. The West Bengal government has initiated a scheme through which money is transferred to students’ accounts so that they can buy tablets or smartphones and continue with their online education. This scheme is for Class XII students studying in 14,000 government and government-aided schools and 636 madrasas. Reports regarding various states distributing smartphones and tablets can be seen here.
Subsequently, we also checked the National Scholarship Portal and found that, at present, the central government is offering 18 types of scholarships under various categories. Out of these, two scholarships, namely the National Means Cum Merit Scholarship and the Central Sector Scheme of Scholarships for College and University Students, are given to students from all categories, communities, and religions, unlike other scholarships.
The National Means Cum Merit Scholarship is offered by the Department of School Education & Literacy, Government of India. This scheme was launched in 2008 with the objective of awarding scholarships to meritorious students from economically weaker sections to prevent dropouts at class VIII and encourage them to continue their education at the secondary stage. One lakh fresh scholarships are awarded to selected students of class IX every year, and their continuation/renewal in classes X to XII for study in State Government, Government-aided, and Local body schools under the scheme. The amount of the scholarship is Rs. 12,000 per annum. Each State/UT conducts its own test at the stage of class VIII for the selection of students for the National Means-cum-Merit Scholarship. The State Level Examination may consist of the following two tests: Mental Ability Test (MAT) and Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT).
The Central Sector Scheme of Scholarship for College and University Students is offered by the Department of Higher Education, Government of India. The scheme has been operational since 2008, with the objective of providing financial assistance to meritorious students from families with an income of less than Rs. 4.5 lakh per annum, helping them meet a part of their day-to-day expenses while pursuing higher studies. The annual target of this scheme is to award 82,000 scholarships per year (41,000 for boys and 41,000 for girls), divided among the State Education Boards based on the state’s population in the age group of 18-25 years. Students who are above the 80th percentile of successful candidates in the relevant stream from a particular Board of Examination in class XII and pursuing a regular course, without availing benefits of any other scholarships, are eligible to apply under this scheme. The rate of scholarship is Rs. 12,000 per annum for the first three years and Rs. 20,000 per annum for the fourth and fifth years.
To sum it up, the Central government has not launched any scheme to distribute mobile phones and tablets to Class X and Class XII students.

created: February 23, 2024


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The Gramin Rojgar Kalyan Sansthan (grks.org) website offering jobs is a fake one - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
December 8, 2022
A Facebook post displaying the multiple job vacancies on the website -‘www.grks.org‘, is being widely shared on social media claiming that the ‘Gramin Rojgar Kalyan Sansthan’ is a government organisation. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Job vacancies on the website of a government organisation named ‘Gramin Rojgar Kalyan Sansthan’
Fact: ‘Gramin Rojgar Kalyan Sansthan’ is a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) from Bihar registered in 2017. This organisation has been continuously posting thousands of job vacancies for various positions across the country since 2017. Several users filed complaints against this website/ organisation for collecting money from applicants and cheating them without conducting any exams. The Ministry of Rural Development informed the applicants that all Central and State Government websites are on the “gov.in” domain, and not on “.com” or any other spammy websites. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
First, we searched the details of this organisation on ngodarpan.gov.in and found that ‘Gramin Rojgar Kalyan Sansthan’ is a Non- Governmental Organization (NGO) from Bihar registered in 2017.
We then searched ‘National Career Service‘, ‘Employment news‘, and other credible media websites regarding this recruitment but couldn’t find any details. Through further investigation, we found that this organization has been continuously posting thousands of job vacancies for various positions across the country since 2017. The details can be seen here and here. Several users who applied for jobs on this website complained that they lost money and called it a ‘fraudulent website’ extorting money from unemployed youth as no examination is conducted. The complaints can be seen here, here, and here.
Though the government has not released any statement against this website as of now, the Ministry of Rural Development, in a press release on 16 June 2022, clarified that ‘Gramin Udhyamita Sansthan’, which is claiming to be authorised by the Govt. of India is indeed a fake Organization and informed users that all Central and State Government websites are on the “gov.in” domain, and not on “.com” or any other spam/concocted/spoof websites. Additionally, we found that the job notifications released by these kinds of websites usually do not contain details of the exam/job location.
To sum it up, Gramin Rojgar Kalyan Sansthan (grks.org) is a fraudulent website and has no relation with the government.

source: news-factly

created: December 8, 2022

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

author: Sai Krishna Muthyanolla


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The 'Guinness World Records’ did not acknowledge Sudanese model Nyakim Getwech as the 'Queen of Darkness' - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
November 30, 2021
An image of a model is being shared on social media claiming that the Guinness Book of Records had acknowledged South Sudanese model Nyakim Getwech as the ‘Queen of Darkness’. This post claims that the Sudanese model ‘Nyakim’ has entered the Guinness book of records for having the darkest skin tone on Earth. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Photo of Nyakim Getwech whom the Guinness Book of Records had acknowledged as the ‘Queen of Darkness’.
Fact: The photo shared in the post shows Florence Baitio, an aspiring model from Australia, not the South-Sudan model Nyakim Getwech. The ‘Guinness World Record’ does not monitor records for ‘skin tone’. The ‘Guinness World Record’ had also issued a clarification that they do not monitor records for skin tone. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
When we searched to check whether the ‘Guinness World Records’ monitors the records based on skin tone, we could not find any such information on the ‘Guinness World Records’ website. In August 2020, when a similar claim went viral on social media, the ‘Guinness World Records’ through a tweet clarified that it does not monitor records for skin tone. The user (@iChopTweets) to whom ‘Guinness World Record’ had replied, also tweeted saying that he had even contacted Nyakim Gatwech regarding the news and stated that it is ‘misinformation’. The user even attached the screenshot of his conversation with Nyakim Gatwech in his tweet. Nyakim Gatwech is an American model of South Sudanese descent. She has attracted attention for her dark skin colour and has achieved significant popularity on Instagram.
I spoke to her too and couldn't confirm the record. Apologies for the wrong information, nevertheless she deserves all the recognition. pic.twitter.com/yGQiIhJayx
On observing the images shared on the Nyakim Gatwech Instagram handle, we can confirm that the model shown in the photo is not the Sudanese model Nyakim Gatwech. When we used reverse image search to find more about the photos shared in the post, a similar photo was found shared in an Instagram handle on 04 December 2020. This Instagram user had mentioned the model’s name as Florence Baitio. Florence Baitio is an Australia-based model, currently working in the Muuma Model agency. A video with similar visuals was found published on the Florence Baitio Instagram handle. More details about Florence Baitio can be found here and here.
On comparing the pictures of Florence Baitio and Nyakim Hatwech, it can be concluded that the photo shared in the post shows Australian model Florence Baitio, not the Sudanese model Nyakim Gatwech.
Earlier, when the real photo of Nyakim Gatwech was shared with a similar claim that she had entered the Guinness book of records for having the darkest skin tone on Earth, FACTLY published a fact-check article debunking that claim.
To sum it up, a photo of Australian model Florence Baitio is shared to falsely claim that ‘Guinness World Records’ acknowledging Sudanese model Nyakim Getwech as the ‘Queen of Darkness’.

created: November 30, 2021


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The Gujarat Waqf Board did not claim that 'Beyt Dwarka' belongs to them; case related to 'Shiyalbet' is being falsely linked to 'Beyt Dwarka' - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
March 6, 2024
A post claiming that the Gujarat Waqf Board has claimed two islands in Hindu pilgrimage site ‘Beyt Dwarka’ is widely shared across social media platforms. Through this article, let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: The Gujarat Waqf Board claimed that two islands in ‘Beyt Dwarka’ belong to them.
Fact: The Gujarat Waqf Board condemned this claim and clarified that they did not file any petition in the High Court regarding any land in ‘Beyt Dwarka’. Jamnagar BJP MP Poonamben Maadam clarified that the case related to the island of ‘Shiyalbet’, which is in the Amreli district of the Saurashtra region, is being mistaken for ‘Beyt Dwarka’, which is in the Devbhumi Dwarka district in the west of Gujarat. The case related to ‘Shiyalbet” nowhere mentions ‘Beyt Dwarka’ in the petition. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
To verify the authenticity of the viral claim, we conducted a relevant keyword search on the internet. We found a report stating that Jamnagar BJP Member of Parliament (MP), Poonamben Hematbhai Maadam, has stated that this is not true. The area of “Beyt Dwarka” falls under the Lok Sabha constituency of Jamnagar. Jamnagar MP Poonamben issued a clarification in a media statement, saying that “no such claim had been made by the Waqf Board and that she had officially verified through the Law Minister and the District Collector.”
Similarly, the Gujarat Waqf Board condemned this claim and clarified that they did not file any petition in the High Court regarding any land in ‘Beyt Dwarka’. They also stated that a private Sunni Muslim trust filed a petition in the Gujarat High Court concerning the Sawai Pir Dargah in Shiyalbet, and the Waqf Board was merely present at the hearing as required by the High Court’s orders. Poonamben explained that the confusion arose because the names Beyt Dwarka and Shiyalbet are similar, and the actual ‘Beyt Dwarka’ has nothing to do with this case. According to the Gujarat Tourism website, an island named ‘Beyt Dwarka’ is in the Devbhumi Dwarka district, located to the west of Gujarat, where people believe Lord Krishna lived there, and there are shrines of various Hindu deities. In contrast, Shiyalbet is an island in the Amreli district in the south of Gujarat.
Details related to the Shiyalbet case can be seen here. “Beyt Dwarka” is not mentioned anywhere in this petition. The status of this case on the Gujarat High Court website can be seen here.
According to a news report by ‘Times of India,’ the Sawai Peer and Itar Peer Dargah Trust approached the court, claiming that government officials were not allowing tourists to visit Sawai Beyt island and the shrines (dargahs) on this island, citing national security. The petition also states that a Hindu temple is being built on land belonging to the Waqf Board.
To sum it up, the Gujarat Waqf Board did not claim that ‘Beyt Dwarka’ belongs to them. The case related to ‘Shiyalbet’ is being falsely linked to ‘Beyt Dwarka’.


