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BJP & Congress are yet to submit Annual Audit reports to ECI for 2018-19
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
November 21, 2019
Access here Comprehensive Data on Electoral Bonds (as of February 2024)
Political parties are supposed to
submit annual audit reports to the ECI by 31st October every year.
They are also supposed to file expenditure reports within 90 days of a Lok
Sabha general election. Both the BJP & Congress are yet to submit audit
reports for 2018-19 and have not yet submitted expenditure report for the Lok
Sabha elections.
Financial transparency of politicalparties is important for the effective working of democracy. Since most of thepolitical parties depend on funding from multiple sources, it becomesimperative that funding does not become a vehicle for exchanging favours. Henceit is all the more significant that there is transparency in political funding.Various democratic countries have enacted laws which lay down the proceduresfor political funding, spending and other aspects to bring in transparency inpolitical funding.
What about India?
In India, the Election Commission ofIndia (ECI) is entrusted with the responsibility of monitoring expenditure& disclosures related to political parties, as per the laws made related toelection process and political parties. As per Section 29C of the Representation of The PeopleAct, 1951, every party which is registered under Section 29 A is required to submit the followingto the ECI every year.
Along with these two reports whichare submitted annually, political parties are required to submit theirexpenditure report post the elections, and within 75 days after State general electionsand 90 days after Lok Sabha general elections.
As on date, only 3 recognized
National Parties submitted ‘Annual Audit Reports’ for 2018-19
Currently, there are 7 politicalparties recognized as National Parties in India. All the recognizedpolitical parties are required to submit their Audited Annual Reports.
Of these  seven, only 3 have submitted their audit reports so far for the year 2018-19. They are,  All India Trinamool Congress (AITC), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Communist Party of India – Marxist (CPI-M). Both the BJP & the Congress are yet to submit the audit report.
All the political parties arerequired to submit the annual audit reports by 31st  October every year. Only  the ‘All India Trinamool Congress’ has managedto submit the audit reports on time for the last two years.
A look at the previous year’s submission dates reveal that thefour parties which are yet to submit the annual audit reports have a history oflate submission.
However, all the 7 National Partieshave submitted Contribution Reports. Furthermore, only BSP, INC and NCPhave submitted the contribution report prior to the cut-off date of 30th September.
As for Expenditure Report which needs to be filed within 90days after Lok Sabha elections, the two largest National parties of BJP and INChave not yet submitted the same. Lok Sabha elections concluded on May 19, 2019.
The Status of submission ofExpenditure Report and Contribution Report by each of the recognized Nationalparties is given below
The income for 2018-19 has increased
for both Trinamool Congress and BSP in 2018-19
Income of Trinamool Congress hassignificantly increased for financial year 2018-19, compared to 2017-18. For2017-18, the income as per the annual audit report was around ₹ 5.2 crores which increased to ₹ 192.7 croresin 2018-19 i.e. an increase of 37 times. Even though the expenditure has notincreased to this extent, there has been a significant increase in it as well.Trinamool Congress reported expenditure of ₹1.8 crores in 2017-18 which increased to ₹ 11.5 crores in 2018-19.
BSP also reported an increase inboth its income & expenditure. In 2017-18, BSP showed an annual income of ₹ 51.7 crores which increased to ₹ 69.8 crores in 2018-19. However, the proportionate increase in theirexpenditure has affected the year end surplus. For 2017-18, the expenditure wasshown as ₹14.8 crores which increasedsignificantly in 2018-19 to ₹ 48.9 crores. Meanwhile, CPI(M)reported a slight fall in both the income received and the expenditure for2018-19. The major reason for the increase in income in 2018-19 could be theLok Sabha general elections, before which political parties could have raisedfunds.
Trinamool’s increased income is due
to increased Donations
For the year 2018-19, Trinamool Congress received contributions/donationsworth ₹141.5 crores, which is a steep increasecompared to 2017-18, when it received donations and contributions worth ₹ 0.3 crore.
Out of these  total donations, ₹  44.3 crores were received fromdonations/contributions worth more than ₹ 20,000 and hence the details of the donors are available. Furthermore,97% of these donations above ₹20,000 are received from a singlesource – ‘Progressive Electoral Trust’, which contributed ₹ 42.9 crores.
On the other hand, nearly 69% of thecontributions received are less than ₹ 20,000 each &through electoral bonds, hence the donor details of these donations are notknown. In its annual audit report, Trinamool Congress reported to have receivedmore than ₹ 97 crores worth electoral bonds in2018-19.
Apart from contributions, the partyalso saw an increase in the amount received via ‘fees & subscriptions’, wherein it received ₹ 49.4 crores n 2018-19 compared to ₹ 3.9 crores in the previous year.
Trinamool Congress collected ₹ 1.02 crores via issuance of coupons in 2018-19 while this sourcegenerated only around ₹ 9 lakhs in 2017-18. The remainingwas from the other sources of income.
A major portion of the expenditure incurred in 2018-19 is under election expenditure for the Trinamool Congress. The party spent ₹ 9.6 crores in 2018-19 compared to ₹ 18 lakh the previous year. This increase in election expenditure can be attributed to the Lok Sabha general elections held in 2019, like in the case of increased income.
‘Fee & Subscriptions’ are the major source
of income for the BSP
The income of BSP for the year2018-19 is categorized under two broad sources – ‘Fee & Subscriptions’ and ‘OtherIncome’.
Conspicuously, no income is reportedfrom ‘Grants/Donations/Contributions’ which happen to be one of the key sourcesof income in 2017-18.
The total revenue generated from fees& subscriptions in 2017-18 was ₹ 8.7 croreswhich increased to ₹ 30.9 crores in 2018-19
The annual audit report shows an income of ₹ 38.8 crores under ‘other income’ for 2018-19, which was ₹ 32.2 crores the previous year. This income is from bank interest andinterest on income tax refund.
However, the income generatedthrough ‘Grant/Donations/Contributions’ is NIL for 2018-19 where it was ₹ 10.7 crores in 2017-18. Hence, the Contribution Report , which is a mandatory reportdetailing the contribution made to the party ( for amounts above ₹20,000) does not reflect any details for 2018-19.
As is the case with TrinamoolCongress, a major reason for the increase in expenditure for 2018-19 is electionexpenditure with ₹ 33.1 crores spent compared to ₹ 1.5 crores  spent in the previousyear.
Income of CPI(M) hasn’t increased in
2018-19
Unlike the incomes of the other tworecognized National parties, the income of CPI (M) has decreased in 2018-19compared to 2017-18.
There is no increase in the contributionsor other sources of income because of the election year, like in the case of  Trinamool Congress and BSP. Furthermore, theproportion of revenue received from various sources is evenly distributed. Eventhe expenditure incurred does not reflect the impact of a general electionyear, with the expenditure incurred on elections in 2018-19 being ₹ 9.3 crores, slightly more than ₹ 9.1 crores incurred the previous year. The major share of expenditurein both the years is towards employee cost, admin & general expenses.
The contributions report submitted by CPI(M) does not showany abnormal contribution like in the case of Trinamool Congress.
However, it has to be noted that theincome of CPI(M) albeit not very different but is higher than the other twonational parties ( with exception of Trinamool Congress during 2018-19).
Submission of the prescribed
financial reports only an initial step towards transparency in political
funding
The ECI needs to first ensure thatthe recognized political parties (national & state) comply with the cut-offdates for submission of the various reports. Till date, only 3 out of the 7recognized national parties have submitted the annual audit report within the cut-offdate in 2018-19. Not just in 2018-19, the remaining 4 parties also delayedsubmission of reports in 2017-18.
Even among the recognized stateparties, only 20 among 53 plus parties have so far submitted their annual audit reports.
Political parties are eligible fortax exemptions upon the submission of the audit reports. Making themin-eligible for tax exemptions and levying fines for delay in submission ofthese reports can help improve the situation.
Even in cases where these reportsare submitted on time,  there is verylittle transparency on who the donors are. For example, in the case ofTrinamool Congress, close to 70% is from unknown sources and in the case ofBSP, there is not a single contribution above ₹ 20,000 and hence the donor details are not known.
The Law Commission of India in its ‘Report on Electoral Reforms-2015’ has made recommendations in respectto various aspects like Electoral trusts, disclosure of contributions of lessthan ₹ 20,000 etc. among others. Factlyhas earlier written an article on some of the proposed reforms.
In further stories, we would lookinto the annual audit reports submitted by the recognized state parties andalso explore the nature of contributions received by pollical parties includingthrough electoral bonds.

