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Rahul Gandhi's speech concerning Dalits and Tribals is being shared with a misleading narrative - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
March 14, 2024
A video featuring Rahul Gandhi’s public address is being shared with allegations suggesting that he asserted only individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds such as the poor, backward classes, dalits, and tribals engage in criminal activities. This article aims to fact-check the assertions made in connection with the video.
Claim: Only individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds such as the poor, backward classes, dalits, and tribals engage in criminal activities – Rahul Gandhi
Fact: In his speech Rahul Gandhi says “in jails, we can only find backward people, dalits, tribals. You will not find a single rich person in the jails of India”, highlighting the plight of socially disadvantaged segments of society. This excerpt of Rahul Gandhi’s is taken out of context and associated with false implications. Hence, the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
The video in circulation captures Rahul Gandhi stating, “in jails, we can only find backward people, Dalits, tribals. You will not find a single rich person in the jails of India.” While it is accurate that Rahul Gandhi made these remarks during his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in Aligarh, it’s important to understand the broader context in which he made these comments. He was addressing the employment challenges confronting economically and socially disadvantaged individuals in the country.
After conducting a YouTube search using pertinent keywords, we obtained the complete footage of the video featuring Rahul Gandhi’s remarks. According to the video description, the speech was delivered during his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra held in Aligarh on 25 February 2024.
Approximately one hour into the video, Rahul Gandhi addresses the employment challenges faced by socially disadvantaged groups. Translated loosely from Hindi, Rahul Gandhi’s speech includes the following: “If you want to grasp where 90% of people are employed… where Dalits, backward classes, and minorities work, let me enlighten you. Allow me to delineate your position in this nation. Take a look at the MNREGA list, and within it, you’ll find individuals from backward communities, dalits, tribals, and minorities.”
He continues by stating, “consider contract labourers, examine the list of sanitation workers, and you’ll discover dalits, tribals, minorities, and backward individuals. This represents the reality of India. Consider prisons; within them, you’ll encounter individuals from backward communities, dalits, and tribals. You won’t find a wealthy individual incarcerated in the jails of India.”
Therefore, based on this speech, it can be deduced that Rahul Gandhi was addressing the plight of socially disadvantaged segments of society, and at no point did he suggest that only these groups are involved in criminal activities. In other words, excerpts from Rahul Gandhi’s speech are being taken out of context and disseminated with a misleading narrative.
To sum it up, Rahul Gandhi’s speech concerning Dalits and tribals is being circulated with a misleading narrative.


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Rahul was having his snacks at a roadside dhaba, not at a Martyr’s home - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
May 2, 2019
Many Facebook users are sharing a post with the picture of Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi and a child. In the post, it is alleged that, when Rahul visited a Martyr’s home, he ate the snacks of the child. Let’s try to analyze the claims made in the post.
Rahul Gandhi ate snacks of a child at a Martyr’s home.
Fact: Rahul Gandhi, along with Priyanka Gandhi, had his snacks in a roadside dhaba, not at a martyr’s home. Hence, the claim stands FALSE.
When the image in the post is run through Google Reverse Image search with filters, then a YouTube video of ‘The Quint’ with the title “Priyanka Gandhi & Rahul Gandhi went to a dhaba in Kairana on their way to meet the family of a CRPF trooper” was found. In the video, it can found that Rahul and Priyanka on their way to meet the family of a CRPF Jawan, halted at a roadside dhaba “Shiv Shakti” in Shamli district of U.P. for a cup of tea. In the video, Rahul and Priyanka duo were seen interacting with fellow customers in the dhaba and eating the snacks which were put on their table.
To sum it up, Rahul ate the snacks at a roadside dhaba in U.P. and not at the Martyr’s home.

source: news-factly

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

author: Sai Krishna Muthyanolla


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Railway Passenger Revenue in 2020-21 less than 30% than in 2019-20
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
March 19, 2021
Data shared by the government in the Lok Sabha indicates that the railway passenger revenue in 2020-21 (up to January 2021) is less than 20% of the actual revenue realized in 2019-20 and may not cross 30% by the end of the fiscal. On the other hand, the goods revenue in 2020-21 (up to January 2021) is around 83% of the 2019-20 revenue.
In its press release on 12 March 2021, the Ministry of Railways stated that the total freight loading by Indian Railways thus far (till 11 March 2021) in the current fiscal of 2020-21 has surpassed the total freight load of 2019-20.
A total of 1145.68 million tons of freight load was handled by Indian Railways as of 11 March 2021 in 2020-21 compared to 1145.61 million tons in 2019-20.  The Ministry of Railways further stressed the significance of this considering the impact of COVID-19 in 2020-21.
In a recent response provided in the Lok Sabha on 10 March 2021, the Minister for Railways stated that up to January 2020, 990.31 million tons of freight was loaded in 2020-21, lower when compared to 1000.77 million tons during the same time in 2019-20.
Taking these two updates into context, it appears that there is a considerable increase in the freight load of Indian railways in the last two months which contributed towards the overall numbers for 2020-21. In that same Lok Sabha response, the government further elucidates the performance of Indian Railways during the current year which is affected by COVID-19 in comparison with the previous years.
Sharper decline in Railways’ Passenger Revenue in 2020-21 compared to Goods Revenue
In view of the COVID-19 pandemic during 2020-21, the estimates of revenue generated through Passenger traffic were revised to Rs. 15 thousand crores. As per the information provided in Lok Sabha, as of Janaury’2021, only Rs. 9529 crores were realized.
Understandably, the revised estimates for 2020-21 passenger revenue were much lower than the numbers for 2019-20, which was Rs. 56 thousand crores. While it is to be seen if the passenger revenue for 2020-21 reaches the lower revised targets for this fiscal, the data for recent years indicates that there has always been a shortfall in the actual revenue compared to the revised estimates.
The drop in the revenue figures is also acknowledged by the Minister of Railways and the reasons for the shortfall in revenues in the recent years have been highlighted in the Lok Sabha answer.
The shortfall in actual revenue compared to the revised estimates in recent years is not restricted to the Passenger revenue. However, when compared to passenger revenue, the decline in the goods revenue during the pandemic year of 2020-21 is lesser.
In spite of the COVID-19 pandemic, the revised estimates for goods revenue in 2020-21 is Rs. 1.24 lakh crores compared to the Rs. 1.34 lakh crores estimate of 2019-20.  As of January 2021, the revenue generated through goods is Rs. 93 thousand crores. As highlighted earlier, there is a shortfall even in actual goods revenue compared to the revised estimates. The widening gap between the estimates and actual revenue is evident in both the revenue from passengers & goods.
North Central & East Central Railways realize higher proportion of passenger revenues in 2020-21.
Among the different Railway zones, Northern and Central Zones have the highest share of passenger Revenue in 2020-21 as of January 2021. As per the data in previous years (2017-18 to 2019-20), Northern & Central Zones have not only realized most passenger revenue. But also have higher revenue estimates. However, the same is not the case for the data available until January 2021 for the year 2020-21.
The passenger revenue data clearly indicates that states which have seen a large-scale return of migrant labour during the lockdown are the ones that earned a greater share of passenger revenue compared to the estimates.  As per another response update in the Lok Sabha, these states form the major portion of the destinations of Shramik Trains. In fact, the states of Uttar Pradesh & Bihar were the destination for 70% of the Shramik trains.
Fall in Goods Revenue during 2019-20 is contributed by fall in revenue in North-central & Western Railway Zones
Unlike the passenger revenue, the goods revenue earned so far in 2020-21 is comparatively better with around 75% realization as of January 2021. Further, in contrast to the higher variances observed in passenger revenue realization among the zones, the share of actual revenue realization for goods is similar among the various zones. While the Central Zone is highest with 78% realization compared to estimates, the Southern Zone has 72% realization 2020-21.
The extent of actual goods revenue realization by the end of 2020-21 compared to the estimates remains to be seen. This becomes important in the context of the fall in goods revenue observed in 2019-20.
With a lower revised goods revenue estimate for 2020-21, few of the zones that had a  poor realization in 2019-20 have reported better realization in 2020-21 compared to the estimates. However, the goods revenue realization for 2020-21 compared to the revised estimates cannot be taken as a yardstick in view of the pandemic.
With a clear & substantial impact on the passenger revenue in 2020-21, it is to be seen how soon the revenue would be back to the pre-pandemic levels. This will largely depend on the railways re-starting all the services that were running before the lockdown. The lesser impact on goods revenue has in a way rescued the overall revenues.
The revenue realization from both passengers and goods in the next few years will offer better insights on the long-term impact of the pandemic and whether the new railway lines laid, development works undertaken during the lockdown would translate into higher revenues for the railways.


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Women Harassments on Indian Trains - Security Helpline
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
March 13, 2015
There has been an increase in the number of reported cases of harassment of women/girls in the running trains, which is also partly because more and more victims are coming forward to report such incidents and the police is also proactively registering such cases. 24X7 Railway Security Helpline 1800-111-322, Escorting by Railway Police Force, Electronic Surveillance using CCTV cameras are some efforts taken by the government to deal with harrassment of women in trains.