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The Gyro Drop video posted on Facebook is a work of CGI graphics - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
July 18, 2019
A video of an amusement park ride has been shared more than 25 thousand times on Facebook. The video shows that it’s a free fall ride but converts to a swing chair ride for some seconds before the free-fall. Also, the height of the ride doubles once the ride starts. Let’s try to check the authenticity of the video in the post.
The video shows a Gyro-ride which has swing chair convertibility and can increase its height by twice once the ride starts.
Fact: The video shows an edited CGI version of ‘Gyro Ride -2’ located at the Lotte World in South Korea. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
When the video in the post is divided into frames using Invid plugin and the frames are run through Google Reverse Image Search, it was found that the ride in the video belongs to the Lotte World Adventure Amusement Park, South Korea. The information on the ride can be found on the official website of the Amusement Park. The details of the ride mention nothing about the swing chair or height extension capabilities of the ride other than the free-fall experience.
Also, when searched for the actual videos of the ride, the videos can be found on the Google Maps page of the Lotte World. The videos do not show the ride converting into a swing chair or doubling its height. Only free-falling of the seats can be seen in the videos. The videos of the ride can be watched here, here, and here.
In the search results, it can also be found that organizations like CNN and Snopes have already written articles terming the video as ‘fake’. To sum it up, the Gyro Drop video posted on Facebook is a work of CGI graphics. It’s not real.
Did you watch our new Episode of the DECODE series on Parliament?


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Most of the Hailstorm images and video are not from Telangana - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
April 23, 2019
A post with some images and a video showing hailstorm is being shared on Facebook by many users claiming that the images and video posted are from the last week’s hailstorm in Telangana. Let’s try to analyze the claim made in the post
Images and video of hailstorm in the post are taken last week in Telangana.
Fact: Most of the images and video in the post are taken from various sources and are presented as images of the hailstorm, which occurred last week in Telangana. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
Some of the news agencies like Asianet News (Tamil) and Socialnews.xyz have also presented those images as Telangana’s hailstorm.
Also, news agencies like Times of India (Telugu and Tamil) and Asianet News (Telugu) have published the same video as the hailstorm in Telangana.
When images in the post are run through Google Reverse Image search, it is found that the same images were posted by different people in other contexts.
Picture 1
Posted Photo
Fact: The same photo was tweeted by Shel Winkley on 6 April 2019 as hail in Flo (Leon County, southeast of Buffalo, Texas)
Picture 2
Posted Photo
Fact: The actual source of the photo was not found but the same image was uploaded on 9GAG website way back in October 2018. So, the photo is not from last week’s Telangana hailstorm.
What about the Video?
When the video posted on Facebook is divided into frames using Invid software and the frames are run through Google Reverse Images search, it can be found that the same video was posted on YouTube by a user on March 30 2018, as hailstorm in Bangladesh. So, the video being shared on Facebook and published by some of the prominent news agencies is not from Telangana as the hailstorm occurred last week whereas the same video was posted a year back. During March 2018, the same video was posted by multiple users claiming it as hailstorm in Bangladesh. You can watch the same video uploaded here & here  way back in 2018. In all probability, the video could be from Bangladesh and from 2018.
Also, similar videos and images were posted and shared in different languages as incidents at various locations
Hence, most of the hailstorm images and video are not from Telangana. They have been taken from various sources and presented as Telangana’s hailstorm.


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ఫొటోలోని హనుమాన్ విగ్రహం దొరికింది అయోధ్యలో కాదు, మధ్యప్రదేశ్ లోని భోపాల్ జిల్లాలో - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
December 6, 2019
ఫేస్బుక్ లో ఒక ఫోటో ని పెట్టి ‘అయోధ్యలో ముస్లీములకు ఇచ్చే 5 ఎకరాల భూమిలో పురాతనమైన హనుమాన్ విగ్రహం దొరికింది’ అని పోస్టు చేస్తున్నారు. పోస్టులో చెప్పినదాంట్లో ఎంతవరకు నిజముందో పరిశీలిద్దాం.
ఫొటోలోని హనుమాన్ విగ్రహం అయోధ్య (ఉత్తర్ ప్రదేశ్) లో దొరికింది.
ఫాక్ట్ (నిజం): ఫొటోలోని హనుమాన్ విగ్రహం మధ్యప్రదేశ్ లోని భోపాల్ జిల్లాలో దొరికింది. కావున, పోస్టులో చెప్పింది తప్పు.
‘అయోధ్య మందిర్-మసీద్’ కేసులో సుప్రీమ్ కోర్టు ఇచ్చిన తీర్పులో సున్నీ వక్ఫ్ బోర్డు కి అయోధ్య లో 5 ఎకరాల భూమిని కేంద్ర ప్రభుత్వం లేదా ఉత్తర ప్రదేశ్ రాష్ట్ర ప్రభుత్వం ఇవ్వాల్సిందిగా ఆదేశాలు ఇచ్చింది.  అంతే కాదు, ఆ 5 ఎకరాలు ఎక్కడ ఇచ్చేది ఇంకా ప్రభుత్వం చెప్పలేదు.
పోస్టులో ఉన్న ఫోటోని ‘हनुमान प्रतिमा खुदाई’ అనే ఫిల్టర్ తో గూగుల్ రివర్స్ ఇమేజ్ సెర్చ్ చేసినప్పుడు, అందుకు సంబంధించిన చాలా సెర్చ్ రిజల్ట్స్ వచ్చాయి. ఒక సెర్చ్ రిజల్ట్ లో ఆ ఫోటో యొక్క పూర్తి ఫోటో లభించింది. కానీ, దాంట్లో ఆ ఫోటోకి సంబంధించిన సమాచారం ఏమీ లేదు.
ఆ సెర్చ్ రిజల్ట్స్ లో ‘Dainik Bhaskar’ వారి లింక్ కూడా ఉంది. ఆ లింక్ లోని కథనం మధ్యప్రదేశ్ లోని భోపాల్ జిల్లాలో హనుమాన్ విగ్రహం దొరకడంకి సంబంధించింది. దాంతో, గూగుల్ లో ‘Madhya pradesh bhopal hanuman ancient statue excavated’ అని వెతికినప్పుడు, ‘Patrika’ వారు July 13, 2019 న ప్రచురించిన కథనం సెర్చ్ రిజల్ట్స్ లో వచ్చింది. ఆ కథనం లో పైన ఫొటోలాంటిదే మరొక ఫోటో ఉంది. ఆ కథనంలో ఉన్న సమాచారం ద్వారా మధ్యప్రదేశ్ లోని భోపాల్ జిల్లా అబ్దుల్లాహ్ గ్రామంలోని ఒక పొలంలో మొక్కలు నాటడానికి తవ్వక్కాలు జరుపుతున్నప్పుడు హనుమాన్ విగ్రహం దొరికిందని తెలిసింది.
అంతే కాదు, ఆ 5 ఎకరాలు ఎక్కడ ఇచ్చేది ఇంకా ప్రభుత్వం చెప్పలేదు. అలాంటప్పుడు ముస్లింలకు ఇచ్చే 5 ఎకరాల్లో దొరికింది అనడం కూడా తప్పుడు వార్తే.
చివరగా, ఫొటోలోని హనుమాన్ విగ్రహం దొరికింది అయోధ్యలో కాదు, మధ్యప్రదేశ్ లోని భోపాల్ జిల్లాలో.
ఏది ఫేక్, ఏది నిజం సిరీస్ లో మా వీడియోస్ మీరు చూసారా?

created: December 6, 2019


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Govt’s vaccine advisory panel head did not say that initial batches of Covaxin administered to people ‘were not of the right quality’ - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
August 4, 2021
A post with a tweet from Sreenivasan Jain is being widely shared on social media. The tweet says, ‘Breaking: the head of the Govt’s vaccine advisory panel Dr. NK Arora tells me initial batches of Covaxin ‘were not of the right quality’. The post even claims this to be the game of Big Pharma. Sreenivasan Jain is a journalist working for NDTV. Let us fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Dr. NK Arora, the head of Government’s vaccine advisory panel said that the initial batches of Covaxin administered to people were not of right quality.
Fact: Government’s vaccine advisory panel head, Dr. NK Arora did not say that the initial batches of Covaxin administered to people were not of right quality. Dr. NK Arora, the Chief of National Immunization Technical Advisory Group, said that the new Bangalore plant of Bharat Biotech had initial hiccups in supplying Covaxin because the first couple of batches ‘were not of the right quality’. These were test batches that got rejected and were not administered as part of the vaccination campaign. Further batches which received approval have moved forward. Sreenivasan Jain, the journalist who interviewed Dr. Arora also later clarified via twitter that these batches of Covaxin did not make their way into the vaccination programme. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
Sreenivasan Jain is a journalist and anchor of the program ‘Reality Check’ which airs on NDTV. When we searched for tweets on Sreenivasan Jain’s official Twitter handle, a tweet thread with his Clarification/Apology was found. He clarified that in his earlier (now-deleted) tweets (here and here) that he was not ‘explicitly clear that the initial batches of Covaxin found substandard did not make their way into the vaccination programme.’ He apologised for ‘any confusion caused as a result’ and he deleted the original tweet based on Dr. NK Arora’s (Chief of National Immunization Technical Advisory Group) interview with him.
I did clarify that in subsequent Tweets but the initial Tweet could have been worded much better. I am deleting the original Tweet. For any confusion caused as a result, apologies. 2/n
The Full interview (Reality Check program – NDTV) by Sreenivasan Jain with Dr. NK Arora was published on 02 August 2021 on YouTube. In this interview, Dr. NK Arora did not say that the initial batches of Covaxin administered to people were not of the right quality. When asked about the shortfall in production of Covaxin, Dr. Arora said that the first couple batches produced at Bharat Biotech’s Bengaluru facility ‘were not of the right quality’ but the ‘third and fourth batches have now come up which have moved forward’. Dr. NK Arora never said that the first two batches were part of the vaccination campaign or were administered to the people.
Dr. NK Arora did speak to ANI about the delayed Covaxin production by Bharat Biotech Bangalore plant. Speaking to ANI, Arora said, ‘The test batches of that plant weren’t satisfactory and got rejected which led to delay in ramping up production, but now the batches have been approved by the competent authority and will be available for public consumption.”
In an interview with DD News, Dr. NK Arora assured the citizens that Covaxin meets safety standards. He further explained that whenever there is a new plant (like the Bangalore Bharat Biotech plant), new trial batches are produced (called test batches) and they are tested (in Central Drugs Laboratory in Kasauli) for approval.
To sum it up, the head of the Government’s vaccine advisory panel did not say that the initial batches of Covaxin administered to people ‘were not of the right quality’.