created: November 21, 2019


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Both the BJP & Congress submit details of Electoral Bond donors after the Supreme Court's due date
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
August 14, 2019
A total of 11,782 electoral bonds are purchased amounting to a total of ₹  5896.7 crores
till July 2019. More than 80% of these bonds were redeemed in Delhi alone.
The Electoral Bond scheme were first announced in the 2017-18 budget andthe scheme was subsequently notified inJanuary 2018.  Factly had earlier written about the bonds, their impact on transparency, what’s wrong with
these bonds among other things.
Since March 2018 (the first phase), there have been 11 phases (till July2019) when the bonds were available for purchase. Factly has obtained data onthe number & quantum of bonds purchased in all these 11 phases. Here aresome of the highlights of the 11 phases between March 2018 and July 2019.
More than ₹ 100 crores worth bonds purchased in 9 of the 11 phases
In the 11 phases till July 2019, bonds worth more than ₹ 100 crores each were purchased in 9of the 11 phases. Bonds worth more than ₹ 250 crores each were purchased in 5of the 11 phases while bonds worth more than ₹ 500 crores each were purchased in 3of the 11 phases, all during the general elections to the Lok Sabha.
In 3 of the 11 phases, each and every bond purchased was redeemed. Inall the 11 phases, a total of 140 bonds worth ₹ 20.25 crores were not redeemed andas per rules, they were deposited in the PMNRF. In May 2018, bonds worth ₹ 10 crores were not redeemedfollowed by more than ₹ 5 crores in April 2019 and more than ₹ 3 crores in May 2019. It also lookslike the Government condoned
the delay in certain cases because as per data received from SBI earlier,bonds worth more than ₹ 30 crores were not redeemed by the end of the first 10 phases.
More than 80% of the bonds redeemed in Delhi alone
Till July 2019, electoral bonds were purchased in a total of 16 cities.Bonds worth more than ₹ 10 crores each were purchased in a total of 12 cities and bonds worthmore than ₹ 100 crores each in 8 of the 16 cities. In only 4 of these 16 cities,bonds worth more than ₹ 500 crores each were purchased. These four cities of Mumbai, Kolkata,New Delhi & Hyderabad accounted for a total of 82.7% of all the bondspurchased by value.
When it comes to redemption of bonds, the trend is completely different. Only in Delhi, bonds worth more than ₹ 4731 crores were redeemed, which is a whopping 80.5% of all the redeemed bonds. The next best is Hyderabad where 8.7% of the total bonds were redeemed. More than 1% of the value of the bonds were redeemed in only each of the three other cities of Kolkata, Mumbai & Bhubaneshwar.
National Parties, the principal beneficiaries
As per the guidelines of the scheme, no political party can have more than one current account in SBIfor the redemption of these bonds. So it is natural that the national partiesmaintain such a current account in Delhi while the regional parties in therespective state capitals. So in other words, it is quite possible that all ofthe bonds redeemed in Delhi would have gone to the national parties.
BJP & Congress both submit
details after the Supreme Court due date
The Supreme Court (SC) had in April2019 passed interim directions on the issue of ‘Electoral Bonds’and mandated political parties to disclose in a sealed cover to the ElectionCommission of India (ECI), the names of donors of these bonds by 30 May 2019. (Watch this
video to learn more about the Political Funding in India).
As per data furnished by the ECI inresponse to an application under RTI, both the BJP & Congress submitteddetails of the donors of electoral bonds after the due date of 30 May 2019. Ofthe 7 national parties, the Trinamool Congress, BSP, CPI & NCP submittedthe details before the due date while BJP, Congress & the CPI(M) submittedafter the due date.
A total of 19 state partiessubmitted the electoral bond donor details to the ECI as on date. Below are thedetails of submission.
In addition, around 64 registeredbut unrecognized parties also submitted the electoral bond donor details to theECI.

source: news-factly

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

author: Sai Krishna Muthyanolla


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Both the packs shown in the video are genuine Amul packs - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
February 17, 2023
A social media post claiming that fake Amul butter products have entered the market is being widely shared. The post accompanies a video that explains the striking differences between the original pack and the duplicate pack, allegedly made in China. Let’s fact-check the authenticity of the video shared in the post.
Claim: Video comparing original Amul pack with that of a duplicate pack.
Fact: Both the packs shown in the video are genuine Amul packs, manufactured in India. As the video went viral, Amul issued a clarification stating that the new pack bears a vegetarian logo as per the latest FSSAI advisory.  Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
Both the Amul butter packs shown in the viral video are indeed genuine and manufactured in India.
Google search with relevant keywords led us to a tweet by Amul, which clarified about the viral video. As per the clarification both the packs shown in the video are genuine Amul packs and are manufactured in India.
ISSUED IN PUBLIC INTEREST BY AMUL pic.twitter.com/nqGcFFasfO
It stated that video shows two packs, of which one carried old packing, whereas the other carried new packing, as per the latest FSSAI advisory. Further, it clarified that the new pack bears a veg logo on the front of the pack in accordance with FSSAI new rule.
Fake Amul butter racket busted in the past:
However, it is noteworthy to mention that earlier in 2018, Mumbai police busted a fake butter racket, selling spurious butter in the name of Amul butter. Police seized 1000kgs of fake butter along with dubious Amul packing material (here & here).
To sum it up, both the packs shown in the video are indeed genuine Amul packs.

created: February 17, 2023


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Both the variants of Rs. 500 notes are valid and acceptable. It’s just a printing defect - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
April 22, 2019
A post is being shared on Facebook by many users claiming that any Rs. 500 note with green security thread closer to Mahatma Gandhi picture is a fake note. Let’s try to analyze the claim made in the post.
The Rs.500 note with green security thread closer to Mahatma Gandhi picture is a fake note. Accept only the note where the green security thread is near to RBI Governor’s signature.
Fact: Both the variants of Rs. 500 notes shown in the image are acceptable. RBI Spokesperson clarified that the variation in the notes is due to defect in printing and people can freely accept both variants. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
When searched for the ‘Rs.500 fake note’ on Google, news articles published back in 2016 on this issue can be found in the search results. According to the Business Insider article, RBI Spokesperson Alpana Killawala clarified, “It is likely that notes with printing defect has got released due to the current rush. However, people can freely accept such a note in transaction or return it to RBI.” So, there is no truth in the claim that the note with green security thread closer to Gandhi is fake.
Finally, both the variants of Rs. 500 note are valid and acceptable. It’s just a printing defect.


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Both these images show cleaning by Indian Railways under the current NDA government - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
January 11, 2023
A collage of images is being shared on social media claiming it to be pictures comparing the technological advancements in the Indian Railways before and after the BJP government in the country. The first photo shows railway staff cleaning a platform manually using mops, whereas, the second picture shows the staff using machinery for sweeping the platform. Comparing the pictures, this post claims it as the testimony of ‘Ache Din’ in the country. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Images showing the technological upgrades in the Indian Railways before and after the BJP government in the country.
Fact: Both the pictures shared in the post were taken in 2020 during the BJP government in the country. The first picture shows railway staff cleaning a platform at the Howrah Junction railway station after the nearly seven-week lockdown amid the COVID-19 pandemic, in 2020. The other photo shows the staff cleaning a platform of Asansol railway station, as part of the ‘Swachhta Saptah’ in August 2020. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
Picture 1:
On reverse image search of the photo shared in the post, the same photo was found published on the ‘Alamy’ website in 2020. The description of the photo states, “Workers clean a platform at the Howrah Junction railway station after India announced a limited re-opening of its giant rail network beginning on Tuesday, after a nearly seven-week lockdown to slow the spreading of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), on the outskirts of Kolkata India, May 11, 2020.” The photo was originally published by ‘Reuters’ on 11 May 2020.
Picture 2:
On reverse image search of the photo shared in the post, the same photo was found tweeted by the ‘Eastern Railway’ on 13 August 2020. Eastern Railway tweeted the photo with a description, “Intensive cleaning of station platform, station adjacent area and track at Asansol on 13.8.2020 on the occasion of observance of ‘Swachhta Saptah’ from 10 to 16 August, 2020.”
Intensive cleaning of station platform, station adjacent area and track at Asansol on 13.8.2020 on the occasion of observance of ‘Swachhta Saptah’ from 10 to 16 August, 2020. pic.twitter.com/eBm7Gwv1Nu
To sum it up, these photos do not show the state of Indian Railways before and after the BJP government in the country.

created: January 11, 2023


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Boy was thrashed for not paying back loan & the incident took place in Uttar Pradesh, not West Bengal. - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
May 17, 2019
A post with a video showing some people thrashing a boy tied to a tree is being widely shared on Facebook. Let’s try to analyze the claim made in the post.
In West Bengal, a Hindu was beaten up because he hoisted a saffron flag on the top of his house.
Fact:  The video was taken in Uttar Pradesh, not West Bengal. The boy was thrashed by a group of people for not returning the money taken by him. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
When searched for the video on YouTube with keywords “Boy tied to tree thrashed”, a video by ‘Times Now’ news channel containing the same visuals can be found in the search results. According to the ‘Times Now’ video, the incident took place in Deoria, Uttar Pradesh and the video went viral on March 28, 2018. The boy in the video was beaten up by a group of people for not paying back the money. It is not at all related to the flag issue claimed in the post. Also, the incident took place in the state of Uttar Pradesh, not West Bengal.
To sum it up, in Uttar Pradesh, Boy was thrashed for not paying back the money.