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Railways now launch take away Bedrolls - Factly
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
February 9, 2016
The Railways has now launched a take away bed roll scheme to enable passengers book bed sheets, pillow and blankets online at nominal cost. As of now, bed linen is provided to passengers only in AC Coaches and is to be left in the train after use.
You will no more need to carry your own bed linen or an inflatable air pillow for travel on Indian Railways. The Railways has now launched a take away bedrolls initiative that will provide take away bedroll kits at stations. The initiative is called ‘Personalised take away bedrolls scheme’
The Scheme
The scheme is also called the E-bedroll services scheme since the booking for these bedrolls can be done online. All passengers with a valid PNR can book for a takeaway bedroll kit on payment basis.
Bedrolls are disposable.  Hence, passengers can take them home after journey. Take away bedroll kits will be available in two variants.
Variant 1: Bedroll kit packed in a non-woven fabric bag consisting of two cotton bed sheets and one pillow at a cost of Rs.140.  (Inclusions: Cotton bed sheets (02) and a pillow (01))
Variant 2: Blanket kit packed in a non-woven bag consisting of one blanket at a cost of Rs.110.   (Inclusions: Blanket (01) (Packed in a bag))
The above cost is inclusive of all taxes and is uniform across India.
How to book a bed roll?
The services would be PNR based. The bed roll can either be booked online from IRCTC Tourism (pre-paid) or bought across the counter at IRCTC outlets in the stations. The bedroll booked online would be provided to the passenger on their seat/berth. Passengers will have an option of booking either of the two variants available or both. The maximum of bedrolls allowed to be booked per passenger will be two (one each of either variant).
For online booking, the website asks for PNR number, validates the same and shows information on availability, cost etc. Passenger can book the required bedroll kits and pay through credit / debit / pre-charged cards and the bank charges for the transaction have to be borne by the customer.  Booking will be confirmed at the website and also through e-mail and SMS.
The Bedrolls service will be available only between 6am and 10pm. In case of trains running late and reaching a station beyond 10pm or before 6am, bedrolls will not be delivered and treated as non-delivery by IRCTC.
The bedrolls can be booked in advance, from 60 days before the day of travel to up to five hours before scheduled departure of train.
Cancellation
A passenger can cancel or amend his order through IRCTC Tourism with the registered ID.  To avail the refund, cancellation or amendment has to be done before five hours of scheduled departure and the cancellation charges of 20% will apply. For cancellations done within five hours of the scheduled departure, no refund will be granted.
The Refund amount will be credited to the card account through which the original booking was made. IRCTC will also refund 100% charges to the passenger in case of non-delivery.
One toll free number 1323 will give all the information about kits, availability & cost. This will be operational only between 6am and 10pm.
Current Availability
Currently, the scheme would be available only at Chennai Central Railway Station and Thiruvananthapuram Central Railway Station. This scheme will be extended to other stations in the country in phases. The list of stations available for online booking of bed rolls will be updated by the Railways as more stations are added to this scheme.

created: February 9, 2016


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Rainfall During Hindu Temple Inauguration: Not Abu Dhabi's First Rainfall Event - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
February 19, 2024
On 14 February 2024, Prime Minister Modi inaugurated the Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS) Hindu Mandir in Abu Dhabi, marking the first Hindu stone temple in the United Arab Emirates. Against this backdrop, a viral video depicts rain falling over the newly constructed temple in UAE, with a claim attributing the rain to the divine power of Hindu Gods. The video is accompanied by assertions that it had never rained in the area until the day before the temple’s inauguration. The Hindi caption loosely translates to, ‘This is the power of Sanatan Dharma where it never rained, it rained for the first time after the construction of Ram temple.’ In this article, we aim to fact-check the claims made in the post.
Claim: It had never rained in the area until the day before the inauguration of BAPS Hindu Mandir in Abu Dhabi.
Fact: According to information from the UAE government, Abu Dhabi and other parts of the country have experienced rainfall on numerous occasions over the years. For instance, in January 2020, Abu Dhabi received approximately 60mm of rainfall. While the inauguration of the Hindu temple in Abu Dhabi coincided with rainfall, it is not the first instance of rain in the area. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
During his two-day visit to the UAE, Prime Minister Modi inaugurated the Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS) Hindu temple in Abu Dhabi on 14 February 2024. This temple marks the first traditional Hindu stone temple in the UAE and is situated in Abu Mureikhah near Al Rahba, off the Dubai-Abu Dhabi Sheikh Zayed Highway.
However, the inaugural event coincided with adverse weather conditions and showers, as viral visuals depict rain over the temple the day before the inauguration. Yet, the claim that the area where the temple stands had never experienced rain until the day before the inauguration is inaccurate. Historical data on precipitation in the UAE, especially in Abu Dhabi city, available from the UAE’s Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Centre, indicates otherwise.
Essentially, the weather in the UAE is examined by dividing the area into distinct climate zones and collecting weather data from various local weather stations, all of which are subordinated to the main station. Consequently, we presumed that the BAPS Hindu temple is associated with the Abu Dhabi Airport weather station, based on Google Maps indicating a distance of approximately 30 kilometers between the temple and Abu Dhabi Airport, also referred to as Zayed International Airport. In contrast, the other weather stations are situated hundreds of kilometers away from the temple.
Based on the most recent precipitation data spanning from 2016 to 2020, Abu Dhabi received around 60mm of rainfall in January 2020. The data highlights numerous instances of rainfall across Abu Dhabi and other weather stations in the UAE.
Additionally, between 2005 and 2020, Abu Dhabi encountered 15 to 30 days of rainfall annually. The year 2019 recorded the highest number of rainy days at 38, while 2005 and 2011 had the lowest with only 15 rainy days each.
Additionally, the World Bank’s Climate Change Knowledge Portal has outlined future precipitation projections for the UAE, referencing data from the period 1986 to 2005. Consequently, all of this information confirms that Abu Dhabi has experienced rainy days over the years, and the recent rainfall coinciding with the inauguration of the Hindu temple is not unprecedented.
To sum it up, the rainfall during the inauguration of the Hindu temple in Abu Dhabi is not the first instance of rain in the city.

created: February 19, 2024


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Raj Bhavan, Eden Gardens, and Fort William in Kolkata are not the properties of the Waqf Board - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
October 4, 2023
A post claiming that Raj Bhavan, Eden Gardens, and Fort William in Kolkata are the properties of the Waqf board and that the West Bengal government pays rent for these to the Waqf board is being shared on social media. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Raj Bhawan, Eden Gardens, and Fort William in Kolkata are the properties of the Waqf board and the West Bengal government pays rent for these to the board.
Fact: Raj Bhavan is the official residence of the Governor of West Bengal owned by the state government. Eden Gardens and Fort William are owned by the Indian army. The former is a cricket stadium and the latter is a military establishment of the eastern command of the Indian Army. Hence, the claim made in the post is False.
On a relevant keyword search of the claims made in the post, we found that there are no official documents stating that the Waqf board owns these properties. Moreover, the board is a statutory body where individuals or organizations donate property or funds for charitable, or community purposes
Raj Bhavan was built during 1799-1803 by British rulers as a residence of governor general. It is now the residence and secretariat of the Governor of Bengal and is owned by the state government.
Eden Gardens stadium was in possession of lord Auckland, the governor-general of India in the 1840s. Post-independence, the ground was transferred to the Government of India, and the eastern command of the Indian Army took charge of the entire land holding. The entire stadium and the surrounding land are administered by the Defence Ministry. However, The Cricket Association of Bengal took the lease of Eden Gardens.
Fort William was built by the British East India Company in 1696 CE. Post-British era, the Indian government transformed this into a military base for the Indian army.
To sum up, Raj Bhavan, Eden Gardens, and Fort William in Kolkata are not the properties of Waqf Board.

created: October 4, 2023


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Raj Thackeray did not tweet praising Kangana Ranaut and criticizing Kareena Kapoor - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
September 21, 2020
A post accompanying an image of an alleged tweet by Raj Thackeray about Kangana Ranaut is doing rounds on social media. Through this article let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Raj Thackeray tweeted praising Kangana Ranaut and criticizing Kareena Kapoor.
Fact: No such tweet praising Kangana Ranaut and criticizing Kareena Kapoor was found on the timeline of Raj Thackeray’s official twitter handle. The official twitter handle of Raj Thackeray reads @RajThackeray, whereas the twitter handle in the post reads @iRajthackerey. Also, Raj Thackeray has a verified twitter account whereas the account in the post is not verified.  Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
If we take a closer look at the tweet, the twitter handle in the post reads @iRajthackerey whereas the official twitter handle of Raj Thackeray reads @RajThackeray. Also, Raj Thackeray has a verified twitter account whereas the account in the post is not verified, as is evident from the absence of the verified account symbol for the twitter account shown in the post. With this, we can say that the tweet in the post is not made by Raj Thackeray.
Date and time of the alleged tweet in the post reads 10:53 AM, 06 September 2020. Whereas, if we scroll down the timeline of Raj Thackeray’s official twitter account, we cannot see any tweet coinciding with this date and time. With all this, we can conclude that the alleged tweet was made through a fake/Parody account of Raj Thackeray.
In the light of the ongoing tussle between Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut and Maharashtra government led by Uddhav Thackeray, several posts like the one mentioned in this article are being circulated on social media platforms with misleading claims.
To sum it up, alleged tweet praising Kangana Ranaut and criticizing Kareena Kapoor was not made by Raj Thackeray.

created: September 21, 2020


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Raja Singh’s sister has not accepted Islam as being claimed - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
June 7, 2019
A post with a girl’s photo is being shared on Facebook with the claim that she is the sister of Telangana BJP MLA Raja Singh and recently, converted herself into Islam. Let’s try to check the authenticity of the news in the post.
Raja Singh’s sister Maya Devi has accepted Islam.
Fact: The girl in the photo is Athira/Ayesha, a Kerala girl who got converted into Islam two years back. She has no connection with Raja Singh. A similar claim which went viral on social media four years back was condemned by Raja Singh previously. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
When the girl’s photo is cropped and ran through Google Reverse Image Search, a ‘The News Minute’ article with the same photo can be found in the search results. According to that article, the girl in the photo is Athira (aka Ayesha – converted name), who accepted Islam two years back in Kerala. She has no connection with the MLA Raja Singh.
Also, when searched on Google with the keywords ‘Raja Singh sister accepted Islam’, another ‘The News Minute’ article published four years back can be found in the search result. According to that article, in 2015, Raja Singh filed a defamation case against a newspaper which published that Raja Singh’s niece accepted Islam without verifying the facts.
The image in the post shows that the news was published by ‘The News Minute’ on June 6, 2019. But no such news was found on the The News Minute website.
To sum it up, a Kerala Hindu girl’s conversion to Islam is being falsely shared as Raja Singh’s sister conversion.
Update: TNM has denied publishing any such article and has published a clarification on the spread of the fake post on their name.
Did you watch our Facebook live on Fake News (Misinformation)