created: August 4, 2021


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The ‘Heavy shelling along LOC’ video is an old video posted 8 years ago - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
February 28, 2019
Some pages on Facebook posted a video with the title ‘Heavy shelling along LOC”. The video is being shared by many people in the context of current war like situation between the two countries (India and Pakistan).  Let’s try to analyze the claim made in the post
The video shows the heavy shelling happening currently along the Line of Control (LOC)
The video posted on Facebook is an old video posted 8 years back on YouTube with the title ‘Awesome Machine Gun firing at night’. So, the claim is
When the keywords ‘bullet firing’ and ‘night sky’ are searched on YouTube, the video being shared on Facebook will appear in the search results. The video is titled ‘Awesome Machine gun firing at night – Tracer Rounds’ on YouTube. The time stamp on the video shows that it has been uploaded 8 years back. So, it is no way related to the recent conflict.
Finally, the video posted on Facebook as shelling along the LOC is an old video from 2011.

created: February 28, 2019


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The ‘HIGH ALERT’ message from Dr. Anjali Mathur is a hoax. Also, most of the claims in the message are false - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
September 9, 2019
A ‘high alert’ message is being shared on social media with a claim that Dr. Anjali Mathur, Chairman and CMO at Indo American Hospital in South Dakota (US), has issued a precautionary health warning regarding some consumer products like Appy Fizz, Kurkure, Mentos, etc. Let’s try to analyze some claims made in the post.
Precautionary health warning by Dr. Anjali Mathur (Chairman & CMO – Indo American Hospital, South Dakota, US) on Appy Fizz, Kurkure, Mentos-Pepsi, etc.
Fact: There is no hospital with the name ‘Indo American Hospital’ in South Dakota (US). Also, some of the claims in the post regarding Kurkure, Appy Fizz, Mentos-Pepsi are false. Hence the claim that Dr. Anjali Mathur issued the posted warning message is FALSE.
On social media, it can be found that the same message is being shared for many years under the names of different sets of doctors. (Pakistan Doctors, Nepal Doctors, and Indian Doctors)
In the post, the health warning is authenticated by the name ‘Dr.Anjali Mathur’ (Chairman & CMO – Indo American Hospital, South Dakota, US). But, when looked for the ‘Indo American Hospital’ in South Dakota, it was found that there is no hospital with that name. So, a fake doctor profile was created to authenticate the claims in the post. Let’s try to check some of the claims in the post.
Kurkure contains plastic?
When searched for information on Kurkure containing plastic, it was found that the FSSAI (Food Safety and Standards Authority of India) have tweeted regarding this issue. In the tweet, the FSSAI has said that the rumour on plastic Kurkure is a hoax. In a news article on its website, it was also found that the FSSAI has “clarified that the presence of a compound called acrylamide causes the food item to burn when lit with a match stick and it does not contain any plastic material.”
FSSAI has informed consumers that the “rumours on plastic cabbage, plastic kurkure, plastic rice and plastic egg are hoax.
FSSAI has also raised the issue with Ministry of Electronics and IT. Perpetrators to be booked, who spread such fake news. Visit https://t.co/ghvnHEbF1d
Mentos + Pepsi = Cyanide?
In an article published by the ‘Deccan Chronicle’ in 2014, a video can be found in which a person eats Mentos and drinks Diet Coke. But, it can be seen that the person is fine even after consuming that combination. The article, also, contains the reason for the blow out of Coke from the bottle when Mentos is dropped into Coke. The explanation reads, “the numerous small pores on the candy’s surface catalyze the release of carbon dioxide (CO2) gas from the soda, resulting in the rapid expulsion of copious quantities of foam”. So, Cyanide is not formed when Mentos and Pepsi are combined.
Appy Fizz contains Cancer-causing agent?
This rumour is in circulation from many years and was debunked earlier too. In a fact-check article published by Hoax or Fact in 2012, it can be found that none of the ingredients of Appy Fizz is carcinogenic. Also, neither FSSAI nor any research studies reported on Appy Fizz containing carcinogenic ingredients.
To sum it up, the ‘HIGH ALERT’ message from Dr. Anjali Mathur is a hoax. Also, most of the claims in the message are false.
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created: September 9, 2019


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The Hindu Population in GHMC is 64.93% whereas the Muslim Population is 30.13% (2011 Census) - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
December 2, 2020
A post is being shared on social media with a claim that the Hyderabad City Population trend shows the Muslim population has increased from 31% (1991 Census) to 43.45% (2011 Census) whereas the Hindu Population has decreased from 60%  (1991 Census) to 51.88% (2011 Census). Let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: While the Muslim population in the Hyderabad City has increased from 31% (1991 Census) to 43.45% (2011 Census), the Hindu Population has decreased from 60% (1991 Census) to 51.88% (2011 Census).
Fact: The 2011 figures mentioned in the post are related to the Hyderabad District, not GHMC (i.e. Hyderabad City). Also, the 1991 figures mentioned in the post are not correct. According to the 2011 Census, the Hindu Population in GHMC is 64.93% whereas the Muslim Population is 30.13%. Hence the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
On looking for the mentioned figures in the Census data, it was found that the 2011 figures mentioned in the post are related to the Hyderabad District, not GHMC (i.e. Hyderabad City). Also, the 1991 figures mentioned in the post are not correct. The Muslim population share in 1991 was around 39%, not 31%. The 1991 and 2001 Census data of Hyderabad District can be found here.
The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) is spread across four districts (Hyderabad, Ranga Reddy, Sangareddy, and Medchal – Malkajgiri). So, just the Hyderabad district data cannot be shown as the data related to the whole Hyderabad City. The GHMC religion-wise population data can be found in the 2011 Census. It can be observed that the Hindu Population in GHMC, according to the 2011 Census, is 64.93% whereas the Muslim Population is 30.13%. The GHMC, in its existing form, has been established only in the 2000s by a notification by the then Andhra Pradesh government. So the previous data for the same exact region is not available.
Similar data for the Ranga Reddy District can be seen in the table below:
To sum it up, the 2011 figures mentioned in the post are related to the Hyderabad District, not GHMC (i.e. Hyderabad City). Also, the 1991 figures mentioned in the post are not correct.

created: December 2, 2020


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The history of attempts to reform Agricultural Marketing
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
December 8, 2020
Though the current BJP government has passed 3 laws to make changes to Agricultural Marketing, this is not the first attempt at reform. Multiple attempts have been made earlier to reform agricultural marketing. Here is a brief history.
A Nation-wide strike has been called today (08 December 2020) by the farmers who are protesting against the farm bills which were introduced recently by the Central Government. Various political parties have extended support to this call.
Since the three Farm bills were passed in the parliament in September 2020 and later received the assent of the President, the opinion among the farming community and the experts is divided. While few consider it to be a landmark legislation that would greatly benefit the farmers, there are others who feel that these bills would do more harm than good to the farmers.
The current protest near Delhi, mostly comprising of farmers from Punjab and Haryana, also has farmers from other states joining in. Among the various concerns being raised by them, the main apprehensions seem to be around Minimum Support Price (MSP) and the provision for contract farming.
However, there are many other key provisions that form part of these farm bills.  In this story we take a look at these three farm bills, historical context and the position of political parties over the years regarding the agriculture reforms.
The three bills focus on reducing the barriers in Agricultural Marketing
While the bills passed recently in the parliament are being colloquially referred to as Farm bills, the bills are unique and are three sperate bills covering different aspects relating to agriculture especially ‘Agricultural Marketing’.
Here is a brief look at the provisions of each of these acts.
Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020
The stated purpose of this act is to create an ecosystem where the farmers and the traders have the flexibility of choice with the availability of various alternatives. The act also aims to promote efficient, transparent and barrier free inter-state and intra-state trading beyond the APMCs (Agricultural Produce Market Committee)
The act limits the control of APMCs to the APMC market yard and the other trading parties are free to transact the agricultural produce beyond the limits of market yards which are now being referred to as ‘trade area’. As the preamble of the act indicates, there is also scope of creating electronic trading platforms.
While creating the environment beyond the APMCs is directed at seamless trade across the country, it is also seen as limiting the State government’s control since APMCs are under their control.
Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020
The second act is an amendment to the existing Essential Commodities Act- 1955. The act aims to remove the unpredictability in notifying stocking limits by linking to rule-based price triggers.
The restrictions on the stocking of Essential commodities would be deployed only under exceptional circumstances.
As per the amendment, the stocking limits can only be invoked in case there is a 100 % increase in the retail price of horticultural produce or 50% increase in retail price of non-perishable food stuffs.
While this act has so far escaped the scrutiny and criticism compared to the other acts, it does play a key role in the overall context. The removal of stocking limits is seen by some as aiding the larger players who can now stock the agricultural produce in larger quantities, which was not the case prior to the amendment.
Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement in Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020
This act provides for written agreements between the farmers and other parties (agri-business firms, processors, wholesalers, individual traders, individuals etc.)
This act provides a framework for contract farming with minimal obligations compared to an earlier proposed Model Contract Farming Act in 2018. It expands the scope of what are considered as farm services. Prior to this national level legislation regarding contract farming, framing of any law related to  this subject was left to the state governments. Only a few states have created dedicated laws pertaining to contract farming.
The government maintains that these Acts are part of the continuous reform process
Reforms in agriculture especially relating to the sale & purchase of agricultural produce have been long sought and there have been multiple attempts over the years to bring in legislation in this regard.
The Minimum Support Price (MSP) and the procurement of the agricultural produce by Food Corporation of India (FCI) has been one such efforts to ensure that the farmers are not exploited, and they get a right price for their produce.
However, the limited extent of FCI procurement and the logistical challenges in procurement and disbursement of the agricultural produce meant that majority of the farmers and their produce was left out of MSP regime.
The idea of APMCs run by the State government was also aimed at ensuring that the farmers are not exploited by the traders and they get a right price for their produce beyond providing access to markets within the local area of the farmers.
Since the opening up of the economy in early 1990s, there have been attempts to reform the existing laws including the APMC acts, since they are seen to compromise the farmers interest and tend to favour trader-middlemen. The entry of private players in agriculture processing industry has also increased the demand to allow them at the point of source.
As part of National Agricultural Policy in the year 2000, it is stated that private sector participation will be promoted through contract farming and land leasing arrangements would be allowed to ensure assured market for produce, capital inflow etc.
This was part of the ‘Rainbow Revolution’ proposed by the then NDA government. It is therefore evident that allowing contract framing and private investments has been part of the national discourse for agriculture for at least two decades.
However, one of the major challenges in bringing in reforms is that the agricultural marketing reforms fall under the purview of the states and historically there have been challenges in bringing in uniformity in the State laws. The earlier efforts of the Central Government have been towards making recommendations and pursuing with the states to make the necessary changes to state-level laws.
The Agricultural Produce and Livestock Marketing (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2017 was one of the attempts towards this, where-in the states were urged to reform APMCs in line with the recommendations provided in this act.
In a Department of Economic Affairs’ Expert Committee Report of 2018, recommendations were made for marketing reforms in Agriculture. The Electronic National Agricultural Market (e-NAM) has been one of the attempts to bring in integration of markets across the states.
Changing stands of various stakeholders
The support and opposition to the current farm bills by the various political parties have not been consistent with their stand over the years.  As highlighted above, the initial vision of bringing in agricultural marketing reforms by introducing contract framing and allowing private sector was proposed by NDA-1 government as part of the National Agriculture Policy in 2000.  The current NDA government pushed through the Farm bills in the parliament of which the limiting the role of APMCs, introducing contract farming etc. are a key part.
The UPA government  which was in power between the two NDA governments , has also made attempts to push through reforms in APMCs.  In 2012, the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has asked the states to review and amend Agriculture Produce Marketing Act. There are also reports that Sharad Pawar, the then Agriculture Minister in UPA government has tried to push through amendments in APMC Act and provision for including private sector. However, the NCP has since issued a clarification saying Pawar had only asked states to explore the earlier model act.
While the current BJP government has questioned the opposition’s stand against the farm bills arguing that they pushed for such changes when they were in power, there have been occasions of double speak from within the BJP. Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan has reportedly said a few days ago that the state has decided to buy crops that are harvested MP only and if someone from outside the state tries to sell, they will arrested.  BJP has earlier opposed suggestions on the removal of APMCs or Arhtiyas when they were in opposition.
While a major part of the current opposition is from the State of Punjab (with both the government and the opposition in the state supporting the protests) , the state does have a history of trying to implement a Contract Framing Act in 2013.
It does appear that the governments over the years (led by different parties) have made attempts to bring in reforms in Agricultural marketing. Their stand against the acts and earlier reforms, as expressed and clarified by the political parties seem to be based on their interpretations and definitions of the laws.
In this context, an open dialogue with the relevant stakeholders like farmers and state governments hearing voices of those opposing these changes appears to be need of the hour.
Featured Image: New Farm Bills