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Brazilian Airforce mid-flight refuelling footage shared as that of Rafale fighter jets purchased by India - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
July 30, 2020
Video of an aircraft refuelling in mid-flight is being shared on social media claiming it as the mid-flight refuelling footage of Rafale jets purchased by India. On ‘29 July 2020’, a batch of five Rafale fighter Jets landed in Haryana’s Ambala Airbase station as part of the 36 Rafale fighter jets purchase deal signed by the Government of India with France. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Video of Rafale fighter jets refuelling in mid-flight on its way to India.
Fact: The video shared in the post is related to a Brazillian Airforce F-5 fighter jet performing the mid-flight refuelling on Brazilian Navy A-4 fighter jets. Rafale fighter jets that arrived in India are also provided with the facility of mid-flight refuelling. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
On reverse image search of the screenshots in the posted video, we found a tweet posted by the Brazillian Airforce authority sharing the similar video footage. It is mentioned in the tweet that the footage is related to a Brazilian Airforce F-5 fighter jet, performing the in-flight refuelling on Brazilian Navy A-4 fighter jets. This video footage was shared on Youtube and other websites by many Social media users during the year 2018 and 2019. These can be seen here, here, and here.
Interoperabilidade! Caça F-5 da Força Aérea Brasileira realiza reabastecimento em voo em caça A-4 da Marinha do Brasil! ↗🇧🇷 @marmilbr
📸 Maj Gustavo Cury.#1GDA #AviaçãodeCaça #FAB #Dimensão22 #Defender #ForçasArmadas #Brasil pic.twitter.com/AzDNIQvmTR
In September 2016, Government of India signed a €7.87 billion (59000 crores) deal with France for the purchase of 36 Rafale multi-role fighter jets. The first batch of five Rafale fighter jets arrived in Ambala Airbase station on ‘29 July 2020’. Rafale fighters purchased by the Indian Government are also provided with the mid-flight refuelling facility.
Images of Rafale fighter jets refuelling mid-flight en route to India can be seen in the tweet made by Indian Air Force.
Indian Air Force appreciates the support provided by French Air Force for our Rafale journey back home. @Armee_de_lair @Indian_Embassy @Dassault_OnAir #Rafale#IndianAirForce pic.twitter.com/7Ec8oqOJmr
To sum it up, Brazilian Airforce F-5 fighter jet’s mid-flight refuelling footage is falsely shared as the footage of Rafale fighter jets purchased by India.
Did you watch our new video?


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Breaking down the Petrol & Diesel Prices
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
September 5, 2018
The Petrol & Diesel prices have 4 different components. Here is an explanation of these components
The Petrol & Diesel prices have 4 different components. Here is an explanation of these components
Price Charged to Dealers: The Oil Marketing Companies or OMCs as they are called charge this price to the dealers. IOCL, HPCL & BPCL may charge a marginally different price to the dealers because of various other factors. This price is arrived at based on factors like Global Crude oil price of the Indian Basket, price incurred on freight, exchange rate of US Dollar, price incurred on refining etc.
Central Excise Duty: The Central Excise Duty is levied by the Central Government (Government of India). This is a fixed amount and not a percentage on the price.  The excise duty on Petrol increased from Rs 9.48 per liter to a high of Rs 21.48 per liter by January 2016. In October 2017, the excise duty on Petrol was reduced by Rs 2 per liter, the first such reduction by the current BJP government.  On the other hand, the duty on Diesel increased by more than 4 times from Rs 3.56 per liter to a high Rs 17.33 per liter. Like Petrol, the duty was reduced by Rs 2 per liter in October 2017 to Rs 15.33 per liter.
Dealer Commission: This is the amount of commission paid by the OMCs to the petrol pump dealers. The dealers manage all their expenses with this commission.
State specific VAT/Sales Tax: The State Governments levy Value Added Tax (VAT) or sales tax on the price arrived at by adding dealer price, central excise duty & dealer commission. This is usually a mix of percentage & a fixed amount. The State VAT on petrol is at least 25% in 21 states with the highest in Mumbai at 39.54%. The State VAT on diesel is more than 20% in 14 states and highest of 28.31% in Andhra Pradesh.
The following infographics explain both the Petrol & Diesel price breakup in terms of components explained above including the end price to the consumer.
Note: All the data presented in this story is as of 3rd September, 2018

created: September 5, 2018


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Britain’s new PM Rishi Sunak did not compare PM Modi to the Kohinoor diamond - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
November 2, 2022
A post is being widely shared on social media claiming that while responding to an Indian journalist’s question about returning back Kohinoor diamond to India, Britain’s Prime Minister Rushi Sunak had said, “Kohinoor is already present in Delhi for the last eight years at the 7, Lok Kalyan Marg”.   7, Lok Kalyan Marg is the official residential address of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This post claims that Rishi Sunak had praised PM Modi by comparing him to Kohinoor. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Britain’s new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak compared Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Kohinoor diamond.
Fact: Rishi Sunak, after being elected as the Prime Minister of Britain, did not make any such comments about PM Modi and Kohinoor diamond. Rishi Sunak, during his first telephonic conversation with Narendra Modi on 27 October 2022, praised Modi’s leadership in tackling climate change. But Rishi Sunak did not compare PM Modi to Kohinoor in any of his press briefings or during his telephone conversation with Modi. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
When we searched on the internet to check whether Britain’s new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak had made any such comments about Prime Minister Narendra Modi while responding to any Indian journalist’s question about returning back the Kohinoor diamond to India, we could not find any news reports confirming this. The official website of the UK Government did not publish any press release stating that Rishi Sunak had praised PM Modi by comparing him to Kohinoor diamond.
Narendra Modi had a telephonic conversation with Rishi Sunak on 27 October 2022 and congratulated him on his recent appointment as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Rishi Sunak through a tweet on the same day thanked Modi for his wishes and said, “The UK and India share so much. I’m excited about what our two great democracies can achieve as we deepen our security, defence and economic partnership in the months & years ahead.” Rishi Sunak did not make any other tweet about Narendra Modi on his official Twitter handle.
Thank you Prime Minister @NarendraModi for your kind words as I get started in my new role.
The UK and India share so much. I'm excited about what our two great democracies can achieve as we deepen our security, defence and economic partnership in the months & years ahead. pic.twitter.com/Ly60ezbDPg
The Britain Prime Minister’s Office released a press statement briefing about the telephonic conversation between Rishi Sunak and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The press statement noted that Rishi Sunak while discussing shared global challenges, praised Narendra Modi’s leadership in tackling climate change. However, it did not report about Rishi Sunak  comparing PM Modi to Kohinoor during the telephonic conversation or any other press briefing.
To sum it up, Britain’s new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak did not praise PM Modi by comparing him to Kohinoor diamond.

created: November 2, 2022


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బ్రిటన్ ప్రధాని బోరిస్ జాన్సన్ అయోధ్యలో రామ మందిర శంకుస్థాపన సందర్భంగా రాముడి విగ్రహానికి అభిషేకం చేయలేదు - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
August 6, 2020
అయోధ్యలో రామ మందిర నిర్మాణానికి శంకుస్థాపన, భూమి పూజ నిర్వహించిన శుభ సందర్భంగా బ్రిటన్ ప్రధాని బోరిస్ జాన్సన్ సతీసమేతంగా రాముడి బంగారు విగ్రహానికి అభిషేకం చేస్తున్న ఫోటో, అని షేర్ చేస్తున్న ఒక పోస్ట్ సోషల్ మీడియాలో వైరల్ అవుతోంది. ఆ పోస్టులో ఎంతవరకు నిజముందో చూద్దాం.
అయోధ్యలో రామ మందిర నిర్మాణానికి భూమి పూజ నిర్వహించిన శుభ సందర్బంలో బ్రిటన్ ప్రధాని సతీసమేతంగా రాముడి విగ్రహానికి అభిషేకం చేస్తున్న ఫోటో.
ఫాక్ట్ (నిజం): ఫోటోలో బ్రిటన్ ప్రధాని బోరిస్ జాన్సన్ అభిషేకం చేస్తున్నది శ్రీ నిల్కాంత్ వర్ని స్వామిజి విగ్రహానికి, రాముడి విగ్రహానికి కాదు. ఈ ఫోటో 2019లో బోరిస్ జాన్సన్ లండన్ లోని స్వామి నారాయణ మందిరాన్ని సందర్షించినప్పుడు తీసిన ఫోటో అని విశ్లేషణలో తెలిసింది. ఫోటోలో బోరిస్ జాన్సన్ తో కలిసి అభిషేకం చేస్తున్నది బ్రిటన్ హోంసెక్రటరీ, తన సతీమణి కాదు. కావున, పోస్టులో చేసిన క్లెయిమ్ తప్పు.
పోస్టులో షేర్ చేసిన ఈ ఫోటోని రివర్స్ ఇమేజ్ సెర్చ్ చేయగా, ‘BAPS Swami Narayana Sanstha’ వారి అధికారిక వెబ్సైటులో ఈ ఫోటో దొరికింది. 2019లో బ్రిటన్ ప్రధాని బోరిస్ జాన్సన్ లండన్ లోని స్వామి నారాయణ మందిరాన్ని సందర్షించినప్పుడు ఈ ఫోటో తీసినట్టు అందులో తెలిపారు. పోస్టులోని ఈ ఫోటోలో బ్రిటన్ ప్రధాని శ్రీ నిల్కంత్ వర్ని స్వామిజి విగ్రహానికి అభిషేకం చేస్తున్నట్టు అందులో తెలిపారు. కావున, ఫోటోలో కనిపిస్తున్నది రాముడి విగ్రహం కాదు.
ఫోటోలో బ్రిటన్ ప్రధాని బోరిస్ జాన్సన్ తో పాటు అభిషేకం చేస్తున్నది  బ్రిటన్ హోం సెక్రటరీ ప్రీతి పాటిల్, బోరిస్ జాన్సన్ సతీమని కాదు. బోరిస్ జాన్సన్ తన భాగస్వామితో  కలిసి నిల్కంత్ వర్ని స్వామిజి విగ్రహానికి అభిషేకం చేస్తున్న ఫోటోని అదే వెబ్సైటులో మనం చూడవచ్చు.
చివరగా, 2019లో బ్రిటన్ ప్రధాని హోం సెక్రటరీ తో కలిసి శ్రీ నిల్కాంత్ వర్ని స్వామిజి విగ్రహానికి అభిషేకం చేస్తున్న ఫోటోని చూపిస్తూ సతీసమేతంగా రాముడి విగ్రహానికి అభిషేకం చేస్తున్న బ్రిటన్ ప్రధాని, అని షేర్ చేస్తున్నారు.