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Rajasthan accounted for half the Jail Breaks in the last 5 years - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
November 2, 2016
As per the Prison Statistics India reports of the NCRB, 83 jail break incidents were reported in the country between 2011 and 2015. Almost half of these incidents (41) were reported from Rajasthan alone. Delhi accounted for close to 60% of all incidents of clashes in jails during this period.
The escape of 8 members of the banned Students’ Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) from Bhopal’s central jail and their subsequent killing in an encounter has once again put the spotlight on jail breaks the country. As per the National Crime Record Bureau’s (NCRB) annual publication, ‘Prison Statistics India’ (PSI), there have been a total of 83 jail breaks in India between 2011 and 2015.
The PSI is one of the three annual publications of the NCRB. The data for the PSI report is collected through a standard proforma, from the state governments. The PSI collects the following information from the states among other things.
As per PSI reports, there have been a total of 83 jail break incidents in the country between 2011 and 2015. There have been 28 jail breaks in 2011, the highest in the 5-year period while 2013 saw only 5 jail break incidents, the lowest during this period. The number of jail break incidents has increased to 26 in 2015 from 16 in 2014.
Within the states, Rajasthan accounted for 41 of the 83 jail breaks in the country during this period. In fact, 27 of the 28 jail break incidents in 2011 and 12 of the 26 such incidents in 2015 were in Rajasthan. Uttar Pradesh witnessed 14 such incidents during this period. 13 of these 14 jail breaks in Uttar Pradesh were in 2014 & 2015 alone. Madhya Pradesh accounted for 5 such incidents while Punjab witnessed 4 jail breaks during this period.
Between 2011 and 2015, a total of 836 incidents of clashes in jails were reported. The lowest such incidents were reported in 2011 (31) and the highest such incidents were reported in 2014 (255). Close to 60% or 501 of these incidents were reported from jails in Delhi alone. The next highest number of clashes in jails were reported from Rajasthan (82). West Bengal & Haryana are the only two other states in the country that witnessed more than 50 incidents of clashes during this period.
Source: National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB)
Featured Image:By Aliven Sarkar (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

created: November 2, 2016


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Rajasthan government allocated Rs. 100 crores to develop a religious circuit connecting places of worship of Hindus, Muslims, Jains & Sikhs - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
March 15, 2021
A post accompanying an image of an advertisement by ‘Tanha peer dargah’ authority thanking Rajasthan Chief Minister for including Tanha peer dargah in the religious tourism circuit and allocating Rs. 100 crores for the programme in the 2021-22 budget is being widely shared. The post claims that Ashok Gehlot has allotted Rs. 100 crores in the budget for the development of a Dargah. Through this article let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Ashok Gehlot has allotted Rs. 100 crores in the budget for the development of a Dargah.
Fact: Rajasthan government in the 2021-22 budget allocated Rs.100 crores for developing a religious circuit by connecting places of worship of Sikhs, Jains, Hindus, and Muslims in order to develop ‘Sarva Dharma Sama Bhava’.  Hence the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
In the 2021-22 budget, the Rajasthan government has allocated Rs. 100 crores for development of religious tourist circuit connecting places of worship of Sikhs, Jains, Hindus, and Muslims in order to develop ‘Sarva Dharma Sama Bhava’.
The budget document further mentions the different religious places which fall under the ambit of this initiative of the religious tourism circuit. Among the list of places, ‘Tanha peer dargah’ which falls in the Mandore-Jodhpur track is also a part. Also, the Rs. 100 crores allocated to this initiative will be spent for developing connectivity and other areas concerning the places of worship of the four religions. From this, it is evident Rajasthan government’s allocation of Rs. 100 crores for developing a religious circuit by connecting religious places of four different religions is misconstrued as the government allocating Rs. 100 crores just to develop a dargah.
To sum it up, the Rajasthan government has allocated Rs. 100 crores to develop a religious circuit of four different religions, but not just a dargah.


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Rajasthan government had not given any permission for offering Namaz at Kumbhalgarh Fort - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
May 11, 2022
A post is being widely shared on social media claiming that Congress government in Rajasthan had given permission for offering Namaz at Kumbhalgarh fort in Mewar. Let us fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Congress government in Rajasthan gives permission for offering Namaz at Kumbhalgarh fort in Mewar.
Fact: Kumbhalgarh fort was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site under the group Hill Forts of Rajasthan in 2013; It comes under the Archaeological Survey of India (Union Ministry of Culture). Hence, Rajasthan government could not have given permission for Namaz at the Fort as it’s a centrally protected monument. Earlier in 2019, when the same claim went viral on social media, the SP of Rajsamand district (where the fort is located) and the Deputy Superintendent of Police told IANS that the claim was false. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
Kumbhalgarh fort was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site under the group Hill Forts of Rajasthan in 2013; It comes under the Archaeological Survey of India (Union Ministry of Culture). Hence, Rajasthan government could not have given permission for Namaz at the Fort as it’s a centrally protected monument.
Earlier in 2019, the same claim went viral on social media. The SP of Rajsamand district (where the fort is located) and the Deputy Superintendent of Police told IANS that the claim was false. Though there was a religious function planned near the fort by a group of Muslims, it was cancelled after the District Collector and the SP called the organisers so that communal harmony can be maintained.
To sum it up, the claim that Rajasthan government had given permission for offering Namaz at Kumbhalgarh Fort is not true; the fort comes under the Archaeological Survey of India.


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Rajasthan High Court directs Proactive Disclosure of all the rules, after it could not find a copy of Rajasthan Evaluation Service Rules
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
September 22, 2015
In a bizarre turn of events, the Jaipur Bench of the Rajasthan High Court directed the government to proactive disclose all the rules within 4 months. The HC directions were part of   a suo motu PIL, necessitated by the fact that the HC  could not find a copy of the rules it had to refer to in another writ petition. The HC referred to Section 4 of the RTI act and how proactive disclosure is already mandated under the act.
In what could be termed as a bizarre turn of events, the Jaipur bench of the Rajasthan High Court recently directed the Rajasthan Government to ensure that the Rules framed by the Rajasthan Government should be uploaded on the website of the State of Rajasthan or the concerned department within a period of four months. It was bizarre because the HC took notice of this issue Suo Motu, after it could not find a copy of Rajasthan Evaluation Service Rules, 1979 in the court library.
The Background
While hearing the WP No.8381/2014, the HC had to refer to the Rajasthan Evaluation Service Rules, 1979 which were not available in the library of the Court. The counsel for the parties also informed the court that copy of these Rules is neither available in the open market nor has been uploaded on the website of the concerned department. The Court had also recorded that in other cases as well, the statutory Rules framed by the Governor of Rajasthan for other departments of the Government and public authorities were also neither available in the open market nor on the website of the concerned departments or public authorities.
The Court was also been informed that some of these Rules were not even published in official gazette or any other publication making it impossible for the public to get copy of such Rules.
Proactive Disclosure under the RTI Act
The HC referred to Section 4(1)(b)(v) of the RTI act that mandates, rules, regulations, instructions, manuals and records, held by it or under its control or used by its employees for discharging its functions be proactively disclosed by the government.
In fact, Section 4 of the RTI act puts the onus on every public authority to proactively (Suo Motu) disclose a host of information. Section 4(1)(b) of the RTI act refers to 17 items that are to be proactively disclosed by the authorities and to be regularly updated.
Some of the 17 items include
Apart from these, the authorities are also supposed to publish all relevant facts while formulating important policies or announcing the decisions which affect public. They are also supposed to provide reasons for administrative or quasi-judicial decisions to affected persons.
All this was supposed to be done within 120 days of the enactment of the RTI act in 2005 and regularly updated.
What is the status of implementation?
10 years on, there has been very little progress on the proactive disclosure front. So much so, that even the Prime Minister’s Office has not published the proactive disclosures under Section 4. The Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT), which is the nodal ministry for implementation of the RTI act, has been issuing guidelines after guidelines, but without much avail.
The DoPT recently issued a circular referring to the 76th Report of the Department Related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice’s recommendation regarding suo-motu disclosure under Section 4 of the RTI act.
Even the two member panel of former Central Information Commissioners recommended greater transparency and the strict implementation of Section 4. Will the government take this seriously this time around? Only time will tell.

created: September 22, 2015


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Rajasthan Paradarshi Shiva Mandir visuals shared as those of Pashupatinath temple in Nepal - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
August 17, 2021
A photo is being shared on social media claiming it as the Shiva Lingam visuals from Pashupatinath temple in Nepal. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Shiva Lingam visuals in Nepal Pashupatinath temple.
Fact: This video shows the transparent shiva lingam visuals from Paradarshi Shiva mandir in Mandwa, Rajasthan. This photo has nothing to do with the Pashupatinath temple in Nepal. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
On reverse image search of the photo shared in the post, a similar photo was found on the ‘Paradarshi Shiva Mandir’ Facebook page. This Facebook page described it as the shiva lingam visuals from Paradarshi Shiva mandir in Mandwa, Rajasthan. When we searched for other sources using these keywords, we found similar transparent shiva lingam visuals in the YouTube videos published on Paradarshi Shiva mandir in Rajasthan. These videos can be seen here and here.
The visuals of the Pashupatinath temple in Nepal can be seen here. Sharing the visuals of Nepal’s Pashupatinath temple, several news websites have published articles, which can be read here and here.
Earlier, when the visuals of a Malaysian temple are shared as the visuals of Pashupatinath temple, FACTLY published fact-check articles. It can be read here.
To sum it up, Rajasthan Paradarshi Shiva mandir visuals shared as the visuals of Pashupatinath temple.