created: December 8, 2020


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The history of FCRA and the trends in FCRA registration cancellations
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
February 22, 2021
With the recent amendments to the FCRA 2010, the government has made it difficult in terms of compliance for non-profit organizations to access foreign funding. In this story, we look at the major amendments to the FCRA since 1976 and also analyse the trend in cancellation of FCRA registrations.
With the recent amendments to the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010, the government has made it difficult in terms of compliance for non-profit organizations to access foreign funding. In this article, we look at the history of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA) since its inception in 1976 and through its various amendments. We also analyse the trend in FCRA registration cancellations of non-profit organisations under the purview of the Act for the period 2011 to 2019.
The Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA) enacted in 1976. The FCRA, enforced by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), regulates the inflow of foreign contributions or aid to the country. The intention behind the Act was to prevent foreign organisations from influencing social, political, economic, and/or religious discussions in the country. For that purpose, the Act prohibits certain individuals and organisations from accepting any foreign contribution, which includes political parties, government employees, print or visual media outlets, and so on. The 1976 Act allowed non-profit organisations to receive foreign donations freely, although they were required to annually report the amount received and spent.
In 1984, the law was amended to make it mandatory for non-profit organisations to register before receiving any foreign donations. They could also not transfer that money to other non-profits who were not registered under the Act. After the changes brought about by the 1984 amendments, the FCRA Act came to be perceived as a law focusing on non-profit organisations with foreign contributions.
In 2010, the 1976 Act was repealed and replaced by Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010 along with the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Rules, 2011. The purpose of the 2010 Act, as its preamble specifies, was to:
The parliament approved an amendment in 2018 that modified the definition of the term “foreign source” and made foreign funding to political parties legal retrospectively.
Introduction of the 2010 Act
Broadly, the 2010 Act introduced the following key changes that render the 2010 Act more stringent than the 1976 one:
a) Under the 2010 Act, FCRA registration is valid for five years and must be renewed thereafter, whereas under the 1976 Act it was a permanent registration.
b) Under the 2010 Act, only 50% of the foreign contributions could be utilised for administrative expenses, whereas no such specific restriction existed under the 1976 Act.
Key changes introduced by the recent Amendments under the FCRA Amendment Act, 2020
The Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2020 was introduced in Lok Sabha on 20 September 2020 and after being passed by both houses of the parliament, it came into force on 29 September 2020. The amendment bill broadly redefines terms related to acceptance, transfer, and utilisation of foreign contributions under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010.
The key changes brought by 2020 Act to the 2010 Act are as follows:
Close to 20,000 FCRA registrations were cancelled in 2012, 2015, 2017 & 2019
As mentioned in the earlier sections, it was with the introduction of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010 that the registrations came to be valid for a period of 5 years, and must be renewed thereafter, whereas under the 1976 Act it was a permanent registration. Hence, we look at the quantum of FCRA cancellations from 2011 onwards.
With the data available on the FCRA website, we analyse the trend in FCRA certificate cancellations of non-profit organisations under the purview of the Act for the period 2011 to 2019.
The quantum of FCRA cancellations has fluctuated significantly during the period of 2011 to 2019. After the enaction of the 2010 Act, the year 2012 saw the first steep rise in the cancellation of FCRA certifications at 3922 cancellations. For the overall period, the number of FCRA Registered Associations whose registrations were cancelled stands the highest in 2015 as 10,003. In the years 2011, 2013, 2016, and 2018, the number of such cancellations was almost negligible (less than 10 in number). As compared to 2015, the quantum of cancellation has fallen in the subsequent years. More than 99.5% of the cancellations during the 2011-2019 period were in the years 2012, 2015, 2017 & 2019.
Most FCRA registration Cancellations from Tamil Nadu
During 2011 and 2019, the state-wise trends show that the highest number of cancellations were carried out in Tamil Nadu at 2575, closely followed by Andhra Pradesh at 2075, Maharashtra in 2024, Uttar Pradesh at 1848, and Bengal at 1717. The lowest numbers are registered for various UTs, north-eastern states and for states like Jammu & Kashmir at 64, Chhattisgarh at 91, Himachal Pradesh at 97, among others for the period between 2011 and 2019. Consistent with the overall trend, in most states, the cancellations first peaked during 2012 and stand the highest in 2015. However, the trend since 2015 is that of the declining number of cancellations in the subsequent years.
We would look at the quantum of funding for organisations whose registrations were cancelled and other trends in the subsequent story.

created: February 22, 2021


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The hoarding in Kerala does not talk about Cow meat - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
April 24, 2019
A post is being shared on Facebook by some users claiming that Congress put up a hoarding in Kerala asking votes in the name of beef. Let’s try to analyze the claim made in the post.
Congress hoarding Kerala reads: “If you want to eat cow’s meat then bring Congress into power”
Fact: The hoarding does not have anything specific to cow meat but asks about the killings in the name of food habits. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
When the Malayalam text on the hoarding is translated into English, it reads “Killing in the name of food? In this nation? At this time? We don’t want primitive rule! Vote for Congress! “. It is very different from the translation given in the post. While the focus of the hoarding is on the killings of humans in the name of food habits, the claim emphasizes cow meat. The post claims that Congress supports killing cows whereas the actual translation questions the killing of humans in the name of food habits. So, the translation in the post is very different from the actual content on the hoarding.
To sum it up, the hoarding in Malayalam does not read “If you want to eat cow’s meat then bring Congress into power”. It has been mistranslated.


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The Home Ministry did not issue a circular prohibiting the use of the term 'Hindu' - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
September 27, 2023
A screenshot depicting a circular issued by the Home Ministry to the chief secretaries of all states, instructing them to abstain from using the term ‘Hindu’ in official contexts, is being widely circulated. Additionally, the circular cites a 1995 Supreme Court directive prohibiting using the word ‘Hindu.’ Furthermore, it advises against employing the term ‘Shiva Linga,’ deeming it obscene and symbolizing the ‘penis.’ It discourages its use in reference to temples or shrines dedicated to Lord Shiva. Through this article let’s fact-check the authenticity of this viral circular.
Claim: Circular issued by the Home Ministry to the chief secretaries of all states, instructing them to abstain from using the term ‘Hindu’ in official contexts.
Fact: The Ministry of Home Affairs has not issued any such circular, and the government has officially confirmed that the viral circular is fake. Additionally, there is no record of the Supreme Court delivering any judgment or directive that prohibits the use of the word Hindu. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
The widely circulated circular purportedly from the Home Ministry, dated 4 October 2019, bears the signature of Sanjay Mehta. Although there is a secretary with that name (here & here), our search did not uncover any official Home Ministry circular matching this description.
If the ministry had indeed issued such a circular, it is likely that the media would have covered it, but our search did not yield any such reports, indicating that the viral circular is not authentic. Upon further search, we came across a tweet from the Press Information Bureau (PIB) that explicitly stated that the widely circulated circular had not been issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs.
A purported #MHA letter asking the Chief Secretaries 'to avoid the use of the term ''Hindu" in respect of Indian in Official Communication and transactions' is doing the rounds of social media#PIBFactCheck: This letter has NOT been issued by MHA.
Conclusion: #FakeNews pic.twitter.com/53hiP4kcUj
Additionally, our search did not yield any Supreme Court directive or order pertaining to the matter as suggested in the viral post. Nonetheless, news reports do indicate that in 1996, the Supreme Court issued a judgment related to the interpretation of the term Hindutva.
Furthermore, upon a thorough examination of the viral document, it becomes evident that it contains numerous grammatical errors, including irregularly capitalized words, which typically do not appear in official documents. Additionally, it is highly improbable that the government would issue a circular that could potentially offend the religious sentiments of a particular community. These factors collectively indicate that the viral document is likely not authentic and may have been created through digital manipulation, possibly by altering an existing ministry circular.
To sum it up, the Home Ministry did not release a circular prohibiting the use of the term Hindu.