created: August 6, 2020


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‘British Airways’ hasn’t said that it is shutting down its flight operations - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
July 1, 2020
A video is doing the rounds on Facebook claiming that ‘British Airways’ is shutting down its flight operations. In the video, the narrator can be heard bidding ‘Goodbye’ and saying ‘Thank You’ to all the customers of British Airways across the world. Let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
British Airways’ is shutting down its flight operations
Fact: ‘British Airways’ hasn’t said anywhere that it is shutting down its flight operations. Recently, British Airways has also said that it is looking forward to welcoming customers back on board. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
When we searched for the video in the post, it wasn’t found on any of the official social media accounts of ‘British Airways’. When we visited the website of ‘British Airways’ to check if it has issued any notice or press release regarding the shutting down of operations, we found nothing on the website.
The video in the post was uploaded by a YouTube channel ‘Unite the Union Yout’ on ‘13 June 2020’ and it had the title ‘Thank You and Goodbye from the staff of British Airways’. The video had the description  ‘British Airways’ has applied to dismiss all of its staff from 15 June 2020. As per a report of ‘BBC’ published on ‘13 June 2020’, British Airways planned a major restructuring of the company and it meant up to 12,000 redundancies and changes to the terms and conditions of the remaining staff. As per the news report of ‘The Sun’ published on ‘27 June 2020’, the Airlines had sacked 350 pilots and put 300 in ‘pool’ for rehire when needed. Not just British Airways, Dubai-based airlines ‘Emirates’ had also fired its 600 pilots and Germany’s Lufthansa Group has announced up to 22,000 job cuts. So, the job cuts is not confined to British Airways, but a global phenomenon across Airlines around the world.
In fact, British Airways has recently uploaded a video on ‘20 June 2020’ saying that the Airways is looking forward to welcoming customers back on board after the COVID-19 induced lockdowns.
On the British Airways website, the option to make bookings of flights is still available. Recently, the airlines even took delivery of two ‘Boeing 787-10’ aircrafts in a week. Based on these findings, it can be concluded that ‘British Airlines’ is not shutting down its operations.
To sum it up, ‘British Airways’ hasn’t said that it is shutting down its flight operations.
Did you watch our new video?


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BRSR Data: More Than 90% of Complaints are by Customers; Most Investor & Shareholder Complaints Against Listed PSUs - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
April 12, 2024
One of the sub-sections in the BRSR format mandates disclosure of the number of complaints or grievances related to any of the nine Principles under the National Guidelines on Responsible Business Conduct (NGRBC) that encompass a wide range of issues. Available data indicates that more than 90% of these complaints are by customers while most investor and shareholder related complaints are against listed PSUs.
In the previous explainer, we looked at how the Business Responsibility and Sustainability Reporting (BRSR) framework, introduced in 2021, marked a significant shift in corporate reporting towards sustainability and accountability. Unlike its predecessor Business Responsibility Reporting, BRSR emphasizes both business responsibility and sustainability, reflecting global ESG standards. Changes in format, questions, and indicators enhanced the comprehensiveness of the reporting, aligning Indian reporting practices with international norms and promoting transparency and stakeholder engagement.
One of the sub-sections in Section A (General disclosures) of the questionnaire deals with transparency and disclosure compliance. Under this, details of the number of complaints or grievances related to any of the nine Principles under the National Guidelines on Responsible Business Conduct (NGRBC) that encompass a wide range of issues is sought. As seen in the previous story, these principles cover various aspects of responsible business conduct, including human rights, labour practices, environmental sustainability, anti-corruption measures, and community development.
The table compiles information on grievances received from various stakeholder groups, indicating whether a grievance redressal mechanism is in place and provides a web link to the policy if available. It presents data for the current and previous financial years, including the number of complaints filed, complaints pending resolution at year-end, and any relevant remarks.
This information disclosed by the mandated top 1000 companies by market capitalization on the National Stock Exchange and Bombay Stock Exchange websites for 2021-22 to 2023-24 has been compiled and is available in Dataful. Dataful also has a collection of datasets on other financial, environmental, social and governance-related parameters disclosed in BRSR such as paid-up capital, turnover and net worth of the companies, shares and contributions, and other details of each of the subsidiary companies, number of locations, types of business activities and products and services that are done, and information on employees and workers.
1139 companies have disclosed BRSR between 2021-22 and 2023-24
Between 2021-22 and 2023-24, a total of 1139 companies have submitted their BRSR reports. The reporting years followed by companies are not uniform due to financial year alignment, global operations, internal reporting cycles, transition periods, etc. For instance, Nestle India Limited furnished the report for the calendar year 2022 whereas State Bank of India follows the financial year from April to March. Siemens Limited follows the calendar from October to September.
Customers are the primary source of complaints
According to the data, a total of 881.45 lakh complaints were received by the companies between 2021-22 and 2023-24. Of these, nearly 793.2 lakh complaints or 90% were raised by customers. Those by other stakeholders accounted for 9.4% of the total complaints. About 1.6 lakh complaints were raised by employees or workers, 1.24 lakh complaints by other shareholders, and 1.06 lakh complaints by value chain partners. Communities made less than 85,000 complaints while investors made 63,441 complaints.
3 companies were responsible for nearly half of the total complaints reported
The highest number of complaints were reported by the State Bank of India with over 170.8 lakhs followed by Vodafone Idea Limited with 150.4 lakh complaints and Dish TV India Limited with 113.5 lakh complaints. Together, these three companies with more than 100 lakh complaints each accounted for more than 49% of the total complaints. In addition to this, there are 11 more companies which have reported more than 10 lakh complaints each. The 14 companies together accounted for nearly 79% of the total complaints. Further, including these 14, a total of 52 companies out of 1139 reported more than one lakh complaints each, accounting for more than 96% of the complaints. In short, a relatively small number of companies reported the bulk of the complaints. This could be because of factors such as market presence, type of business activities, industry dynamics, service quality issues, public visibility, and the scale of operations that play significant roles in driving complaint volumes.
Based on their major business activities, we categorized the 52 companies that received more than a lakh complaints each into different sectors. These are banking, finance, retail and consumer goods, manufacturing, power & energy, and IT, among others. Out of these 52 companies, 13 or a quarter of them are banks. Eight of these are companies involved in the manufacture/trade of electrical and electronic products such as Orient Electric Limited, Blue Star Limited, etc. Another 8 are those involved in manufacturing such as Indian Oil Corporation Ltd, Apollo Tyres Ltd, and Borosil Ltd. In other words, almost all these companies served customers directly.
Complaints by employees, investors, and shareholders were higher among public entities
Considering the numbers by the type of complainants, Vodafone Idea Limited reported the highest number of complaints by customers, followed by Dish TV India Limited and State Bank of India. In fact, almost all the complaints (99% and above) reported by over 200 companies, were those by customers.
About 50,391 out of the nearly 85,000 complaints by communities were reported by Fino Payments Bank Limited. Antony Waste Handling Cell Limited, Tata Steel Limited, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited, & Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited also reported more than 3000 complaints each by the community.
Complaints by employees or workers were the highest in State Bank of India which alone accounted for more than one-fifth. Four companies together accounted for about 64% of the complaints in this category. Among these four, two are Public Sector Banks- SBI & Canara Banks.
Among the companies that reported complaints raised by investors, 13 companies with more than 500 complaints each constituted 95% of the complaints. Seven of the 13 were either government-owned or PSUs. Similarly, among those with complaints from shareholders, more than one-third of the complaints were reported by three public sector entities.
SBI also reported the highest number of complaints by other stakeholders, contributing to nearly 80% of the complaints. Likewise, three companies accounted for over 80% of complaints by value chain partners.
Only a small percentage of complaints were pending redressal
Taking into consideration the number of complaints received, the share of complaints pending resolution was about 2%. That is, of the 881 lakh complaints received, about 17.2 lakh were pending resolution during this period. The pendency was more than 4% for complaints raised by employees and workers, shareholders, and other stakeholders while only about 0.25% were pending resolution for complaints raised by investors. State Bank of India and Shoppers Stop Limited alone accounted for about 70% of the complaints pending resolution. The majority of these were those raised by customers.
The substantial number of complaints, especially from customers, employees, and investors, underscores the need for businesses across sectors to prioritize transparency, accountability, and effective grievance redressal mechanisms, especially among public entities. It highlights the growing expectations from businesses to uphold ethical standards, address social and environmental concerns, and engage proactively with their stakeholders.