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Rajdeep Sardesai was not heckled by a mob after his interview with Rhea Chakraborty - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
September 2, 2020
A post with a video of journalist Rajdeep Sardesai being heckled by a group of people is being widely shared with a claim that he has been heckled after his latest interview with Rhea Chakraborty. Through this article lets fact-check the claim made in the post.
Video of Rajdeep Sardesai being heckled after his latest interview with Rhea Chakraborty.
Fact: The incident in the video took place in 2014 when Narendra Modi made his first official visit to the US after he got elected as the Indian Prime Minister. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
A simple google search with the keywords ‘Rajdeep heckled’ resulted in many news articles and videos which reported the same incident. According to one such video the incident took place in front of Madison Square Garden, New York back in September 2104 when Narendra Modi made his first official visit to the US after being elected as Indian Prime Minister. News article which reported the same can be read here. With this, we can say that this video is years old and not latest.
In the wake of his latest interview with Rhea Chakraborty on Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death, this video is being widely shared with a false claim. Also, we found no news article or report about a mob heckling Rajdeep after his interview with Rhea Chakraborty.
To sum it up, the incident took place in 2014 in the US and not after his interview with Rhea Chakraborty.
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created: September 2, 2020


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Rajnath Singh did not make these statements in response to Udayanidhi Stalin's remarks on Sanatana Dharma - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
September 27, 2023
A social media post, accompanying a purported News18 clip, is currently circulating widely. This clip allegedly features Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh’s response to Tamil Nadu Minister Udayanidhi Stalin’s remarks on Sanatana Dharma. According to the news clip, Rajnath Singh has advocated for the silence of Dravidians and Shudras, drawing a parallel to the way Kshatriyas have historically adhered to it.
Claim: Dravidians and Shudras should remain silent like how Kshatriyas have historically adhered to it- Rajnath Singh
Fact: News18 did not publish any report that credited these statements to Rajnath Singh. Likewise, no other news agency linked these remarks to the Minister. Nevertheless, Rajnath Singh did respond to Stalin’s comments by asserting that Sanatan Dharma is eternal and that no power in the world can destroy it. He also questioned the silence of the INDIA bloc regarding Stalin’s statements. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
While Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh addressed Tamil Nadu Minister Udayanidhi Stalin’s remarks concerning Sanatana Dharma, it is important to clarify that he did not make the reported statements. Furthermore, it should be noted that News18 did not publish the said news clip.
A Google search using appropriate keywords yielded numerous news articles that covered Rajnath Singh’s reaction to Stalin’s remarks. According to these reports, Singh responded by questioning the silence of the INDIA coalition over the remarks and demanding apologies from both the Congress and INDIA coalition.
Subsequently, on a separate occasion, Rajnath Singh asserted that Sanatan Dharma is eternal and that no power in the world can destroy it. Various news agencies have covered Rajnath’s statements, and News18 also reported on his remarks (here, here & here). However, we couldn’t find any News18 report that mentioned Rajnath Singh calling for the silence of Dravidians and Shudras.
In this regard, we could not find any reports from any news agency associating the alleged comments with Rajnath Singh. If the minister had indeed made such statements, it is highly likely that the media would have covered it. This strongly indicates that the viral news clip is a digitally created imitation designed to resemble the News18 format.
To sum it up, Rajnath Singh did not make these statements in response to Udayanidhi Stalin’s remarks on Sanatana Dharma.

created: September 27, 2023


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Rajnath Singh met President of All India Muslim Personal Law Board to offer condolences on the death of his brother - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
May 13, 2019
A few Facebook users are sharing a post with the image of Rajnath Singh alleging that he has visited a Madarsa to seek Muslim votes. Let’s try to analyze the claims made in the post
To seek Muslim votes, Rajnath Singh has visited a Madarsa.
Fact: This photo is of Rajnath Singh offering condolences on the death of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) President’s brother. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
When the image in the post is run through Google Reverse Image Search technique, it was found in the tweet of Uttar Pradesh’s Deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma. Earlier this year, Rajnath Singh has met All India Muslim Personal Law Board President Maulana Rabey Hassan Nadvi to offer condolences on the death of his younger brother Maulana Wajeh Hassan Nadvi. The photo taken in this context is being falsely shared with the narrative of Rajnath Singh visiting a Madrasa to seek the votes of Muslims.
Hence, this is the photo of Rajnath Singh meeting All India Muslim Personal Law Board President Maulana Rabey Hassan Nadvi to offer condolences on the death of his brother.


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Raju’s mother character in '3 Idiots' was played by Amardeep Jha, not Vineeta Singh - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
January 10, 2023
A post is being widely shared on social media claiming that entrepreneur and Shark Tank India judge Vineeta Singh had played the role of Raju’s Mother in ‘3 Idiots’ movie. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Shark Tank India’s Judge Vineeta Singh played the role of Raju’s Mother in ‘3 Idiots’ movie.
Fact: The character of Raju’s mother, Mrs. Rastogi, was played by actress Amardeep Jha. When a similar post went viral in 2022, Vineeta dismissed the claims sportively by acting in a meme video based on 3 Idiots movie scene. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
As per the end credits of the movie and IMDb, Raju’s Mother character (Mrs. Rastogi) was played by actress Amardeep Jha, 62. Vineeta Singh has not acted in this movie. As per Vineeta’s LinkedIn profile, at that time, she was working as a director for a private company.
However, when similar post went viral in 2022, Vineeta recreated the scene of ‘rising vegetable prices’ from 3 Idiots and tweeted, “All is not well! Stop with the Photoshopping”
To sum it up, Raju’s mother character in 3 idiots movie was played by Amardeep Jha, not by entrepreneur and Shark Tank India’s judge Vineeta Singh.

created: January 10, 2023


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How the Rajya Sabha numbers are set to change in the next 2 years
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
March 13, 2017
The BJP’s landslide in Uttar Pradesh winning 3/4th of the seats on offer will help the NDA improve its numbers in the Rajya Sabha before the 2019 general elections. But how exactly will the numbers change?
Though the BJP won the 2014 Lok Sabha election with a clear majority, they have been finding it difficult to pass bills in the Upper House or the Rajya Sabha. Since the members of the Rajya Sabha are elected by the MLAs in states, BJP had lesser numbers than the Congress in the Rajya Sabha to start with. But with Congress facing successive defeats in various states, this scenario set to change in the coming years. The previous set of elections in May 2016 in the five states of Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Kerala, Assam & Puducherry did not help the BJP in increasing its tally in the Rajya Sabha. But the landslide victory in UP and other recent victories of BJP will help the BJP win a lot more Rajya Sabha seats in 2018.
Each state has a fixed number of Rajya Sabha seats based on the population. The Rajya Sabha members are elected by the method of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote (STV), very similar to how the members of legislative councils in states are elected. Members keep retiring after their 6-year tenure and elections take place as and when there is a vacancy. The formula for the minimum number of votes needed to elect a member of the Rajya Sabha from a state is the following.
Current Composition of the Rajya Sabha
Out of the 243 members of the Rajya Sabha, 73 belong to the UPA, 74 to the NDA, 88 Others and 8 are nominated. The bulk of the others come from the regional parties like SP, BSP, AIADMK, AITC, BJD, JD(U), CPI(M) etc. Though there are 12 nominated members currently serving their term in the Rajya Sabha, four of them joined the BJP and are counted as a part of the BJP’s strength in the house. A nominated member can join a political party within the first six months of being nominated to the house as per the rules.
Retirements before the 2019 Lok Sabha General Elections
Ten (10) members of the Rajya Sabha will retire in 2017 while 68 members will retire in 2018. Eight (8) members are set to retire in 2019, but none of them will retire before the 2019 general elections to the Lok Sabha. In all, 78 seats of the Rajya Sabha are up for grabs before the 2019 elections. Four (4) of these vacancies will be of the nominated members.
No gains for the BJP in 2017
BJP/NDA will not see any net gain in the Rajya Sabha numbers in 2017. Out of the 10 seats on offer, 6 of them are from West Bengal where the BJP/NDA is not in a position to win any. In Gujarat, the BJP will retain its two seats. In Goa, the lone seat will be go to that party which can form the government. Since the BJP currently holds that seat, there will no net gain to the BJP even if it were to form the government and win the seat.
NDA will gain 10+ seats in 2018
The real gains for the NDA will come in 2018 when Rajya Sabha elections will happen in 19 different states. The biggest gain will be in UP where the BJP/NDA is in a position to win 8 out of the 10 seats on offer, a net gain of 7 seats. The BJP/NDA will also gain in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Haryana, Rajasthan, Jharkhand and Uttarakhand. The BJP/NDA will also lose some seats in the states of Bihar, Karnataka and Telangana. In all, BJP/NDA will gain about 11 seats while the UPA will lose 11 seats. The others will maintain their share of seats even in 2018. Since Gujarat & Himachal elections are due in 2017, the outcome in these states will depend on the election results. Four (4) nominated members also retire in 2018 giving the BJP an opportunity to nominate members of their choice.  If these 4 nominated members also choose to join the BJP after their nomination, the strength of the NDA will further go up.