created: September 27, 2023


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The houses in the video were not burnt by the Indian Army. It’s a fire incident at Uri which happened last year - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
August 7, 2019
A video is being shared on Facebook with a claim that the houses in the video were burnt by the Indian Army in Kashmir. Also, the timing of the post indicated that it is a recent event. Let’s try to analyze the claim made in the post.
Video of Indian Army burning the Kashmiri people houses at Bandipora.
Fact: The houses in the video were burnt last year in a fire incident at Uri. They were not burnt by the Indian Army and it’s not a recent incident. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
The video in the post was divided into keyframes using Invid tool and the frames were then run through the Google Reverse Image Search using keywords related to Kashmir. Then, it can be found that a similar video was uploaded on YouTube by ‘ATV News Kashmir’ in March-2018 with a description: ‘Four residential houses were gutted in a massive fire incident at Lachipora Uri’.
When searched on Google with the keywords found in the video description, the news reports published on this incident can be found. None of the reports found indicates any involvement of the Indian Army. Also, the incident happened at Lachipora, not at Bandipora. More details about the incident can be read in the articles published by the ‘Kashmir Pen’ and ‘Rising Kashmir’.
To sum it up, the houses in the video were not burnt by the Indian Army. It’s a fire incident at Uri which happened last year.
Did you watch our new Episode of the DECODE series on Parliament?

created: August 7, 2019


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The human-shaped pylons in these pictures are just proposals; they are yet to be constructed - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
February 4, 2022
Some pictures are being shared widely on social media with a claim that they show human-shaped pylons carrying electricity across Iceland. Let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Pictures of human-shaped pylons carrying electricity across Iceland.
Fact: The human-shaped pylons in the posted pictures are just proposals by the Choi + Shine architects. They are yet to be constructed. Hence the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
When the pictures were run through Google Reverse Image Search, they were found to be designed by the Choi + Shine architects. The same pictures can be seen on their website. They are labelled with the following description – “The Land of Giants™: Proposal for Landsnet, Iceland”. Landsnet is an electricity transmission company in Iceland. On clearly observing the pictures, one can find that they are 3D visualisations, not originally built structures.
The Choi + Shine architects posted the pictures on their Facebook page in August 2010. In May 2021, they have posted the human-shaped pylon picture on Instagram and wrote – “Current proposals include locations in Iceland, Norway, France, Korea, Canada, and the USA.” When one of the Instagram users asked – “Has this project been approved? Where can I see them?”, in the comments of their post in 2021, the Choi + Shine architects have replied – “Hopefully soon in Iceland and Norway”. So, they are yet to be constructed in Iceland. Also, talking to AFP in January 2022, the Choi + Shine architects have said that they are yet to construct them.
In 2015, ‘The Reykjavík Grapevine’ has reported that when they reached out to Landsnet officials regarding the human-shaped pylons, the officials said – “It has not been decided whether or when the pylons, which won a recognition award in the 2008 Icelandic High-Voltage Electrical Pylon International Design Competition, will be built.”
To sum it up, the human-shaped pylons in the pictures are just proposals; they are yet to be constructed.

created: February 4, 2022


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ICDS-Common Application Software:What are the Promises & Limitations?
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
February 25, 2020
The Finance Minister, during her recent budget speech claimed that more than 6 lakh Anganwadi workers have been equipped with smartphones to upload data real-time. We look at this fact as well as the promises and limitations this system holds.
The 2020-21 Budget Speech, delivered by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, presented achievements of Poshan Abhiyan. In this article, we fact-check the claim and understand the trajectory of monitoring mechanisms under the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) or popularly known as the ‘Anganwadi’ scheme.
Claim (Point 66): To improve the nutritional status of children (0-6 years), adolescent girls, pregnant women and lactating mothers, Prime Minister launched a ‘Poshan Abhiyan’ in 2017-18. More than six lakh Anganwadi workers are equipped with smart phones to upload the nutritional status of more than 10 crore households.
Fact: The claim is TRUE. As on 31 December 2019, 6.08 lakh Anganwadi workers are uploading data on ICDS – Common Application Software (ICDS-CAS). However, numerous challenges exist in making this work.
What is new about monitoring under the Poshan
Abhiyan?
The Poshan Abhiyaan was launched in 2017 as a flagship scheme focussedon tackling the deeply entrenched problem of malnutrition, given the backdropof a National Nutrition Strategy ‘Nourishing
India’ released by NITI Aayog in September 2017. The strategy presented an in-depthanalysis of the 4th round of the National Family Health Survey and identified bottlenecks thatwere hampering the effective delivery of existing health and nutritionprograms.
Under the program, the ICDS- Common Application Software (ICDS-CAS) was rolled out in 2018 to meet thechallenge of time-consuming data management and ensure better monitoring ofprogress. The software is pre-loaded into mobile devices given to the Anganwadiworkers. As per the information shared by the government, the softwaresimplifies and digitizes data management by auto-generating, among otherthings, lists to identify children at-risk and upcoming immunization dates. Itenables data capture, ensures assigned service delivery and prompts forinterventions wherever required.
This data is then available in near real time to the supervisory stafffrom Block, District, State to National level through a Dashboard, formonitoring. The procurement and distribution of mobile devices is a part of theproject.  Interactive videos onappropriate care practices during pregnancies, feeding related information, childcarepractices, disease management have also been in-built within the software. The useof technology is crucial to the monitoringmechanism of the program. For instance, the use of geo-tagging and date/timestamped photos enable a check on the number of visits by the supervisor.
The annual reports of the Ministry of Women & Child Development highlight the use of ICDS-CAS application by Anganwadi workers. The 2018-19 annual report stated that a total of 2.15 Lakh Anganwadis were effectively using the job aid for service delivery and reporting. In 2019-20 report, this number increased to 6.08 lakh Anganwadi workers, as on 31 December 2019. Therefore, the claim made in the budget speech stands TRUE.
However, it is important to understand the genesis of ICDS and themonitoring mechanism that was being followed before the introduction of thetablets.
Challenges associated with monitoring under the
ICDS umbrella
The ICDS was launched as a centrally sponsored scheme on 02 October 1975by Ministry of Women and Child Development. Three major services, namely,supplementary nutrition, pre-school education, health and nutrition education,are delivered by Anganwadi Centres at the village level.
The monitoring and evaluation framework under the scheme is a three-tiersetup: the national, the state, and the community levels. The ICDS Schemeenvisions an in-built system of monitoring through regular reports flowingupwards from the Anganwadi centre to Project Headquarter, State Headquarter andfinally to ministry.
The CAG’s (Comptroller
and Auditor General of India) Performance Audit Report of 2012 about the ICDS highlights that themonitoring and evaluation (M&E) unit was the sole monitor of the schemetill 2006-07. To establish a regular monitoring and supervision mechanism, anautonomous body of the ministry called the National Institute of PublicCo-operation and Child Development (NIPCCD) was set up in the same year. Withthe appointment of one consultant, this body was established in the form of aCentral Monitoring Unit (CMU) in January 2017. While the NIPCCD was responsiblefor hiring a team of six consultants with relevant domain expertise, the auditfound that the operations of CMU were managed with professional consultants formost of the period during 2006-11.
It was only in October 2008 that the monitoring and supervision projectsin states became functional when NIPCCD identified 42 academic institutions asselected institutions in 2008-09. The CAG report identifies administrativelaxity on part of the NIPCCD as the major reason behind the delay inestablishing monitoring practices.
Until March 2012, no concurrent evaluation of ICDS on scheme outcomesand nutritional status were carried out by CMU. Only concurrent evaluationreports on input indicators were prepared, focussing on issues such asinfrastructure of Anganwadi centers, status of supplies, supervision by ChildDevelopment Project Officer (CDPO), status of community participation, and ICDSdelivery status. In addition, the data used for preparing these reports werenot concurrent. For instance, the evaluation report published in January 2012contained data as old as March 2009. Furthermore, audit also found that CMU didnot receive monthly, quarterly and annual progress reports consistently fromstates.
The M&E unit under the ministry also failed in furnishing any impactassessment of the ICDS services. The audit noted that the monitoring wasrestricted to quantitative aspects and qualitative parameters like nutritionalstatus of children and effectiveness of scheme remained neglected even afterthree and a half decades of the scheme’s launch.
In November 2012, the ministry announced that a five-tier monitoring andevaluation scheme and a revised Management Information System (MIS) would takecare of the short comings emerging out of CMU reports. The guidelines mandatedformation of various committees and regular meetings to monitor and review theprogress of scheme. However, the CAG’s Performance Audit Report of
2017 notesthat, between 2011-2016, requirements of the guidelines were not met either dueto non-formation of committees or due to lack of consistent meetings.Therefore, issues such as shortfall in coverage of beneficiaries, delays inconstruction of AWC buildings, and under-utilisation of funds could not beeffectively addressed.
The promise and limitations of ICDS-CAS
NITI Aayog’s Progress Report on
Poshan Abhiyan (September 2019) notes that the ICDS-CAS application intends to ensure better servicedelivery and supervision as well as enable real-time monitoring and data-based decision-making. This ICTleveraged solution is expected to help to improve the nutrition levels ofchildren in the country and help meet nutrition goals. The applicationdigitizes 10 of the 11 registers of the Anganwadi workers, provides asupervisory application for the officials, and a dashboard application toCDPOs, DPOs as well as to officials at the State and at the central level to beable to monitor Anganwadi Centre (AWC) activities
The Report also notes the challenges reported by states in rolling outICDS-CAS.
Otherthan the challenges noted in the NITI Aayog’s report, there are additionalchallenges that lie in the path of bridging the gap in monitoring andsupervision via ICDS-CAS. A paper published by Evidence for Policy Design (EPoD)
India at the Institute for Financial Management and Research (IFMR) in 2019, highlights the classic problem of misalignedincentives problem. Since those who are collecting data are also responsiblefor delivering services and affecting outcomes, this conflict of interestdisincentivizes accurate data reporting, and primarily arises from the enormouspressure on states to present a favourable picture of nutrition in theirjurisdiction. This pressure gets transferred to middle-level officials andfinally trickles down to Anganwadi workers. In their dual role as datacollectors and last-mile service providers, Anganwadi workers hold the power to‘generate’ evidence that speaks well of their performance.
Ina 2019 report, The Hindu Center for
Politics & Public Policy highlights that as of date, there are noassessments of how the ICDS-CAS system has worked in practice and whether ithas enabled those at the field and supervisory levels to get a firm grip on theactual malnutrition situation at the Anganwadi level, enabling early remedialaction.