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BRSR Data: Share of Women Across all Categories of Employees Less than 25% - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
April 19, 2024
Find Comprehensive Datasets on Business Responsibility and Sustainability Reports (BRSR) on Dataful
One of the sub-sections in the BRSR format mandates companies to submit data on the total number of employees, workers, gender breakup and data on persons with disability among the employed. The data shows that the share of women across all categories of employment is less than 25%.
In the first story, we looked at how the concept of responsible business reporting has evolved since the year 2009 and has eventually taken the shape of Business Responsibility and Sustainable Reporting (BRSR) in the year 2021. As mentioned previously, the Security Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has mandated the top 1000 companies, listed by Market Capitalization, to provide their performance reports on Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) aspects. These reports have to be submitted by the top 1000 companies of each year to the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and National Stock Exchange (NSE)
In the subsequent story, we looked at grievances received by these companies from various stakeholders and their disposal rate.
In this story, we look at the employment scenario in the companies which have reported data in BRSR formats during the period of 2021-22 and 2022-23.
Methodology and Notes
Because of these variations, we have considered data for a particular period for analysis. In other words, from 01 January of a particular year to 31 March of next year, which is a period of 15 months is considered as one data period. Instead of year, it is referred to as one data period.
SEBI’s Guidance Note defined Categories of Employment, for companies reporting BRSR
In a guidance note published in May 2021, SEBI stipulated the following definitions for different categories of employment, for companies to report BRSR data accordingly:
Total Employment in BRSR reporting companies during 2022-23 period is 1.1 Crore
As mentioned, the streamlined process of reporting by BRSR companies began in the year 2021. As per the data, during the period 2021-22 (15 months period), each of the about 166 companies who submitted data have reported employent related figures. In the next period of 2022-23, a total of 1122 companies have reported the same data as of March 2024.
As per the data, the total employment during the period 2021-22 was 48,27,778 and the total employment during the period 2022-23 was 1,19,85,473 or about 1.1 crores.
Total Number of Employees are more than Workers
As per SEBI’s definition, the term ‘Employee’ applies to those employed in Establishments and the term ‘Worker’ applies to those engaged specifically in Industries. Among the total employed during both 2021-22 and 2022-23, the number of Employees was higher than the number of Workers in the BRSR reporting companies. The total number of Employees and Workers during the period 2021-22 were 37,41,140 and 10,86,638, respectively. In the next period 2022-23, the total number of Employees and Workers were 70,22,406 and 49,63,067, respectively.
Therefore, the total number of Employees is higher than the Workers during both periods in the BRSR-listed companies. However, it remains to be examined if there is an increase in the number of companies that submitted BRSR in 2022-23 that are industrial in nature (factories, etc).
Total Number of Permanent Employees are more than Temporary Employees, but the Total Number of Temporary Workers are more than Permanent Workers
As per the data, the total number of Permanent Employees during the periods 2021-22 and 2022-23 are 33,73,963 and 63,33,899 respectively. For the same periods, the total number of Temporary Employees is 3,50,377 and 6,56,799 respectively. Therefore, during both periods, the number of Permanent Employees is way higher than the number of Temporary Employees, with a ratio of 90:10 during both periods.
However, this ratio shows a contrasting picture when it comes to Workers. The number of Permanent Workers during the same periods 2021-22 and 2022-23 are 2,92,560 and 20,03,093 respectively, and the total number of Temporary Workers during the same periods are 7,94,821 and 29,37,763 respectively. Therefore, during both periods, the number of Permanent Employees is fewer than the Temporary Employees, with a ratio of 27:73 for 2021-22 and 40:60 for 2022-23.
Therefore, the data indicates that in the companies that have submitted the BRSR data, there is a greater number of Temporary workers than Permanent workers.
Share of Women in all Categories of Employment is below 25%
The data also shows that share of women employed in all categories of employment for both 2021-22 and 2022-23 periods is below 25%. Out of the total employed in the 166 companies during the period 2021-22, the total women employed are 9,93,610 which is about 20% of total persons employed. In the period 2022-23, their total employment is 21,39,965 which is 18% of total persons employed. The share of men employed during both these periods is 80% and 82%, respectively. Further, the share of men among all categories of employment is significantly higher than women as noted in the table below.
Data shows that among none of the categories of employment, the share of women has gone above 25%. Their highest share was in the permanent and temporary employee category with 25% each during the periods 2021-22 and 2022-23. Even among the Board of Directors, the share of women was only 12% and 18%, respectively, during the same periods among the companies that reported BRSR data.
PWDs constitute less than 1% of the Total Employed; Share of Women is below 20%
Out of the total employed during the 2021-22 and 2022-23 periods, the total number of ‘Persons with Disabilities’ (PWDs) employed is 38,114 and 1,15,274 respectively. Their share in the total persons employed during the same period is about 0.7% and 0.9%, respectively. During the same periods, the total number of disabled women who are employed are 6,632 and 16,108 respectively. Therefore, even among the PWDs, the total women employed are only 18% and 14%, respectively.
Further, when one analyses the share of women among PWDs among different categories of employment, as listed above, their average share is around 18%.
BRSR data shows that over 80% of these companies have a turnover above Rs. 100 crores each year. However, the average employment ratio of women is low at less than 25%. Factly’s previous story on women and employment has also highlighted the lower share of women in other sectors of employment compared to men. The same situation is observed even among the top-listed companies. There needs to be a concerted effort to increase the share of women in employment across categories and sectors.


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BSNL’s downslide: Losing both Money & Market Share - Factly
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
August 26, 2015
The State owned Telecom major Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has been on the downslide for quite some time now. It is losing both revenue & market share to private players. While reasons are many, its inability to invest in infrastructure & promotion has costed it dearly. It is losing market share every year and accumulating losses.
The state owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) provides services to 98% of the villages in the country through its Village Public Telephone (VPT). No other Telecom Service Provider can even come close to that number. Notwithstanding these numbers, the state owned BSNL is on the downslide without any sign of recovery. Over the last few years, it has been losing both money & market share in all telecom services (Landline, Mobile & Broadband).
BSNL in continuous losses
BSNL made a loss of 7265 crore rupees in 2014-15 compared to the 7019 crore loss it made in 2013-14.  The losses in 2012-13 were 7884 crore rupees.
BSNL was in profit of 5977 crore rupees in 2003-04 and continued to remain in profit till 2008-09.  But things started changing after that. The revenues are declining because of decreased market share and increasing expenditure. According to the Government, BSNL has been unable to invest in expansion of its network over the period 2009-2013.   Declining Market Share
BSNL has been losing its market share in all the three domains (Landline, Mobile & Broadband). Landline has been BSNL’s mainstay all these years. Even here, it is slowly losing ground to private players like Airtel & TATA. From more than a 2/3 market share (68%) in 2012-13, the market share has come down to 62% in 2014-15.
In the Mobile connections domain, BSNL has always been playing catch up with private players like Airtel & Vodafone. While both these private players have been increasing their market share every year, BSNL has been losing its share of this market. From 11.7% in 2012-13, its share is down to 8% in 2014-15. During the same time, Airtel increased its market share from 21.7% to 23.3% while Vodafone’s market share also went up from 17.6% to 19%. Few other private players like Reliance & TATA also lost their market share while Idea increased its market share.
In broadband also, BSNL’s market share went down from 16.1% in 2013-14 to 10.6% in 2014-15, a decline of more than 30%. Going with the trend in other domains, both Airtel & Vodafone increased their market share. Airtel currently holds 1/4 of the share in the broadband space.
Losing Customers & Quality
In the last four years alone, BSNL has lost close to 78 lakh landline customers & 6.5 lakh mobile customers. If this loss alone is not enough, BSNL also ranked low on the Quality of Service (QoS) parameters and benchmarks laid down by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).
TRAI has laid down the Quality of Service (QoS) parameters and benchmarks for both landline and mobile telephone service. TRAI has been monitoring the performance of service providers, against the quality of service benchmarks for the various parameters through Quarterly Performance Monitoring Reports.  The performance on call drop is accessed through two parameters viz. call drop rate (benchmark  ≤ 2%) and worst affected cells having more than 3% drop (benchmark  ≤ 3%).
As per the performance monitoring report for 2G services, for the quarter ending March 2015, the performance of BSNL is poor in both downtime & call drops. For 3G services for the quarter ending March, 2015, the performance of BSNL is poor in call drop.
Government’s Reasons
Government sources cite reasons like power supply problems, disruptions due to cable cuts arising from road development works, breakdown of cables due to old legacy network of basic service, cable theft etc as the reasons for loss in market share leading to the loss in revenue.
As per the government, the reasons for decline in mobile connections are mainly due to inadequate investment leading to network coverage issues, inability to compete with private sector on the customer services and marketing.
What is it doing to arrest the downslide?
According to the Government, BSNL has been taking the following steps to arrest the downslide. It is taking the following steps to address quality issues and attract customers back into its fold.
BSNL is augmenting 15 million lines and expanding its mobile network progressively to enhance coverage capacity and to further improve the Quality of Service (Qos).
Steps to attract Customers
BSNL has also taken the following initiatives to attract customers.
Is this enough?
To compete with private players that spend a large chunk on promotion, BSNL also should promote its products aggressively while working on enhancing quality. It has been spending less than 0.5% of its revenue in advertising while private players spend a lot more than this.  While the CMD of BSNL is confident of getting BSNL back to the green by 2018-19, it looks highly improbable for now.