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Ram, Laxman, and Sita idols in this photo were found at a village in Jharkhand, not in Ayodhya (UP) - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
June 1, 2020
A post is being shared widely on social media with a claim that idols of Ram, Lakshman, and Sita in the photo were found during an excavation in Ayodhya. Let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Photo of idols of Ram, Lakshman, and Sita which were found during an excavation in Ayodhya.
Fact: The idols in the photo were found at a village in Jharkhand, not in Ayodhya. The same photo can be found in an article published in January 2019. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
When the photo was run through Google Reverse Image Search, the same photo was found in an article published in January 2019.  It can be read in the article that the idols in the photo were found at Jilinga village in Jharkhand. Another news article confirming the same can be read here. Also, when the same photo went viral in 2019 with another claim that the idols were found in Iraq, ‘Fact Crescendo’ has spoken to the local police and other officials who confirmed that the idols were found in Jilinga village.
During the recent excavations at Ayodhya Ram temple construction site, the remains of ancient temples such as pillars, idols of deities and a Shivalinga were found.
To sum it up, the idols in the photo were found at a village in Jharkhand, not in Ayodhya (UP).
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Ram Nath Kovind has not made these statements praising the Congress Party - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
August 3, 2022
A post is being shared on social media with a description that reads, ‘India can progress in the world only by following Gandhi’s path; Congress has taken this country far ahead-Ram Nath Kovind, Ex-President.’ Let’s verify these claims.
Claim: Ram Nath Kovind said that India could progress in the world only by following Gandhi’s path and that Congress has taken our country far ahead.
Fact: Ram Nath Kovind has never directly said what the post claims, but in his message to the nation on the eve of Gandhi Jayanthi, he said ‘Let us take a pledge that we will continue to strive for making India a country of his (Gandhi) dreams while adhering to his teachings, ideals and values.” In a different speech he gave on the eve of 2021 Republic Day, he spoke about the contributions of our freedom fighters. He has not said anything about the Congress party as claimed in the post. Hence the post is MISLEADING.
We searched the internet with relevant keywords and found several posts similar to the post; one even dates back to 2018. These posts can be seen here and here. We then searched to  check if the former President has made those comments as the post claims. Had the former President of India made these statements, media would have reported the statement widely. But no relevant news reports were found to indicate that he made those statements about the Congress party.
Then we looked at various speeches of Ram Nath Kovind to further know if he had made such statements. Addressing the nation on the eve of Gandhi Jayanthi in 2021, the former President has said, “Let us take a pledge that we will continue to strive for making India a country of his dreams while adhering to his teachings, ideals and values.” However, he did not make the exact statement as claimed in the post.
From the message he gave on the eve of Gandhi Jayanthi in 2020, we found that he said, ‘On this auspicious occasion of Gandhi Jayanti, let us resolve to rededicate ourselves to the welfare and progress of the nation, to follow the mantra of truth and non-violence, and to build a clean, capable, strong and prosperous India, and to make Gandhiji’s dreams come true.’
Regarding the statement that the Congress party had taken this country far ahead, we did not find any speech of his where he spoke about the Congress Party. In this year’s President’s address to the nation during republic day, he spoke about the struggle of our freedom fighters.
In his Republic day speech of 2020, he said,’ Government and opposition both have important roles to play. While giving expression to their political ideas, both must move forward in tandem to ensure that development of the country and welfare of its people are promoted consistently.’ But he never made any statement on the Congress party as the post claims.
To summarise, Ram Nath Kovind has not made these statements praising the Congress Party.

created: August 3, 2022


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Ram Navami was celebrated at Lal Chowk, Srinagar even before the formation of Modi government in 2014 - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
April 13, 2022
A photo collage comparing the images of Lal Chowk with a Pakistani flag, and the one with the Ram Navami procession is shared through a post, suggesting that Ram Navami was not celebrated at Lal Chowk before 2014. Let us fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Photo collage with the images of Lal Chowk showing that Ram Navami was not celebrated at Lal Chowk, Srinagar.
Fact: The image with the Pakistan flag on Lal Chowk was from 2010 but a Pakistani flag was hoisted by Kashmiri separatists at Lal Chowk even in 2016. The image with the Ram Navami procession was from 10 April 2022, but Ram Navami celebrations happened at Lal Chowk, Srinagar, even before 2014. Hence, the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
When reverse image search is done on the image of Lal Chowk with Pakistan flag on it, the same image was found in a blog post published in 2011. So, the image was taken before 2014 when the Modi government was formed.
The incident is from 2010 when separatist protestors hoisted the flag to display anti-India demonstrations. However, there were news reports (here and here) from 2016 when a Pakistani flag was hoisted by Kashmiri separatists at Lal Chowk.
When reverse image search is done on the Ram Navami image from 2022, the same image was found in a recent article on Ram Navami procession at Lal Chowk. The article published on 10 April 2022 is about the Shobha Yatra taken out by Kashmiri Pandits at Lal Chowk, Srinagar. More visuals of the recent Ram Navami procession can be seen here and here.
Ram Navami was celebrated in a grand manner in Srinagar recently. However, there were Ram Navami processions celebrated with religious fervour at Lal Chowk, Srinagar even before 2014. One such image can be seen from the procession in 2013 here.
Another image of a Rama Navami celebration at Lal Chowk in April 2014 can be seen here. The Narendra Modi government was formed in May 2014. This means there were Ram Navami processions near Lal Chowk, Srinagar even before the Modi government formed in 2014.
To sum it up, Ram Navami was celebrated at Lal Chowk, Srinagar even before the formation of the Modi government in 2014.


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'RAM' Trucks Were Named After Male Sheep, Not Hindu Deity - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
August 7, 2023
An image of a vehicle with the name ‘RAM’ visibly inscribed on it is being widely shared on social media claiming that the USA has introduced a new car under the brand name ‘RAM,’ by naming it after the Hindu deity Ram. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: USA has launched a new vehicle called ‘RAM’ which was named after Hindu deity Ram.
Fact: The image depicts a pickup truck released under the brand ‘RAM’. These kinds of trucks were initially introduced in the 1980s by the American company Dodge and designated as the ‘Dodge RAM’ truck. In this context, the term RAM is derived from the male sheep, also known as a ram, symbolizing sturdy vehicles, and not linked to any Hindu deity. Hence, the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
First and foremost, conducting a reverse image search on the viral image has unveiled that the vehicle portrayed in the image is a pickup truck manufactured under the ‘RAM’ brand by Stellantis, a multinational automobile manufacturing corporation.
Further examination of the brand’s historical background reveals that the Ram trucks were initially introduced in the 1980s by the American automobile company Dodge, labelled as ‘Dodge RAM’ Trucks. In this context, the term ‘RAM’ signifies the male sheep, an animal, rather than the Hindu deity.
Although Dodge had been producing trucks since 1917, it was the 1981 pickups that initially showcased the ‘RAM’ designation. Dodge had employed a ram’s head hood ornament as early as 1933 to epitomize its trucks as robust vehicles. This emblem was discontinued in the 1950s but was subsequently revived for the 1981 models. Dodge’s marketing team chose to name the trucks after this tough beast and reintroduced the former mascot.
However, RAM was established as a distinct brand, albeit under the same company, through a separation from Dodge in 2009. Currently, these pickup trucks exclusively bear the name ‘RAM’. There is no mention anywhere that this name is derived from any deity; it simply employs the term of the animal to symbolize the vehicle’s strength and potency.
To sum it up, the RAM trucks produced by Stellantis Corporation were named after the male sheep, rather than a Hindu deity.

created: August 7, 2023


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Ramayan TV series actor Chandrasekhar Vaidya died on 16 July 2021, not recently - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
September 2, 2022
A Facebook post is being widely shared claiming that the Actor Chandrasekhar Vaidya, who played the role of Arya Sumanth in the Ramayan (1987 TV series) died recently (31 August 2022) at the age of 98. Let’s fact-check the claim made in the post
Claim: Actor Chandrasekhar Vaidya died on 31 August 2022 at the age of 98.
Fact: Media reports confirm that Chandrasekhar Vaidya had passed away on 16 July 2021 due to age related ailments. Hence the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
First, we performed reverse image search of the two images shared in the viral post and confirmed that these are images of Chandrasekhar Vaidya. They can be seen here and here. Then, we searched the internet with relevant keywords and found several media outlets reporting the death of Chandrasekhar Vaidya. They can be seen here, here and here
According to these reports, veteran actor and social activist Chandrasekhar Vaidya died on 16 June 2021 due to age related ailments. He was 98. He died around 7 AM at his residence in Mumbai.  He was well known for the role of Arya Sumanth in Popular TV serial Ramayan. Severe Twitter users also shared this news on Twitter. More about him can be read here.
RIP Chandrashekhar ji
Veteran actor #Chandrashekhar Vaidya breathed his last in Mumbai due to old age. He was a popular actor of 1950's and he has worked in films like Kaali Topi Laal Rumaal, Baradari, Street Singer and Rustom e Baghdad . pic.twitter.com/bSnZfDjn7h
To sum it up, Ramayan TV series actor Chandrasekhar Vaidya died on 16 July 2021, not recently.

created: September 2, 2022


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Rana Ayyub did not link Will Smith slapping Chris Rock with Hinduism making one violent - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
March 30, 2022
A post is being widely shared on social media claiming that Rana Ayyub had written that Will Smith slapping Chris Rock is an example of how Hinduism makes one violent. Recently, Will Smith slapped Chris Rock during the Oscars after Chris Rock made a joke about Smith’s wife; she suffers from a medical condition called alopecia. Will Smith later apologised for his actions. Let us fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Will Smith slapping Chris Rock is an example of how Hinduism makes one violent – Rana Ayyub.
Fact: The contents of the viral post was taken from a satirical website named ‘The Fauxy’. Rana Ayub did not actually make such comments. Hence, the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
The posted image has the logo of ‘The Fauxy’ in the bottom right corner. When we searched on Google with relevant keywords, it was found that except ‘The Fauxy’, no news agency reported about such comments by Rana Ayyub on the Will Smith-Chris Rock incident at the Oscars. The news about this incident was published by ‘The Fauxy’ on its website on 28 March 2022. The posted image is the screenshot of ‘The Fauxy’ article. However, according to ‘The Fauxy’ websites’ disclaimer, it is an entertainment portal, and it advises the readers not to confuse its articles as genuine and true.
Even the Twitter handle of ‘The Fauxy’ describes itself as ‘India’s Finest, Fastest & Fictitious News Source.’ According to its YouTube channel, it’s a ‘Satire Portal’.
Rana Ayyub, through her official Twitter account, posted that this viral news was fake.
Another virtual lynch mob after this fake news masquerading as satire goes viral pic.twitter.com/HiNvQa7TXv
To sum it up, Rana Ayyub did not write that Will Smith slapping Chris Rock was an example of how Hinduism makes one violent.