created: February 25, 2020


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The image featuring Greta Thunberg as ‘the highest-paid’ activist is a fake magazine cover created by a satirical website ‘Mediamass’ - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
September 27, 2019
An image of a cover page of the magazine ‘People with money’ featuring Swedish activist ‘Greta Thunberg’ as the world’s highest-paid activist is going viral on social media. Let’s try to analyze the authenticity of this image.
The magazine ‘People with money’ ranked Swedish activist ‘Greta Thunberg’ in its highest-paid annual list.
Fact: There is no magazine known with the name ‘People with money’. The magazine cover featuring Swedish activist ‘Greta Thunberg’ as the highest-paid activist was created by a satirical website ‘Mediamass’. Hence, the claim is FALSE.
When searched on Google regarding Greta Thunberg being ranked top in the list of highest-paid activists, no relevant information was found in the search results. When looked for the magazine ‘People with money’, information regarding that magazine wasn’t found anywhere. So, when the image in the post was cropped and subjected to reverse image search technique, many similar search results were obtained. On observing all the images in the search results, it was found that all the information in the image was the same except for the people featured in them. The collage of the images present in the search results can be seen below.
A search result among them that had an image of singer ‘Joni Mitchell’ on the cover page lead to an article published by a website that seems to be managed by her fans. They have written the article based on the cover page image of ‘People with money’ that ranked her among the ‘Top annual list of highest-paid’. But later on, they updated the article saying that the story seems to be false, and they have also mentioned some information about ‘Mediamass’ in the article. When searched about ‘Mediamass’ on Google, a website was found with that name.
In that website, the article about Greta Thunberg being declared as the ‘highest-paid activist was found. But in the article, a text in red colour saying ‘ UPDATE 27/09/2019: This story seems to be false’ was seen at a corner and also there was ‘read more’ option beside the text. On clicking it, a page with the title ‘The Mediamass Project: Media criticism through satire’ was found. On looking at the content on that page, it was found that the website publishes satirical stories criticizing the media. The ‘About’ section of this website also has the same information. So, it can be concluded that this satirical website publishes stories by creating cover pages with the same template but different photos of celebrities.
To sum it up, the image featuring GretaThunberg as ‘the highest-paid’ is a fake magazine cover created by a satiricalwebsite ‘Mediamass’.
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created: September 27, 2019


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The image in the post showing Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and Pakistan PM Imran Khan together was taken in 2016 - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
February 6, 2020
A post with a photo of Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and Pakistan PM Imran Khan seen together is being widely shared on Facebook with the claim that Kejriwal met Imran Khan ahead of the upcoming Delhi elections which are due on 8 February 2020. Let’s analyze the claim made in the post.
Image of Kejriwal meeting Imran Khan ahead of the upcoming Delhi elections (2020).
Fact: The photo was taken in 2016 and it shows Imran Khan meeting Arvind Kejriwal in New Delhi during the former’s visit to India. So, the claim is FALSE.
From the article of ‘Firstpost’, it can be found that Delhi will vote for the 70 Assembly seats on 8 February 2020.
When the image is subjected to Google reverse image search technique, it was found in an article of ‘Prokerala’. From the article, the image was found to have been taken when Imran Khan visited Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal’s residence in New Delhi during the former’s visit to India in 2016. The same can also be read in the news report of ‘Indian Express’.
To conclude, the image in the post showing Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and Pakistan PM Imran Khan together was taken in 2016.
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created: February 6, 2020


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The image in the post showing Rahul Gandhi saluting with the left hand is edited - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
December 27, 2019
A post with an image of Rahul Gandhi saluting with the left hand is being widely shared on Facebook. Let’s analyze the authenticity of that image.
Rahul Gandhi saluting with the left hand.
Fact: Image in the post is a ‘laterally inverted’ version of the photo that shows AICC General Secretary Rahul Gandhi saluting during the 65th Independence Day celebrations at the party headquarters in New Delhi. In the original image, Rahul Gandhi was saluting with the right hand. Hence, the claim is FALSE.
When the image in the post is cropped and subjected to Google Reverse Image Search technique, many search results with the same image were obtained but no credible information was obtained. But, when the image is ‘laterally inverted’ and is subjected to reverse image search, a link of ‘NDTV’ was obtained in the search results. The article in that link had the same image and it was found to be that from the flag-hoisting ceremony at Congress party headquarters in 2011 on the occasion of Independence day. In the original image, Rahul Gandhi was saluting with the right hand.
An image of ‘Getty Images’ during that ceremony also confirms that the image in the post is ‘laterally inverted’.
To conclude, the image in the post showing Rahul Gandhi saluting with the left hand is ‘laterally inverted’ to show the mirror image version.
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created: December 27, 2019


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The image isn’t that of a protest in Germany but of a traffic jam in China - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
June 3, 2019
Few Facebook users are sharing a post with a photo alleging that it belonged to that of a strike in Germany against the rising fuel prices in their country. Let’s try to analyze the claims made in the post.
German government has lowered the raised fuel prices, as its people abandoned their cars on road as a mark of protest.
Fact: The posted photo is related to China, not Germany. The photo was taken in 2012 when cars were stuck in a traffic jam in Shenzhen city. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
When the picture in the post was run through Google Reverse Image search,  the same photo was found in an article published by ‘The Telegraph’ in 2012. In the description of the photo, it can be read – “Cars during a traffic jam in Shenzhen city, Guangdong province, in 2012“. The traffic jam occurred in 2012 as the government has granted free road travel during the holidays in China. More photos of the same traffic jam taken by a Shutterstock photographer can be seen here.
When searched about the traffic jam mentioned above, an article by ‘The Atlantic’ on the incident was found. It can be read here. So, it can be concluded that the posted photo does not show people in Germany protesting against the increased fuel price.
Hence, the photo in the post is that of a traffic jam in China that happened in 2012.
Correction (FEBRUARY 3, 2021):
An earlier version of this article mentioned that the photo is related to China’s traffic jam in 2010. It has come to our notice that the posted photo shows China’s traffic jam in 2012. Error is regretted.
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The image of a Rohingya Refugee from a BBC News story is being shared with a false narrative - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
June 26, 2019
A few Facebook users are posting a collage that has an image of a girl holding a child in her lap with the message-‘The girl seen in the photo is a Rohingya named Sakhra. She is 14 years old and her husband is 54 years old. Sakhra already has 2 children and if she continues to give birth to babies with the same speed, she may give birth to 20 children in her lifetime’. In the collage, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar’s photo was also seen with comments attributed to him- ‘We are against population control measures’. Let’s try to analyze the claims made in the post.
A Rohingya girl Sakhra aged 14 years has two children and Nitish Kumar is against population control measures.
Fact: The girl holding a baby in her lap was seen in a BBC video on the lives of Rohingyas. In that video, nothing about the girl was discussed. The story attributed to her in the post is a fabricated one. Nitish Kumar has made the above comments on population control in another context, but they were added to the post to suggest that he supports population growth. Hence, the claim stands FALSE.
When searched on YouTube with the keywords “Rohingya story BBC”, the original BBC video was found and it had the title “In the jungle with Rohingya refugees feeling Myanmar – BBC News”. In this story, BBC reporter Sanjoy Majumder treks through difficult terrain where people flee Myanmar and enter Bangladesh. In the video, the girl in the image posted is seen at 2:09 and nothing about the girl was discussed by the reporter. So, the story in the post is a fabricated one. This story was found to be in circulation since 2017.
The lower photo in the collage has the statements of Nitish Kumar against population control measures. When Googled if Nitish Kumar has made any such comments,  it was found that in 2016, Nitish Kumar trashed BJP Minister Giriraj Singh’s idea of nasbandi (sterilization) as a means for effective population control. Nitish outrightly rejected such a method of population control and termed the plan as non-sense. When we tried to know Nitish Kumar’s stand on population growth, it was found that in the past on many occasions, he has raised his concern over Bihar’s rate of population growth. He said that lack of education to women was the key reason for the growing population and his government will take steps to curb address the issue.
So, in the post, Nitish Kumar’s photo and his 2016 statement were included to mislead that Nitish is supporting the population growth.  Finally, the image of a Rohingya Refugee from a BBC News story is being shared with a false narrative.
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The image of Nainital 2022 that was compared with Nainital 2010 in this collage is actually from Bangladesh - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
May 25, 2022
A photo collage comparing two images through a post is being widely shared on social media claiming that it shows the spurt in Muslim population as seen in the photos of Nainital from 2010, and 2022. Let us fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Photo collage showing spurt in Muslim population from 2010 to 2022 in Nainital.
Fact: The upper image is from Upper Mall Road in Nainital. The lower image is however from ‘Bishwa Ijtema’, world’s second largest Muslim gathering, that occurs in Bangladesh annually. Therefore, this is an erroneous comparison of images from two different places. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
When reverse image search is done on the supposed 2010 image from Nainital, the same image was found to be of Upper Mall Road in Nainital. According to the metadata, the image was taken in June 2019.
There is a name plate ‘Alka’ in the viral image. Upon searching on google about Alka in Upper Mall Road, Nainital, Alka hotel was found in that location. The image of a Domino’s Pizza outlet beside the hotel also shows a similar image of ‘Alka’.
Similar reverse image search was done on the supposed 2022 image of Nainital. The same image was found in a 2018 article about a gathering in Bangladesh. The image is from ‘Bishwa Ijtema’, world’s second largest Muslim gathering that occur annually on the banks of Turag River. It is a collective prayer which is performed about 35km from Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. Hence, the image is not from Nainital.
To sum it up, image from Nainital is erroneously compared with an image from Bangladesh.