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BSP’s press release asking voters to vote for another party is fake - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
March 1, 2022
In the light of the ongoing assembly elections in the state of Uttar Pradesh, a social media post that shares a purported press release of the Bahujan Samaj Party’s central camp office is being widely circulated. The press release states that the winning prospects of the BSP candidate of Pratappur constituency in the fifth phase of the election which are to be held on 27 January 2022 are found not satisfactory and asks the voters of the constituency to vote for any strong opponent of Samajwadi Party in order to defeat them. Through this article, let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Press release of the Bahujan Samaj Party asking the voters of Pratappur to vote for any strong opponent of Samajwadi Party other than their own candidate.
Fact: This is a dubious press release circulating in the name of BSP. It is a very unlikely that a national party releases such a press note asking voters to vote for another party despite fielding their own candidate. Further, the viral letter wrongly mentions the date of 5 phase election, which is again highly unlikely from a national party.  Further, the BSP issued a press note clarifying that the viral letter is fake. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
This is a dubious press release being circulated in the name of the Bahujan Samaj Party. A national party releasing a press note asking voters to vote for another party despite fielding its own candidate is very unlikely.
Moreover, the press release dated 26 February 2022, mentions that the date of the fifth phase of elections as 27 January 2022, whereas the actual polling day was on 27 February 2022. Again, a national party wrongly mentioning the date of the election is also unlikely.
Further search yielded a news report wherein Pratappur BSP’s candidate Ghanshyam Pandey called the viral letter fake.
The Bahujan Samaj Party released a press note terming the viral letter as fake and further asks the voters to be aware of such fake letters in view of the 6 and 7 phases of polling. BSP’s national spokesperson Faizan iterated the same with Vishwas News in their correspondence.
To sum it up, BSP’s press release asking voters to vote for another party is fake.


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Ayodhya ‘Deepotsav’ event’s cost was estimated to be around Rs. 1.33 crores, not Rs. 133 crores - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
November 4, 2019
A post is being shared widely on social media with a claim that the Uttar Pradesh government has allocated an amount of Rs. 133 crores for the ‘Deepotsav’ event at Ayodhya. Let’s try to analyze the claim made in the post.
UP government’s budget for the ‘Deepotsav’ event at Ayodhya was Rs. 133 crores.
Fact: The UP government has estimated the cost of the ‘Deepotsav’ event to be around Rs. 1.33 crores, not Rs. 133 crores. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
When searched about the issue on Google, it was found that even reputed news agencies [Times of India – Times Travel (Archived), Firstpost (Archived), Indian Express (Archived), The Quint (Archived), ABP News (Archived) and Live Hindustan (Archived)]  have published the same news.
But, a journalist has tweeted that the Uttar Pradesh has approximately spent only 1.33 crore for the Ayodhya ‘Deepotsav’ event and also, posted the photo of the press release.
An update on a massively viral 'story' , that claims the @UPGovt spent 133 crore rupees on lighting diyas at Ayodhya . That amount is 1.32 crore rupees ! Looks like someone forgot to mention the (dot) in their story ! I read it first in a very reputed newspaper ! pic.twitter.com/k7npnJvPKt
So, when searched for the press release on the Uttar Pradesh government’s official website, it was found that the details of the funds estimated for the ‘Deepotsav’ event were in the 22 October press release. According to the press release, the Uttar Pradesh has estimated the cost of the ‘Deepotsav’ event to be around Rs. 132.70 lakhs (approximately Rs. 1.33 crores), not Rs. 133 crores.
Also, in this year’s UP budget, in the Tourism Department section, it can be found that the government has estimated the cost of the previous year’s ‘Deepotsav’ event to be Rs. 50 lakhs but later revised it to Rs. 46 lakhs. In this year’s budget, it can also be found that the government has estimated the cost to be around Rs. 100 lakhs (Rs. 1 crore) for this year’s ‘Deepotsav’ event.
To sum it up, Ayodhya ‘Deepotsav’ event’s cost was estimated to be around Rs. 1.33 crores, not Rs. 133 crores.
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created: November 4, 2019


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Build the Behavior and Build the toilets - Toilets over Temples - Factly
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
February 13, 2015
“It was 4:30am and I was ready to step out of the house. I was just waiting for the street light in the corner to be turned off and the moment it did, I took off. I fully covered myself from head to toe, made sure no one could see me or see what I was carrying with me and hurried myself into the bushes. This isn’t the only day I had to do this. This has become my daily routine – my daily routine of humiliation which also at times turned into harassment. But I’ve no choice and this is the only way to relieve myself” – This unfortunately is not the story of just one woman instead a majority of the women, for India is home to almost 600 million of the 1 billion world population who openly defecate, based on a UN study.
Government is well aware of this alarming situation. The recent slogan of “Toilets over temples” for example is the latest in its efforts to do something about it. First the UPA and then the NDA is stressing the need for prioritizing building toilets over the temples. But building toilets alone is not enough. According to the government Baseline Survey of 2013, about 20.7% of the existing toilets are defunct. Jharkhand leads the pack with 66% while Chattisgarh has 59% defunct toilets. Goa, Odisha & Sikkim do not have a single defunct toilet as per the survey. Below is the complete list.
Efforts must be put to build the behavior, build the attitude and build a culture where basic sanitation becomes the norm not the exception.
Only when that happens, we can expect the
For all this to happen, toilets must be considered as holy as the religious places themselves.
Data Source: Answer to Lok Sabha Un-starred Question No.788 , reply on 27-11-2014