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Rape Cases in India: Correlation between Sex Ratio, Literacy Rate and Rape Cases registered - Part 3
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
April 15, 2015
We have analysed the number of rape cases registered from 2011 to 2013 in India and if things have changed post the Nirbhaya incident in the first two parts.
The numbers and the general trend of the number of rape cases registered roughly correlated with indicators such as sex ratio and literacy rate. When we dug deep into these indicators, we found some interesting trends. We considered Sex Ratio & the Literacy rate as per Census 2011, Rape cases registered in various states in 2013 for this analysis.
Sex Ratio in India is not a mere number but an indicator that speaks volumes about the Indian social setup. Sex ratio in India has always been lopsided with the count of men outnumbering that of women by a large margin. This can be attributed to a variety of reasons but the ones that stand out are the preference for a male child and a strong patriarchal society where the female is mostly considered a second rate citizen. Female infanticide and foeticide are rampant due to these two reasons. Lower Sex Ratio breeds and sets in motion a vicious self sustaining cycle comprising of disempowered women incapable of nurturing their next generations.
The causes that lead to a skewed sex ratio also contribute to its perpetuity in various forms, direct and indirect. Direct like sex selective abortions and indirect like creating an environment that is not conducive to the girl child. Such an environment also contributes to a setup for crimes to be inflicted upon women and it also makes it easy for the guilty to get away with.
Number of studies has suggested that a skewed sex ratio could amplify the assaults on women if not a major reason for the crimes in the first place. To test this argument we tried to find if there is any correlation between Sex ratio and Rape cases registered per lakh women across all the states in India. In some cases low sex ratio did correlate with higher number of cases registered.
Literacy Rate: Education equips us with the necessary knowledge and attitude to deal with problems that crop up in our lives. Lack of education leaves us at a natural disadvantage of not understanding our own surroundings. An educated person is more likely to stand up for his rights when they are denied because of the knowledge of systems. We assume that a higher literacy rate should correlate with higher reporting crimes and lower literacy rate with lower reporting of crimes.
Analysis
This article analyses the correlation between three different parameters, Sex Ratio, Literacy Rate and Rape cases registered per lakh women. National average for each of the parameters is used as a baseline to define ‘high’ and ‘low’ nature of the parameters
The national average Sex Ratio is 943. So States with a lower sex ratio than 943 are defined as states with ‘low sex ratio’ and similarly states with sex ratio higher than 943 have been defined as states with ‘high sex ratio’.
On the same lines, National average Literacy rate is 74.04% and states with literacy rate lower than this have been termed ‘low literacy’ states and vice versa. Literacy rate mentioned here is the overall literacy rate.
Number of rape cases registered per lakh women (RPL) in India is 5 in 2013. Hence states with RPL of more than 6 RPL have been termed as high RPL states and vice versa.
States and UT’s have been arranged in ascending order of Sex Ratio and grouped into two groups A and B. Group A states have a sex ratio lower than the national average and are hence the ‘Low Sex Ratio States’ and Group B states have a sex ratio higher than the national average and have therefore been referred to as the ‘High Sex Ratio States’.
What does the colour coding mean?
Group A: Our underlying assumption is that states with low sex ratio and high literacy rate tend to have a higher RPL and the states with a lower literacy rate tend to have lower RPL. The corresponding numbers of a state that followed this trend have been coloured green and others have been left uncoloured.
Group B: For States with high Sex Ratio, our assumption is that high sex ratio could translate to lower RPL. The corresponding numbers of a state that followed this trend have been coloured green and the ones that didn’t have been left uncoloured. Higher literacy rate correlating with high RPL also has been coloured green.
Analysis of Group A States (States with Sex Ratio lower than the National Average)
The chart below explains the findings clearly.
Analysis of Group B States (States with Sex Ratio higher than the National Average)
The chart below explains the findings clearly.
What does this mean?
All said and done, the extent and prevalence of impact can’t be quantified. At the same it cannot also be denied that Sex Ratio and Literacy Rate do play a role in the occurrence and reporting of Rape cases across India. It is also possible that States like Uttar Pradesh & Bihar seem to be under reporting rape cases.
Featured Image Source: Flickr/Ramesh Lalwani
In Part 4 in the series of analysis of Rape cases in India, we attempt to further analyse the much talked about under reporting of Women Crimes in India and if there is indeed any evidence of such under reporting using crime data.


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Rape Cases in India – Has anything changed after the Nirbhaya Incident? - Part 1
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
March 10, 2015
Crimes against Women have continued to make headlines in our country for quite some time now. Public reaction to these crimes has varied between peaks and lows; peaking when a grotesque crime is brought to limelight by mainstream media and ebbing away after a period of sustained vociferous condemnation on social media platforms and the occasional candle light march.
In such a scenario, it would be prudent for us to look into the statistical data about Crimes against Women and sensitize ourselves about how we could deal with these issues.
The vast quantum of data that is available about crimes against women is an indicator in itself about the gravity of these crimes. And for that simple reason covering all the crimes against women in one article became unworkable. Hence in the first in a series of articles on crimes against women, we deal with ‘Rapes in India”.
A newspaper without the daily dose of rapes reported across the length and breadth of our country looks almost impossible and worse amongst all age groups. We have data for the number of Rape cases registered, convicted, persons arrested, persons convicted and much more for the years 2011, 2012 and 2013. Analysis of the data from these three years gives us invaluable insights into how this horrific crime has been dealt with, how the institutions have responded etc. This will also provide valuable insights to understand whether the Nirbhaya incident in December 2012 has changed anything on ground.
Did the Nirbhaya incident and the national outrage that followed have any impact on the institutional response in the following year? Has the attitude about registering and reporting of rape cases changed post December 2012?  Let us take a look at the data and find out.
To understand the analysis and data, let us first familiarize ourselves with the parameters based on which data has been categorised
Cases Registered: The number of Rape cases registered in the given year.
Cases Convicted : The number of cases in which trial has been completed and those that resulted in conviction of the accused. These cases that completed trial wouldn’t have been necessarily registered in the same year only. This is because of the time taking nature of our judicial process.
Persons Arrested: The number of Persons arrested on the charge of Rape.
Persons Convicted: Persons who have undergone trials and have been finally adjudged guilty and convicted.
Pending Trials: The number of cases awaiting final judgement at the end of the particular year.
Cases registered per 1 lakh women: The number of Rape cases registered per 1 lakh women in that region/state. This is calculated taking into account the female population (of Census 2011) of the particular region/state.
Conviction Rate: This is the percentage of cases that resulted in conviction of the total cases that completed trial in that year. It is to be noted that it is a percentage of completed trials and not a percentage of cases registered in that particular year. A case registered in a particular year can complete trial in any year. This distinction is to be understood.
All India Numbers:  2011 to 2013
The following numbers are cumulative figures for the years 2011, 2012 and 2013.
It is worth noting that
Year on Year Comparative Analysis
It is worth noting that
(Note: The persons convicted in a year might not necessarily have been arrested in the same year, conviction results from trials completed in a particular year)
In Focus – Delhi
In the recent years, Delhi has earned itself the reputation of being the ‘Rape Capital’. While this claim cannot be completely refuted, the data does not suggest otherwise.
Cases Registered
(Deviation from Average: This is the percentage by which a certain value varies with respect to its corresponding average. If the value is greater than the average then it results in a positive deviation and if the value is lesser than the average then it results in negative deviation)
It is worth noting that
Cases Convicted
Persons Arrested
It is worth noting that
Persons Convicted
It is worth noting that
Pending Trials
Number of pending trials decreased by 2% from 2011 to 2012, but increased by a massive 53% cases from 2012 to 2013. This can be explained by the fact that the number of cases registered increased by more than two times from 2012 to 2013. But then at the same time Government set up a fast track court to specifically deal with sexual offences in January 2013 itself and yet this doesn’t have seemed to have had any substantial impact on the pending trials.
Cases Registered Per 1 Lakh Women
It is worth noting that
Conviction Rate
It is worth noting that
What do the numbers tell us?
The following trends were observed from analysis of the All India data and the Delhi data with respect to cases related to Rape
In the articles to follow, we will look at detailed numbers from different regions of the country & also the states. We will also look at the initiatives by the government to deal with crimes against women.
Data Sources
Answer to Unstarred Question No. 4964, Ministry of Home Affairs
http://www.censusindia.gov.in/
Featured image: Ramesh Lalwani | Flickr
In part 2 of the series on Rape cases in India from 2011-13, we look at different regions of the country and compare trends. Read it here


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Rape Cases in India – Has anything changed after the Nirbhaya Incident? - Part 2
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
March 10, 2015
We looked at the all India numbers & also the numbers for Delhi in Part 1. In this article, we compare the various regions of the country for the parameters discussed in the previous article.
Region Wise Analysis
For this analysis, the country is divided into various regions based on geographical location. States have been grouped into regions based on their geographical location.
Note: All the figures discussed henceforth are cumulative figures of 2011, 2012 and 2013 unless otherwise mentioned.
*Telangana is not mentioned/considered as a separate state for this analysis since the data is available only upto 2013 and that data is not maintained separately for the current day Andhra Pradesh & Telangana. The data for Andhra Pradesh in this analysis also includes the areas of the current Telangana State.
Cases Registered & Convicted
We hear frequently that many rapes go unreported due to the societal pressure & stigma involved in such cases. This parameter gives us an idea about people’s perception and willingness to report a Rape. The convicted cases number is important to understand how the investigative & prosecution machinery works and how much such cases actually result in conviction. The regional variations in such a figure could also prompt us to do a deeper analysis to find out the underlying reasons. It should also be noted that cases registered in a particular year may not result in a conviction that year itself. The number of cases convicted is out of the total number of cases that completed trial.
It is worth noting that
Persons Arrested & Convicted
Persons Arrested is the number of people arrested in the three years on charges of rape while Persons Convicted is the number of persons convicted on charges of rape (found guilty).
It is worth noting that
Pending Trials
Indian judicial system is infamous for its long and tiring judicial process, and in crimes such as rape this wait can be all the more dreadful. A major deterrent to these crimes is swift justice, and the pending trials are a good way to understand that.
It is worth noting that
Cases Registered Per One Lakh Women
This is an important parameter as it helps us normalize the cases registered over the female population of a region. It tells us about the incidence of Rape Cases registered.
It is worth noting that
Top 10 States with Highest Incidence of Registered Rape Cases
Here is the list of top 10 states with highest incidence of Registered Rape cases.
It is worth noting that
Top 10 States with Least Incidence of Registered Rape Cases
Here is the list of top 10 states with least incidence of Registered Rape cases.
It is worth noting that
Conviction Rate in Percentage (%)
Conviction rate is the percentage (%) of cases that resulted in conviction out those that completed trail in those years. In simpler words, Conviction rate is the number of cases in which persons were convicted for every 100 cases that completed trial.
Region Wise Conviction Rate (%)
It is worth noting that
What more needs to be done?
The dialogue that the Nirbhaya incident sparked off should be sustained by one and all. It is the efforts of ordinary people who actively engaged in debates, expressed their discontent that seems to have had some impact. Dialogue and Awareness are the weapons to tackle this menace.
Data Sources
Answer to Unstarred Question No. 4964, Ministry of Home Affairs, http://www.censusindia.gov.in/
Featured image: Ramesh Lawani | Flickr
Part-3 analyses the correlation between three different parameters, Sex Ratio, Literacy Rate and Rape cases registered per lakh women. National average for each of the parameters is used as a baseline to define ‘high’ and ‘low’ nature of the parameters