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The image of Narendra Modi sweeping the floor is a photoshopped one - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
November 22, 2019
An image of a person holding a broom and cleaning the floor is being shared widely on social media claiming that the person in the picture is Narendra Modi before he became the Prime Minister of India. Let’s try to check the claim made in the post.
Image ofNarendra Modi sweeping the floor before he became the PrimeMinister of India.
Fact: An RTI reply regarding the image has revealed that it is a photoshopped one and the person in the photo is not Prime Minister Narendra Modi. So. the claim is FALSE.
When the image in the post is subjected to Yandex reverse image search technique, many search results were obtained. Several of those search results had a similar image to the one in the post except for the face of the person in the image.
When searched on Google with keywords ‘Modi cleaning floor photo’, a link of ‘Janta ka Reporter’ was obtained in the search results. From that article, it was found that when an Ahmedabad-based activist had sought information under the Right to Information (RTI) Act to check the authenticity of that image, he got a reply saying that the photograph is a morphed one and the person in that is not Narendra Modi. So, the image in the post is a photoshopped one.
To conclude, the image in the post is a photoshopped one.
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created: November 22, 2019


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The image of Satyajit Ray in the post is photoshopped - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
November 25, 2019
An image with a photo of a man leaning stylishly on a car with the accompanying text ‘Ray before Bond! 1953’ is being shared widely on Facebook. The claim is that the man seen in the photo is Satyajit Ray and it was photographed in 1953. Let’s try to check the claim.
Image of Satyajit Ray in 1953.
Fact: The image shows Actor Sean Connery who posed as James Bond in the film ‘Goldfinger’ in 1964. So, the claim is FALSE.
When the image in the post is subjected to Google reverse image search technique, a link of ‘Getty Images’ was obtained in the search results. It had a similar image in it and when compared that with the photo in the post, it can be found that both the images are the same except for the face of the person in them. In the ‘Getty Images’, the following description was seen about the image- ‘Actor Sean Connery poses as James Bond next to his Aston Martin DB5 in a scene from the United Artists release ‘Goldfinger’ in 1964 Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images’. So, the image in the post is a photoshopped one.
To conclude, the image of Satyajit Ray in the post is photoshopped.
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created: November 25, 2019


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The image of the child on Parle-G biscuit packet is just an illustration; It doesn’t show any real person - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
September 27, 2022
A photo of a woman is being widely shared on social media claiming that the she was the child who appears on Parle-G biscuit packet and she was 1 year 2 month old when that photo was taken. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Present image of the child who was featured on parle-G biscuit packet.
Fact: The woman seen in the viral post is Sudha Murthy, Chairperson of Infosys foundation. Representative from the foundation clarified that the child is not Sudha Murthy. Also, Mayank Shah, group product manager at Parle Products, clarified that the image of the child on Parle-G biscuit packets is just an illustration by Everest creative back in 1960s. It doesn’t show any real person. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
We ran a reverse image search and found that the woman seen in the viral post is Sudha Murthy, chairperson of Infosys Foundation. According to ‘The Hindu Images’, this photo was taken on 11 February 2012 in a book launch event at Bengaluru.
When AFP contacted Infosys Foundation, a representative clarified that the child seen on the Parle-G wrapper is not Sudha Murthy. According to the Economic Times, Mayank Shah, group product manager at Parle Products clarified that image of the child is actually an illustration by Everest creative back in 1960s. Other news articles regarding this can be seen here and here.
To sum it up, the child featured on Parle-G biscuit packet is not Sudha Murthy. It is just an illustration created back in 1960s and doesn’t show any real person.

created: September 27, 2022


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The image with Akhilesh’s photo frame in Modi’s house is a photoshopped one - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
April 26, 2019
Many Facebook users are sharing a post with an image of Akhilesh Yadav’s photo frame (Ex-Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh) in Narendra Modi’s house. Let’s try to analyze the veracity of the claim made in the post.
Akhilesh Yadav’s photo frame was hung on a wall in Modi’s house.
Fact: The actual photo frame seen in Modi’s house is that of Lord Sri Krishna and Rukmini. It is replaced with that of Akhilesh Yadav’s through image editing technique and put in the post. Hence the claim is FALSE
On doing Google Reverse Image search, the picture in the post was found to be the one taken recently when Narendra Modi visited his home to seek his mother’s blessings, before voting in the ongoing General Elections-2019. Several media houses have covered this event. The original photo can be seen in the NEWS18 article, published on April 23, 2019. The photo frame seen hanging on the wall in the picture is that of Lord Sri Krishna and Rukmini. This photo is photoshopped and replaced with that of Akhilesh Yadav.
To sum it up, the photo frame hung to a wall in Modi’s house is not that of Akhilesh Yadav’s. It is the photo frame of Lord Sri Krishna and Rukmini.


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The Video is related to a scuffle between children turned into a fight between the two sides. There is no communal angle - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
June 26, 2019
A video of a bleeding brother and sister is being shared on Facebook with a claim that they are beaten by Muslims and that there is a communal angle to the incident. Let’s try to check the authenticity of the image in the post.
Brother and sister from Itaunja in UP were beaten by a group of Muslims when the brother stopped the Muslims from raping his sister.
Fact: The siblings were beaten by a group of people but it is not a case of attempt to rape. According to the Lucknow Police, a street fight led to assault on the siblings. Also, there is no communal angle attached to this incident as both the assaulters and victims are Muslims. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
When searched for the news regarding this issue on Google, it was found that the Lucknow Police has tweeted on this issue. According to the tweet  of the Lucknow Police, a scuffle between children playing in front of a house escalated when parties from both sides got involved in the fight. In the fight, a group of people (Usman, Shakeel, Yunus, and Islam) assaulted the siblings (Shah Rukh and Shabnam), who can be seen bleeding in the video. A case has been filed by the siblings at the Itaunja Police Station.
SSP-LKO #Kalanidhi_Naithani द्वारा थाना इटौंजा की घटना को तत्काल संज्ञान में लेते हुए अभियुक्तों की गिरफ्तारी हेतु SHO इटौंजा को आदेशित किया गया था, जिसके अनुपालन में 04 नामजद अभियुक्त 1-उस्मान 02-शकील 03-युनुश 04-इस्लाम को तत्काल गिरफ्तार कर विधिक कार्रवाई की जा रही है। pic.twitter.com/J7zb39ZvZa
According to the tweet of the Lucknow Police, the fight did not start when the brother stopped the assaulter from raping his sister. It is a street fight which got escalated. The cases under which the assaulter were booked can be seen in the tweet (IPC Sections 308, 323, 504, 506). The information on the entire episode can be read in the Dainik Jagran article on this issue.
Some of the posts on Facebook had a description that they will support all the Hindu brothers and sisters implying that the victims are Hindus. The description mentions the names and religion of the assaulters but does not mention the details of the victims to attach a communal angle to the incident. As all of them (assaulter and victims) are Muslims and hence there is no communal angle attached to the incident.
The Lucknow Police have also tweeted the photos of the arrest of four assaulters.
SSP-LKO #Kalanidhi_Naithani द्वारा थाना इटौंजा की घटना को तत्काल संज्ञान में लेते हुए अभियुक्तों की गिरफ्तारी हेतु SHO इटौंजा को आदेशित किया गया था, जिसके अनुपालन में 04 नामजद अभियुक्त 1-उस्मान 02-शकील 03-युनुश 04-इस्लाम को तत्काल गिरफ्तार कर विधिक कार्रवाई की जा रही है।@Uppolice pic.twitter.com/FmzzHXd82S
To sum it up, a scuffle between children turned into a fight between the two sides. There is no communal angle to the incident.
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The incident in the video took place in Lahore, not in Kashmir. - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
September 6, 2019
A video is being shared widely on social media with a claim that it shows the cruelty of police in Kashmir. Let’s try to analyze the claim made in the post.
Video shows the cruelty of police in Kashmir.
Fact: The video is not related to Kashmir or Indian Police. The incident took place in Lahore and the people in the uniform are Pakistan Police. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
In the comment section of the post, it can be found that a person commented that the incident took place in Lahore and also, at 24 seconds in the video, it can be seen that the description reads, ‘Zulfiqar Butt from Manga Mundi being arrested’. While no relevant news related to the incident was found from the available information, the location ‘Manga Mandi’ was found to be located in Lahore.
The uniform and protective gear of the police in the video also matches with the uniform and protective gear of the police in Lahore.
At 26 seconds in the video, a logo (‘Hawk’) can be seen in the background. So, when searched for that logo, it was found that the logo belongs to ‘Hawk – School, College Uniforms and Bags’, which has shops in Lahore. Hence, it can be concluded that the incident took place in Lahore.
To sum it up, the incident in the video took place in Lahore, not in Kashmir.
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created: September 6, 2019