created: February 13, 2015


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CAA Debate – What do the numbers say about potential beneficiaries?
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
December 20, 2019
The Home Minister told the Rajya Sabha that crores of people will get the benefit of CAA. The numbers from various sources however, present a very confusing picture. The government also doesn’t seem to have any conclusive data on the number of potential beneficiaries.
The Parliament passed the Citizen Amendment Bill- 2019 on 11 December 2019, and with the subsequent approval of the president, it is now an Act, popularly known as the CAA.
As per this amendment, any person belonging to one of the six religious communities i.e. Hindu, Sikh , Buddhist, Jain , Parsi or Christian from one of the three countries – Afghanistan, Bangladesh or Pakistan who entered India on or before 31 December 2014 would not be treated as an Illegal migrant. They would be also be entitled to apply for Indian citizenship by naturalization after a 5-year stay in India instead of the usual 11-year period. Factly’s detailed explainer on the CAA can be read here.
Inhis address to the Lok Sabha, the Minister for Home Affairs, Amit Shah, referredto persecuted
minorities and that CAA is to provide relief for such minoritiesfrom these three countries. He also referred to the fall in numbers of thesereligious minority communities in the three countries.
However,no precise numbers were divulged about the presence of such illegal migrantscurrently in India or those who are expected to gain relief through this act.
Inthis story, we look at the various numbers relating to the migrants in India, thathave been provided over a period of time by various government and othercredible agencies to understand the extent of such people in India.
As
per the Intelligence Bureau, ‘31,313’ persecuted minorities were granted LTVs
The Report of Joint Committee on the Citizen (Amendment) Bill -2016 was presented in both the houses of parliament in January 2019. The 2016 bill lapsed and hence a new bill called the Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2019 (CAB) was introduced in the current session of parliament.
The report of the joint committee cites the data provided by the ‘Intelligence Bureau’ (IB) about the number of people who may be immediate beneficiaries of a Citizen Amendment Bill.
Asper this information, a total of  31,313 persons belonging to minority communities from these three countries havesought Indian Citizenship. These individuals have claimed religious persecutionin their countries. Of these, 25,447 were Hindus, 5807 Sikhs and 55 Christians.Further, there were 2 Parsis and 2 Buddhists. The IB further stated that thesepersons have been granted Long Term Visas (LTVs).
Foreignersnot of Indian Origin who need to stay in India for more than 180 days arerequired to have LTVs. The Government of India made provisions for providing LTVs to those from Pakistan, Afghanistan & Bangladesh, cominginto India and seeking permanent settlement.
As per the guidelines, the foreign nationals seeking residency in India need to have valid travel documents i.e. a valid Passport of their country and a valid Visa.
In response to the Joint Committee, the Director of IB does not rule out the fact that there could be others from these three countries who have already secured citizenship in India by other means.
While IB states that the bill is aimed at those seeking citizenship due to the religious persecution, India has a track record of providing asylum as well as citizenship to foreign nationals who have escaped other countries due to other types of persecution as well.
2,738
Afghani & Pakistani migrants have been granted Indian Citizenship in last
four years.
The Minister of State (Home Affairs) in his response in Rajya Sabha on 11 December 2019, provided information on migrants from Afghanistan and Pakistan who were provided Indian Citizenship over the last four years. It has to be noted that the religion of migrants who were granted citizenship prior to 2018 is not known since such data was not provided by the government.
As per this information, a total of 2,738 Afghani & Pakistani nationals were provided citizenship during 2016-2019. The provision for online capturing of data for the 6 minority communities is available only from 2018. A total of 927 Sikhs and Hindus were granted Indian Citizenship since then as per the data provided by the government in the Rajya Sabha.
More
than 4 lakh Sri Lankan and Tibetan Refugees entered India as per MHA
Inits Annual
Report (2018-19), Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) stated that 3,04,269 refugees
from Sri Lanka have entered India due to the ethnic conflict in SriLanka. These migrants entered India in various phases during the period ofJuly’1983-August’2012.
These numbers include both: Sri Lankan Citizens and State-less people who aren’t conferred Sri Lankan citizenship and those who have not yet applied for Indian Citizenship.  Of these 99,469 have been repatriated to Sri Lanka up to March 1995, post which no organised repatriation was done, with few of the refugees deciding to go back on their own.
MHA’sannual report also states that 60,674 refugees are currently staying in 108refugee camps in Tamil Nadu and Odisha (107- Tamil Nadu, 1-Odisha). It goesonto state that there are 35,155 other refugees who are staying outside theserefugee camps and are registered with the local police station.
Furthermore,India has agreed
to repatriate 5.06 lakhs people of Indian origin fromSri Lanka along with natural increase, under India-Sri Lanka agreements of1964,1974 & 1986. Of these, 3.35 lakh along with 1.26 lakh of naturalincrease belonging to 1,16,152 families have been repatriated in India betweenOct’64 -Dec’06 as per MHA’s annual report.
As of 30 June 2013, a total of 1,08,005 Tibetan refugees have settled in various states of India. Tibetan refugees have been entering India since Dalai Lama’s fleeing and coming to India in 1959. These refugees have been rehabilitated through various government schemes and measures. The support of India is limited to providing care and asylum with Tibetans retaining their ethnic identity.
More
than 1 crore displaced persons migrated to India from Pakistan & Bangladesh
since 1947
Responding to a question in Lok Sabha on 28 July 2015, the government stated that 1,00,18,173 (more than a crore) displaced people have migrated from Pakistan to India since 1947 (both West Pakistan & East Pakistan – present-day Bangladesh).
Ofthese 89,04,215 migrants were from undivided Pakistan (i.e. West & EastPakistan) between 1947-1958 (as on 31 December 1958). These people were settledacross 18 states of India.
Afurther 11,13,958 people displaced from East Pakistan migrated to India between1964-1971. They are distributed across the three States of West Bengal, Assam& Tripura.
Approximately
2.9 Lakh Stateless persons are residing in India
Asper the information
provided by the government in Lok Sabha on 01 March 2016,there are 2,89,394 stateless persons living in India as on 31 December 2014.
Asper the definition
of UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees), astateless person is not a national of any country.
A total of 1,02,467 are from Sri Lanka who could be but not necessarily part of the 1,02,478 state-less individuals staying in Tamil Nadu. The highest number of State-less individuals are from Bangladesh with 1,03,817. As per the information, further 58,155 individuals from Tibet are state-less. Myanmar with 12,434 and Pakistan with 8,799 are other countries from where a significant number of stateless individuals have come over and are residing in India.  Further, information regarding the home country of 19 individuals is not available and 29 identify as coming from Pakhtoon.
AfterTamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh hosts the highest number of State-less persons inIndia with 62,890 Individuals. Karnataka, which has a sizeable Tibetanimmigrant population has 34,348 state-less individuals.
1.95
lakh refugees in India as per UN Report
As per UNHCR’s Global Trends Report-2018, India has 1,95,891 refugees by the end of 2018. Apart from these refugees, there are further 11,957 asylum seekers whose cases are pending.
As per the report, China and Sri Lanka are the countries of origin for the maximum number of refugees in India. While the number of refugees from Sri Lanka has gone down over a period of time, those from China has increased. This increase in migration from China could be because of the Tibetan refugees.
Thereport also states
that there are a further 9,602 refugees internationallywho have India as the country of origin. There are 51,812 individuals withIndia as origin who are seeking asylum globally, with other 216 categorisedunder ‘Others of concern to UNHCR’.
Amajority of the new asylum
seekers from Pakistan have sought asylum in Italy,followed by Greece, UK & Germany.
51.54
lakh Migrants in India as per UN Migrant report
As per the International Migrant Stock Report, India is host to 51,54,737 migrants from 36 countries as of mid-2019. Of these, the highest number of migrants are from Bangladesh with 31,03,664 followed by Pakistan with 10,82,917 migrants.
In1990, the number of migrants from Bangladesh as per the International MigrantStock Report was 43.75 lakhs which has decreased over the period.  Similarly, the migrants from Pakistan in 1990,were 19.21 lakhs which fell in the subsequent years.
Thenumber of Sri Lankan migrants has also reduced over the years while those fromChina has increased. As stated earlier, repartition and settlement of SriLankan migrants along with the settlement initiatives for Tibetan migrantscould be the reason for these trends.
However, the reason for the fall in migrants from Bangladesh and Pakistan is ambiguous. No data is available to ascertain if the fall in migrants is due to them gaining citizenship or their going back to the respective home countries.
Ithas to be noted that the estimates provided in the International Migrant Stock Data of UN is based on the officialnational numbers from the population census, registers and representativesurveys. This would mean that these number reported for the migrants in Indiais also as per the official information provided by the national authorities.
More
than 2000 crores spent on rehabilitating migrants from Sri Lanka, Tibet &
Bangladesh.
As
per MHA’s Annual report, Government of India hasspent Rs. 1021 crores in providing relief and accommodation of Sri LankanRefugees between July’1983 – 31 March 2019. A further Rs. 34.81 crores arespent on providing relief and accommodation of Tibetan migrants across variousstates of India.
Afurther Rs.
1005.99 crores is being spent for rehabilitation of people returningfrom erstwhile Indian enclaves. There is also a Rs. 2000 crores packageapproved by Government of India as one-time settlement for 36,384 displacedfamilies from Pakistan occupied J&K.
Ambiguity
over the number of potential beneficiaries of CAA raises questions over the
implementation
Duringthe debate in parliament, the government has not provided  any conclusive data about number of personswho stand to get citizenship with the CAA. Except for saying that
crores of people will get the benefit, the HomeMinister Amit Shah also did not provide any data on the number of potentialbeneficiaries.
As highlighted in the story, India has earlier granted citizenship to people migrating from Pakistan and Afghanistan. While the religious data and the reason for them leaving their country of origin is unknown, 927 of those granted citizenship since 2018 belong to Hindu and Sikh Communities. Whether they fled the country of their origin because of religious persecution is also not known, which is the primary objective of the CAA.
Further, there is no data available on the current citizenship status of more than 1 crore migrants from Pakistan (both West & East) who came to India post-partition. Since CAA is meant to extend citizenship to those fleeing because of religious persecution, how many of this one crore, who may not have received citizenship so far would stand to benefit remains unanswered.
Thecase of Bangladeshi migrants is more complex. Different data sources indicatevaried numbers, without any clarity on the current number of migrants in India.While there is a dip in official data as seen in UN report, the state of 40 lakh+migrants who came to India us unknown. Religious classification & thecriteria of religious persecution add to the complexity.
Meanwhile,CAA does not address the issue of near one lakh Sri Lankan migrants in India. Thereis also the case of 2.9 lakh state-less people some of who may get benefittedwith CAA.
The UN report on refugees, while making a mention of refugees in India from China & Pakistan, does not categorically specify any refugees in India or those seeking asylum specifically from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh.
Unlessthere is clarity on the numbers, the implementation of CAA would be difficult. Further,the procedure to be followed for those seeking citizenship under CAA is alsonot known since the rules are not yet framed. Without any such data, it will bedifficult to ascertain the financial burden on the country and the burden onvarious states once citizenship is extended to these people.
The number provided by IB as immediate beneficiaries of CAA is just around 31000 and this raises questions over the Home Minister’s claim of crores of beneficiaries. Meanwhile, the ambiguity around prospective numbers could impact the preparedness of the country to absorb them. While religion is the basis for CAA benefits, culture and language are other vital aspects which would influence the assimilation process of the beneficiaries. As mentioned earlier, 107 out of 108 camps for Sri Lankan refugees are in Tamil Nadu. There is also the larger question of resettlement of the migrants from Bangladesh, which has the largest numbers since the  North-East is staunchly against citizenship to these migrants.