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Rape Cases in India : The Curious Case of Under Reporting Crimes Against Women - Part 4
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
April 22, 2015
In our previous story, Part 3 in the series of analysis of Rape cases in India, we analysed if there is any correlation between reporting of Rape cases, Sex Ratio and Literacy Rate. In this story, we attempt to further analyse the much talked about under reporting of Women Crimes in India and if there is indeed any evidence of such under reporting using crime data.
Logic dictates that crimes committed be reported so that the perpetrator can be taken to task and the victim is guaranteed justice. But the widely accepted notion in the case of Crimes against women is that of under reporting such crimes for varied reasons. Though under reporting has been oft spoken about, there has been no conclusive evidence to prove it.
Crime Rate of a place is an important social indicator reflecting the prevalent socio-economic condition and the functioning of criminal justice machinery in that area. Hence if an area has a high crime rate, it is safe for us to assume that all sections of people are at a higher risk of being subjected to a crime and in fact the vulnerable lot like women and children stand a higher risk. It also means that crime rate be proportional against all sets of people including women. Hence states with a high crime rate should naturally have a higher incidence of women crimes and states with lower crime rate should have lower incidence of women crimes. Any extreme deviation from this in terms of lower crimes against women could mean potential under reporting. A state with a high Crime rate but with an unusually low incidence of crimes against women indicates the fear/stigma associated with reporting crimes against women.
For this analysis, we compared data of all crimes registered under the IPC (Indian Penal Code), Special and local laws with all the crimes against women (under IPC and other laws) to look for any such patterns and aberrations. The data is for the year 2013, the year after the much talked about the Delhi rape incident. The population is from the 2011 census.
The Parameters
Crimes against Women per Lakh Women Population (WCL): Crimes against Women need to be understood as crimes that are specifically the burden of women in our society like Rapes, Dowry related Deaths, Sati etc. Crimes against Women under IPC laws, Special and Local laws of states have been summed up and calculated per 1 lakh women population of a state to arrive at this figure. This is synonymous with women crime rate.
Other Crimes per Lakh total Population (OCPL) : Crimes here correspond to all the other crimes under IPC laws, Special and Local Laws of states other than Crimes committed against women. All these crimes have been summed up and calculated per 1 lakh population of a state to arrive at this figure. This parameter is synonymous with Crime rate for the sake of brevity.
Other Crimes per Women Crimes (CPW): This is a ratio of OCPL to WCL. This could be understood as the number of other crimes registered for every one women crime registered.
The National Scenario
What about States?
States have been arranged in increasing order of their CPW.  States with very high CPW and very low CPW have been discussed
States with high CPW
The above 6 states have abnormally high CPW ratios, which mean that the number of other crimes reported is much higher than the number crimes on women reported in these states. The ratio of these states ranges from 20 to 51, in other words from twice the national average to 5 times the national average.
Their CPWs are so high that, exclusion of these 6 states brings the national average from 10 to 5.  In other words, the average of the rest of the 29 states/UTs is 5, but when these 6 states are included it jumps to 10.
Topping the list is Uttarakhand which has a general crime rate more than three times the national average and an accompanying women crime rate which is well below the national average. In Uttarakhand, for every 51 other crimes reported only one women crime is reported.
Of the six states in this category, 4 of the states, Uttarakhand, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Puducherry have women crime rates well below the national average. And except for Puducherry, their corresponding crime rates are well above the national average, more than twice the national average. Uttarakhand, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh show extreme deviation from the national average. Their overall CPW is more than 3 times the national average. This deviation can only point to severe reporting of crimes against women.
Even in the case of Chhattisgarh the general crime rate is twice the national average but the women crime rate is almost equal to the national average hinting at possible under reporting of women crimes.
Puducherry though present in the top 6 states presents a totally different picture. It has a very low OCPL that is correlating with very low WCL. Puducherry could possibly be an example to our assumption that when under reporting is minimal, WCL and OCPL correlate with each other.
Kerala has the second highest OCPL of 1713 after Uttarakhand and this does not come as a surprise since it has been long known that reporting of crimes in Kerala has been on the higher side and better than the other states in the country. But this high OCPL not correlating with a proportionately high WCL (WCL is higher than the national average only marginally).
States with low CPW
17 of the 35 States/UTs have a CPW lesser than half the national average. Chandigarh, Assam and Delhi have a very high WCL, more than double the national average. The women crime rate in Delhi is thrice the national average.
Haryana is known for its low sex ratio and the social institutions that like to maintain the patriarchal societal norms. But a low CPW does not correlate with this understanding.
Women crime rate in Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Odisha, Tripura, Jammu and Kashmir is higher than the national average. But the crime rate is almost half the national average contributing to a low CPW. The low crime rate in states like West Bengal & Assam makes us wonder about the state of reporting of general crimes itself, let alone women crimes. Tripura reports almost equal number of other crimes and women crimes.
What does it mean?
States with high CPW are enough evidence to the under reporting of crimes against women.  Unlike the states with high CPW, states with low CPW or the states which reported more crimes against women in proportion to other crimes have shown mixed results. Low CPW states showed a trend of low crime rate correlating with low women crime rate  (Eg: Sikkim, Daman&Diu) and in some cases a relatively high crime rate (not necessarily above the national average) correlating with high women crime rate (Eg:Haryana, Chandigarh & Delhi). If this trend is to be taken as the general norm, then it can be strongly said that the 6 states with very high CPW are severely under reporting crimes against women.
The findings of Kerala are intriguing. Though Kerala has a reported more than thrice the national average of crimes, crimes against women is only marginally higher than the national average and not in proportion with the rate of other crimes. Is the state with the highest literacy rate and highest sex ratio in the country showing a tendency of potential under reporting of crimes against women? Or does Kerala have fewer cases of crimes against women in reality? The answer unfortunately does not lie in these numbers.
Connecting the Dots
In part 3 of our series on rape cases, the assumption with which we worked was that low sex ratio and low literacy rate contribute to under reporting of crimes against women & relatively higher crimes against women. High sex ratio and high literacy rate lead to better reporting of Rape Cases. This assumption was proven true in the case of UP, it had low sex ratio and low literacy rate which led to a low number of rapes being reported and stood a strong case for under reporting of crimes. The results of this analysis also corroborate that finding. Both the previous analysis and this one establish that Uttar Pradesh might be highly under reporting crimes against Women.
In the earlier analysis, Uttarakhand ,Tamil Nadu and Puducherry also showed signs of reporting less number of Rape cases despite good literacy rate and Sex Ratio. The findings from this study that show lesser number of women Crimes were reported in proportion to other crimes in these states. Both these findings complement each other and might be hinting at possible under reporting of crimes against women even in these states.
What could be the causes for under reporting?
Social Stigma attached with crimes against women could be a major cause. Coupled with this, the male dominated patriarchal society tries to downplay crimes against women and not letting women take their own decisions. This leaves them at the mercy of their families and even community Panchayats that do not encourage reporting crimes.
Lack of faith in the Criminal justice machinery also could be a reason. Even educated women from urban areas sometimes shy away from reporting crimes due to our snail paced judicial process. Inability of judiciary to make progress in disposing of Rape cases even after the setting up of fast track courts further strengthens this belief. In the absence of an effective deterrent mechanism, perpetrators are further emboldened to commit crimes and also threaten the victims from reporting the crimes.
NCRB’s procedure of categorizing crimes could also be a reason for under reporting. In the case of Rapes that result in death, the principal offence is taken to be murder and these Rapes are compiled as murders. This procedure of compiling data also adds to the under reporting of rapes, thought this might be small in number.
What could be done?
The dialogue about Rapes that began post the Nirbhaya incident contributed heavily to the increased reporting in 2013. Sustaining this dialogue, conducting awareness sessions will definitely help and encourage them to report crimes in the short run.
Judiciary cannot afford to be ineffective anymore. The criminal justice system has to work more effectively if we are to set a strong deterrent.
Featured Image Source: Nilroy (Nilanjana Roy) (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons


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‘Rashtriya Unnati Kendra’ website has no association with the Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
December 20, 2021
An online website ‘Rashtriya Unnati Kendra’ is claiming to have an association with the Union Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship. In this regard, the website claims that there is an initiative that allows candidates to register for employment opportunities through its online portal. Let us fact-check this claim.
Claim: Rashtriya Unnati Kendra website is associated with the Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship.
Fact: The website in the name of ‘Rashtriya Unnati Kendra’ is a fraudulent one. PIB Fact check had tweeted about the same website saying that it has no association with the Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship (MSDE). MSDE had also retweeted the PIB’s post. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
When we searched on the internet, we could not find any scheme or organisation named ‘Rashtriya Unnati Kendra’ that is associated with the Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship. Even the official website of the Ministry of Skill Development has nothing mentioned about any ‘Rashtriya Unnati Kendra’.
When we searched for the details of the website that is claiming to have been associated with the Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship (MSDE), we found the details of that website on the Whois.com website. This website with the domain name ‘rashtriyaunnatikendra.org’ was registered in November 2021 in the US. This website has nothing to do with MSDE.
PIB Fact check had tweeted about the same website saying that it has no association with MSDE. The fake website is fraudulently asking for ₹1645 as an application fee for recruitment in government projects. The Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship had also retweeted PIB’s post.
A #Fake website 'https://t.co/m7Ea313Quu' is claiming to be associated with the 'Ministry of Skill Development' and is asking for ₹1645 as an application fee for recruitment in govt. projects#PIBFactCheck
▶@MSDESkillIndia is not linked to this organisation/website in any way pic.twitter.com/nesYUpdi6I
To sum it up, ‘Rashtriya Unnati Kendra’ website has no association with the Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship.

created: December 20, 2021


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Ratan Tata did not announce any reward to Afghanistan cricketer Rashid Khan for waving the Indian flag - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
October 30, 2023
A post is being shared on social media claiming that industrialist Ratan Tata has announced a reward of Rs. 10 crores to Afghanistan cricket player Rashid Khan after the ICC allegedly fined him Rs. 55 Lakhs for waving the Indian flag after Afghanistan’s victory against Pakistan in the ICC World Cup. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Ratan Tata awarded Rashid Khan Rs. 10 crore following a Rs. 55 lakh fine by the ICC for waving the Indian flag after Afghanistan’s victory against Pakistan.
Fact: Ratan Tata did not make any such announcement of a Rs. 10 crore reward to Afghanistan cricketer Rashid Khan. Ratan Tata through a tweet clarified that he had no connection to cricket whatsoever and emphasised that he did not make any suggestions to the ICC or any cricket faculty about any cricket member regarding a fine or reward to any cricket players. Also, Rashid Khan did not wave the Indian flag after Afghanistan’s victory against Pakistan and there are no reports on ICC penalising him with Rs. 55 Lakh. Hence, the claim made in the post is False.
When we searched to check whether Ratan Tata had made any such announcement awarding Rs. 10 crores to Afghanistan cricketer Rashid Khan, we could not find any such announcement on any of Ratan Tata’s official social media handles.
Refuting the viral claims of him announcing rewards to cricketers, Ratan Tata made a tweet stating- “I have made no suggestions to the ICC or any cricket faculty about any cricket member regarding a fine or reward to any players. I have no connection to cricket whatsoever.” Further Ratan Tata said, “Please do not believe WhatsApp forwards and videos of such nature unless they come from my official platforms.”
I have made no suggestions to the ICC or any cricket faculty about any cricket member regarding a fine or reward to any players.
I have no connection to cricket whatsoever
Please do not believe WhatsApp forwards and videos of such nature unless they come from my official…
Several news organizations published articles reporting Ratan Tata’s clarification on viral claims of announcing rewards to cricketers. They can be seen here and here. After Afghanistan’s victory against Pakistan at Chennai’s Chepauk stadium, on 23 October 2023, Rashid Khan waved the Afghanistan flag and celebrated the victory with his other teammates on the ground. Earlier, FACTLY published several fact-check articles debunking such fake quotes attributed to Ratan Tata. A few of them can be seen here, here and here.
Also, there are no reports confirming that the ICC has penalised Rashid Khan with a penalty of Rs. 55 lakhs for waving the Indian flag after Afghanistan’s victory against Pakistan. In 2018, Rashid Khan and Pakistan bowler Hasan Ali were penalised 15 percent of match fees for breaching Level 1 of the ICC Code of Conduct during their Super-Four match in the Asia Cup in Abu Dhabi. But lately, there are no reports on ICC penalising Rashid Khan with Rs. 55 Lakh.
To sum it up, Ratan Tata did not announce any reward to cricketer Rashid Khan for waving the Indian flag after Afghanistan’s victory against Pakistan.

created: October 30, 2023


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Ratan Tata has not recently presented bulletproof buses to the Indian Army. - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
December 29, 2023
Several posts on social media are claiming that Ratan Tata has presented a bullet and bombproof bus to the Indian army. A photo of the alleged bus accompanies these posts. Let’s fact-check this claim through the article.
Claim: The viral photo shows a bullet and bomb-proof bus, which was presented to the Indian army by Ratan Tata recently.
Fact: The viral photo shows an armoured bus manufactured by Mishra Dhatu Nigam Limited (MIDHANI). This was presented to the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) on 7 September 2017. Hence, the claim made in the post is False.
To check the veracity of this claim, we performed a reverse image search on the viral photo cropped to the portion of the bus. We also included appropriate keywords in this search, revealing that this is an armoured bus presented to the CRPF by MIDHANI in 2017 and not a recent bus presented to the Army by Ratan Tata. There are no news reports to substantiate the viral claim.
Reportedly, on 7 September 2017, an armoured bus along with Bhabha Kavach and a lightweight BP jacket manufactured by MIDHANI was handed over to the CRPF (here and here). The viral photo was posted on the official X handle of the CRPF on 7 September 2017. Nowhere in these reports or the posts by the CRPF was it mentioned that Ratan Tata presented the buses.
Armored Bus and Bhabha Kavach, light weight BP jacket manufactured under #MakeInIndia by MIDHANI handed over to DG CRPF today. pic.twitter.com/QTnWLdCquc
To sum up, Ratan Tata has not recently presented bulletproof and bomb-proof buses to the Army.

created: December 29, 2023


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Ratan Tata has not said that the year 2020 was all about being alive and not about giving a thought to profits and losses in businesses - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
May 4, 2020
A newspaper clip attributing a message to Ratan Tata (Chairman Emeritus of Tata Sons and Chairman of Tata Trusts) is being shared on social media. The crux of the message is – ‘Ratan Tata has said that the year 2020 was all about being alive and not about giving a thought to profits and losses in one’s respective businesses’. But, FACTLY has found that the message was not given by Ratan Tata. On Twitter, Ratan Tata has clarified he has not said those lines and encouraged his followers to verify news sources in such cases. In his tweet, Tata has said that his picture alongside a quote does not guarantee that he said the quote. Earlier, when another message claiming Ratan Tata has spoken about the impact of coronavirus on the economy has gone viral, FACTLY has debunked the claim and written a fact-check article, which can be read here.
Sources:
Claim – Facebook post (archived)
Fact –
1. Ratan Tata’s tweet – https://twitter.com/RNTata2000/status/1256937814215626752
Did you watch our new video?


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Ratan Tata hasn’t made any statement about linking liquor sale to Aadhaar card - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
April 21, 2022
A post is being widely shared on social media claiming that Ratan Tata had said, “Liquor sales should be sold through Aadhaar card. Government food subsidies should be stopped for alcohol buyers”. Let us fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Ratan Tata’s made a statement about linking liquor sale to Aadhaar card.
Fact: Ratan Tata never made such a statement on any of his official social media handles. Ratan Tata himself clarified through an Instagram story, that such a statement attributed to him was not made by him; and that it was fake news. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
When we searched to check whether Industrialist Ratan Tata had made such a statement about selling liquor through Aadhaar, it is found out that Ratan Tata had never made such a statement on any of his official social media handles – Twitter, Instagram. If Ratan Tata had made such a statement, several mainstream media outlets would have published articles reporting the same, but we could not find any.
It had been reported by news outlets (here and here), that Ratan Tata himself clarified through an Instagram Story in September 2021, that the statement attributed to him was not said by him; and that it was fake news. The screenshot shared by Ratan Tata in his Story is the same as the viral post.
Earlier, similar messages with different contexts were attributed to Ratan Tata on social media. Ratan Tata himself debunked a few such fake messages spreading with his name. FACTLY had published fact-check articles on a few such fake messages attributed to Ratan Tata. They can be seen here, here, and here.
To sum it up, Ratan Tata hasn’t made any statement about linking liquor sale to Aadhaar card.


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Ratan Tata hasn’t made any statement about spending his entire wealth to make India Coronavirus free - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
May 20, 2021
A post is being circulated on social media claiming that industrialist Ratan Tata had recently made a statement that he is willing to spend his entire wealth to make India a Coronavirus-free country. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Ratan Tata said that he is willing to spend his entire wealth to make India a Coronavirus-free country.
Fact: Industrialist and Tata Group Chairman Ratan Tata had never made such a statement on any of his official social media handles. Earlier, similar messages with different contexts were attributed to Ratan Tata on social media. Ratan Tata himself debunked few such fake messages spreading in his name on social media. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
When we searched to check whether Industrialist Ratan Tata had made such a statement about the COVID-19 crisis in the country, it is found out that Ratan Tata had never made such a statement on any of his official social media handles. If Ratan Tata had made such a statement, several mainstream media outlets would have published articles reporting the same. But, we could not find a single news article reporting this alleged statement of his.
In March 2020, Ratan Tata announced that The Tata Trusts has pledged to donate 1500 crores to the Government of India to fight against the COVID-19 virus. Recently, Tata Group had announced that they would help the government’s efforts to increase the production and supply of medical oxygen in the country. However, neither Ratan Tata nor The Tata Group had made the statement shared in the post.
PM @narendramodi's appeal to the people of India is laudatory and we at the Tata Group, are committed to doing as much as possible to strengthen the fight against #COVID19. To mitigate the oxygen crisis, here is one such effort to boost health Infrastructure.
Earlier, similar messages with different contexts were attributed to Ratan Tata on social media. Ratan Tata himself debunked few such fake messages spreading with his name. FACTLY had published fact-check articles on few such fake messages attributed to Ratan Tata. They can be seen here and here.
I’m afraid this too, has not been said by me. I will endeavour to call out fake news whenever I can, but would encourage you to always verify news sources. My picture alongside a quote does not guarantee me having said it, a problem that many people face. pic.twitter.com/pk0S75FxPA
To sum it up, Ratan Tata hasn’t made any statement about spending his entire wealth to make India a Coronavirus-free country.