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The incident in the video took place in Morocco, not in India - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
July 5, 2019
A video of some people misbehaving with a burqa-clad woman is being shared on Facebook with a claim that the incident took place in India. Let’s try to analyze the claim made in the post.
A Muslim woman in Hijab was brutally attacked in India.
Fact: The incident in the video took place four years back in Morocco. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
When the screenshots of the video were run through Yandex Reverse Image Search, some articles with the same video were found in the search results. According to those articles, the video was from an incident in Morocco in 2015. The ‘Morocco World News’ website in October-2015 wrote, ‘A young Moroccan woman was attacked by a large crowd of teenage boys with water, eggs and flour in Casablanca last week.’
At that time, the incident gained a lot of attention as it was portrayed as an attack related to ‘Islamophobia’. In a fact-check article by ‘The Observers’ in 2015, it was reported that the incident was not related to ‘Islamophobia’. The article also included a transcript in which the girl says that the boys in the video are like her brothers and they are just having fun. But, ‘The Observers’ was not sure about the willingness of the girl in giving the above statement.
To sum it up, the incident in the video took place in Morocco, not in India.
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The incident in this video took place on the Pakistan International Airlines flight, not on the Air India flight - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
May 12, 2020
A video is being widely shared on social media with a claim that the incident in the video took place on an Air India flight. In the video, the passengers inside the flight can be heard complaining about the overcharged tickets and the lack of social distancing measures. But, FACTLY has found that the incident in the video took place on the Karachi-Toronto flight of Pakistan International Airlines. Air India has also rubbished the claim when asked by a Twitter user. The Press Information Bureau (PIB) has also tweeted that the flight in the video belonged to a neighbouring country.
Sources:
Claim – Facebook post (archived)
Fact –
1. News article – https://www.aninews.in/news/world/asia/so-coronavirus-outside-but-not-inside-flight-amateur-video-shows-pakistanis-complaining-about-no-social-distancing-in-pia-flight20200429184706/
2. PIB tweet – https://twitter.com/PIBFactCheck/status/1258628586048638976
3. Air India tweet –https://twitter.com/airindiain/status/1258631142951043072
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The incident in this video is from 2015; There was no mention of a church and mosque in the video - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
July 5, 2022
A video is being shared on social media claiming that some priests in Karnataka have started removing donation boxes (Hundis in sanskrit) from the temple. It is also claimed that they questioned the government officials that when donations are not used for Hindu devotees, what is the need for the donation box. The post also reads that the officials went there to collect the donation money and that the priests have asked them to bring the donations from Churches and Mosques first. Lets fact-check the claim.
Claim: The video shows the priests removing donation boxes and telling the officials first to bring the donations of the churches and mosques.
Fact: The video was taken in 2015 in the Kolaramma temple in Kolar, Karnataka when the High Court ruled that a donation box could be placed in the temple. However, the head priest of the temple said that they do not get salaries from the government and are dependent on the money devotees offer in the aarti plate. He questioned how they would survive if a donation box is installed in the temple. As the social media post claims, there is no mention of churches and mosques in the video. Hence the post is MISLEADING.
After searching about the video with relevant keywords on the Internet, we found that a person named ‘Suresh’ tweeted that the video was taken in 2015. The same video posted in 2015 can be seen here. In the same twitter thread, Mr Suresh also tweeted a ‘Praja Vani’ article related to the incident in the video.
FYI @shilpamdas ji
This video originally was shared by Praja TV on 31st Oct 2015 which is now unavailable and some organisations and people (if you can read Kannada, you will know with a clear agenda of Purohit and @BJP4Karnataka bashing) brought it out as if it is recent pic.twitter.com/2rdZ56YfhT
In 2015, the High Court ruled that Hundi could be placed in the Kolaramma temple in Kolar, Karnataka. However, it can be read in the ‘Praja Vani’ article that the head priest said that the government does not pay them salaries and they are dependent on the money devotees offer in the aarti plate. He questioned the officials on how they could survive if a donation box is placed in the temple.
A few other pictures of the same temple from the 2015 incident are also available on Facebook. The donation box in the video can be seen in those photos.
The order from 2015, given by the High Court that Hundi (Donation box) can be read here.
To sum it up, the priests in this video have not asked the government officials to bring or collect the donations money from Churches and Mosques.


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The incidents in this video took place when Narendra Modi led government was in power at the Centre - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
March 21, 2022
A video through a post is being widely shared on social media claiming that it shows the situation in Kashmir before and after the formation of the Narendra Modi led government. Let us fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Visuals comparing the situation in Kashmir, before and after 2014.
Fact: The visuals of masked men throwing stones and damaging the J&K Police vehicle were during a protest in Srinagar on 31 May 2019. The visual of a person tied to a vehicle is from 2017. During both the incidents, Narendra Modi was the Prime Minister of India. Hence, the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
When reverse image search is done on the screenshots of the video, the visuals claiming to be from before the formation of the Narendra Modi led government, were actually from 2019. The visuals of masked men throwing stones and damaging the J&K Police vehicle were during a protest in Srinagar on 31 May 2019. In fact, Dar Yasin who worked for the Associated Press, took the picture of the man who jumped on the bonnet of the vehicle and got a Pulitzer Prize in 2020 for the same.
A few days before this incident happened in Srinagar, the BJP government came back to power for the second term at the centre with a full majority. The erstwhile undivided Jammu and Kashmir was under President’s rule during this time (2019).
A masked Kashmiri protester jumps on the hood of an armored vehicle of Indian police as he throws stones at it during a protest in Srinagar, May 31, 2019. pic.twitter.com/69KZ16XqtC
The visual of a person tied to a vehicle is from 2017. According to news reports, a Kashmiri man was strapped to the front of a jeep that was carrying security personnel in Jammu Kashmir. The person was used as a ‘human shield’ from stone throwers by an officer from the Indian Army. The video of the incident went viral in April 2017 and had become quite controversial at that time. During 2017, Narendra Modi was serving as the Prime Minister of India; the erstwhile undivided Jammu and Kashmir was governed by the BJP-PDP coalition in the state.
The visuals of personnel in military uniform interrogating three persons were shared on the internet at least since 2017 (here and here).
To sum it up, the incidents in this video took place when Narendra Modi government was in power at the Centre.


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The Indian Medical Association (IMA) has not issued any official list disclosing the percentage of pesticides found in cold drinks. - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
May 26, 2023
A social media post shares a graphic which shows the percentage of pesticides in popular cold drinks sold in India. This data has been allegedly released by the Indian Medical Association (IMA). In this article, we will examine the accuracy of this post to determine its veracity.
Claim: Figures given by IMA about pesticide percentage in various cool drinks.
Fact: In 2003, the Center for Science and Environment (CSE) said that cool drinks contained pesticide residues beyond the permissible limit. But as the post claims, IMA has not released any official report stating the percentage of pesticides in cold drinks sold in India  Therefore, the claim made in the post is False.
Searching the internet to check the veracity of this information did not reveal any credible results. It is known that various posts have been shared on the internet for at least the last 17 years, claiming to be the figures released by the IMA regarding the pesticide percentage. However, in a blog post from 2006, a person mentioned about an e-mail he sent to IMA about the messages. In response, IMA said they had not conducted any such study. FACTLY has also mailed the IMA for further clarification on the matter. This article will be updated after a reply from them.
In 2003, the Center for Science and Environment (CSE) conducted a study on pesticide residues in soft drinks (‘Analysis of Pesticide Residues in Soft Drinks’). They gave the figures in units of ‘mg/L’ (milligrams per litre). They said the average ‘Total pesticide residues’ in the tested samples were about 0.0168 mg/l [Note: 1 milligram = 0.000001 kg]. The study report conducted by the Center for Science and Environment in 2006 can be read here.
A Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) was formed on the 2003 study of CSE with Sharad Pawar as its chairman (here, here, here). The report of the JPC submitted in 2004 can be read here. The JPC report also does not mention any of the numbers mentioned in the post.
To sum up, there is no credible evidence to conclude that any such study was conducted by IMA on the percentage of pesticides in cold drinks.


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The “Indian plane shot down” image posted is from a plane crash in 2016 - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
February 27, 2019
An image is being shared by many pages on Facebook with the title “Indian plane shot down”. Let’s try to analyze whether there is any truth in the image posted on Facebook
The plane shown in the image is an Indian plane shot down by the Pakistan defense forces
The image posted is a MIG-27 which crashed in Jodhpur in 2016. So, the claim of it being an Indian plane shot down by the Pakistan defense forces is
When the plane number (TU657), which is visible in the image posted, is searched in the Google a link to the NDTV Twitter post on the plane crash can be found. According to the Twitter post, it is a MIG-27 plane which crashed in Jodhpur and the pilots of the plane are found to be alive. Also, if the time stamp of the post is observed, it can be concluded that it is an incident which took place in 2016. So, it is no way related to the recent conflict.
Finally, the image posted on Facebook was taken at a plane crash in 2016.

created: February 27, 2019


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The Indian women’s hockey team has not won against Australia to win the World Championship. - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
November 27, 2023
A collage of photos showing Indian Women’s hockey players celebrating on the field while players of the Australian team hold their heads is being shared with a claim that these photos show an alleged world championship that the Indian team won. This is being shared as revenge taken on the Australians after the Indian Men’s cricket team lost to them in the final match of the men’s cricket World Cup 2023. Let’s fact-check this claim through this article.
Claim: The Indian women’s hockey team has won the World Championship by defeating the Australian team recently.
Fact: Recently, no hockey tournament named the World Championship was held. The recent hockey tournament that the Indian women’s hockey team won was the Asian Champions trophy, which they won by defeating Japan in the final held on 5 November 2023 much before the men’s cricket World Cup final which was held on 19 November 2023. Hence, the claim made in the post is false.
To learn more about the viral claim we performed a keyword search on the internet about it using relevant keywords. This search did not yield any credible information to validate the claim that the Indian Women’s hockey team won against Australia in a World Championship.
A further search revealed (here, here, and here) that the latest tournament that the Indian women’s team won was the Asian Champions trophy which they won by defeating the Japanese team in the Final, on 5 November 2023. This is neither called the World Championship the viral post claims to be nor was the opponent here Australia. Also, this took place way before the final of the Men’s Cricket World Cup, which was played on 19 November 2023. This makes it clear that the viral claim was just a fabricated statement.
To see if there is any tournament named World Championship as mentioned in the viral post, we performed a keyword search on the internet. This search revealed that there is no such event in women’s field hockey but there is a tournament which is named Hockey Women’s World Cup. The final of this tournament was held in July 2022 and was won by the Netherlands against Argentina.
Additionally, the photos shared as a collage through this viral post are not new, they are from the Tokyo 2020 Olympics (here and here).
To sum up, old photos are being shared with fabricated news that the Indian women’s hockey team has won a match against the Australian team to win the world championship trophy.

created: November 27, 2023