created: December 20, 2019


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Cab-E taxi service has no affiliation with the Tata Group - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
September 8, 2020
A post is being shared on social media with a claim that the TATA group has launched a new taxi service ‘Cab E’ in competition to Ola and Uber services in Mumbai and Pune. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
TATA group has launched a new taxi service ‘Cab E’ in competition to the Ola and Uber services in Mumbai and Pune.
Fact: ‘Cab-E’ application on Google Play Store and services are provided by a company named ‘CAB-EEZ INFRA TECH PVT. LTD’. It has no affiliation with the TATA Group. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
On looking for the organization that has developed the ‘Cab-E’ application available on Google play store, it is found that a company named ‘CAB-EEZ INFRA TECH PVT. LTD’ has developed this application and is providing services under this name. In the description about the company, it is mentioned as a Technology platform operator which supports cab managers by giving them a platform to book rides for intracity and intercity commute and car rentals. Detailed information about the CAB-EEZ INFRA TECH PVT. LTD’ company can be seen here on their website. ‘Cab-E’ taxi service and the company associated with the application has no affiliation with the Tata group.
As per the company, ‘Cab-E’ is a technology platform, aimed to support the cab managers and enabling them to provide commuters with affordable, safer and comfortable rides. When these misleading posts on TATA group launching the ‘Cab-E’ services in Mumbai and Pune went viral on social media, Team ‘Cab-E’ team published a clarification on Facebook saying that the rumour is not true.
To sum it up, ‘Cab-E’ taxi service has no affiliation with the TATA Group.

created: September 8, 2020


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Cadbury clarified that all their products manufactured and sold in India are 100% Vegetarian - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
November 2, 2022
A screenshot of the confectionary brand Cadbury’s webpage mentioning that the gelatine used in their products is halal certified and derived from beef is being shared widely. Citing this, many social media users in India have called for the boycott of the Cadbury products in India. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Cadbury’s website mentions that the ingredients used in their products sold in India are derived from beef.
Fact: The screenshot shows an old version of the Cadbury Australia’s website. When the same screenshot went viral in 2021, the company clarified that all the products manufactured and sold in India are 100% vegetarian which is indicated by green dot on the packs as per FSSAI regulations. Hence the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
Upon looking at the top-level domain name of the website given in the screenshot, it is evident that it belongs to Australia(.au) and not India(.in). The company’s Indian website doesn’t contain any such information as seen in the Viral post.
We searched for more information about this issue on the Cadbury Australia’s website. The current website uses the words ‘Australian Products’ instead of ‘Products’ seen in the viral image.
We found a tweet made by ‘Cadbury Dairy Milk’ on 18 July 2021, clarifying that the viral screenshot is not related to Mondelez products (parent company of Cadbury) manufactured in India and all the products manufactured and sold in India are 100% vegetarian which is indicated by green dot on the wrapper.
Hi Madhu, the screenshot shared in the Tweet is not related to Mondelez products manufactured in India. All the products manufactured and sold in India are 100% vegetarian. The green dot on the wrapper signifies that. -1/n
Moreover, the company released a caution notice on the same day regarding this issue and asked the users to check the facts before sharing it.
pic.twitter.com/798qgPozsF
As per the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India’s (FSSAI) regulations, every package of vegetarian food shall display a symbol of green dot inside the green square on the package.
Further we found that the archived version of the webpage from 17 July 2022, used the word ‘Products’ as seen in viral post. However, since October 2021, it shows ‘Australian Products’ instead of just ‘products’ to avoid any confusion.
To sum it up, Cadbury clarified that all their products manufactured and sold in India are 100% vegetarian; Viral screenshot shows old Australian website.


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Cadbury is not offering a free basket of chocolates to celebrate its 196th anniversary - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
August 4, 2020
A post sharing the link of Cadbury chocolate free baskets is being widely circulated on social media claiming that Cadbury is giving away 500 free baskets of Cadbury chocolates for everyone on its 196 Anniversary. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Cadbury is giving 500 Free baskets of Cadbury chocolates to everyone on its 196th Anniversary.
Fact: Mondelez India Foods Limited, the producer of Cadbury chocolates in India, has not made any such announcement of free Cadbury chocolate hampers. Cadbury had warned the customers not to be exploited by such phishing scams. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
When we searched for the information related to the offer of Free baskets of Cadbury chocolate, we found that Cadbury had clarified to ‘THE SUN’ that it is a scam and warned customers not to be exploited by such phishing websites. They also said that promotions of such offers will always be announced on Cadbury’s official channels.
Cadbury India Limited, a subsidiary of Mondolez International Inc., has changed its name to Mondelez India Foods Limited in the year 2014. When we searched for the announcement of Free baskets of Cadbury chocolates in the official website of Mondelez India Foods Limited, we do not found any such offers announced in the official Press releases of the company.
A similar claim went viral in the year 2018 that Cadbury is rewarding everyone with a basket of chocolate to celebrate their 194th anniversary. When a Facebook user alerted Cadbury on this, they informed that it is not Cadbury’s promotion and advised consumers to be careful while engaging with such promotions.
To sum it up, Cadbury is not offering any free basket of chocolate to celebrate their 196th anniversary.
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created: August 4, 2020


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Cadbury products are not infected with HIV (AIDS) - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
March 21, 2019
There are few fake posts which keep resurfacing on social media time and again with different narratives even after being debunked by multiple fact-checkers. The following is one such post claiming his blood contaminated with HIV (AIDS) is added to Cadbury products.
The archived version of the post can be found here.
Cadbury products are infected with blood contaminated with HIV (AIDS). Do not eat their products for the next few weeks.
Similar hoaxes were doing rounds in social media for the past few years and the person in the picture was arrested for his involvement in Nyanya Motor Park explosion Hence the claim made in the post is
A simple Google search on ‘Cadbury Products HIV’ will give a result to already fact checked articles on this by Snopes and Politifact.  To understand the origin of the picture, just crop the picture and perform a reverse image search. The results show that a similar hoax was doing rounds with a different context and was debunked by Snopes in 2011. To filter out recent results, just add a time filter to show only results till 2014 and you notice few results that indicate the person arrested in the picture is Aminu Ogwuche, for his alleged involvement in Nyanya Motor Park explosion.
Finally, the claim that Cadbury products are infected with blood contaminated with HIV (AIDS) is False. It is also important in this context to understand that as per Centers for Disease Control, “You can’t get HIV from consuming food handled by someone with HIV. Even if the food contained small amounts of HIV-infected blood or semen, exposure to the air, heat from cooking, and stomach acid would destroy the virus. Though it is very rare, HIV can be spread by eating food that has been pre-chewed by someone with HIV. The contamination occurs when infected blood from a caregiver’s mouth mixes with food while chewing. The only known cases are among infants.”


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CAG highlights Tax Evasive practices in the Film Industry
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
August 7, 2017
The CAG in its latest report submitted to the Parliament, highlighted some of the tax evasive practices prevalent in the film & entertainment industry and made relevant recommendations.
The Comptroller & Auditor General (CAG) submitted its 31st report of 2017 to the parliament recently. This report looks at the levy and collection of service tax in the entertainment industry (films & television).  The CAG highlighted some of the tax evasive practices prevalent in the film Industry while advocating for greater clarity in legislation.
Why did the CAG choose Entertainment Industry?
In its report, the CAG mentioned that revenue from services like services like Broadcasting services, Event management, TV and Radio programme production, Sponsorship services, Video tape production, Promotion of Brand and Sponsorship services that are part of the entertainment industry has been registering a steep growth. It also mentioned that no comprehensive audit was conducted on this sector before and hence chose this sector for the audit.
Tax revenue from this Industry increasing at an annual average of 10%
The CAG in its reported noted that the service tax revenue from the entertainment sector has seen an impressive annual average growth rate of about 10% between 2012-13 and 2014-15. More than 60% of the tax revenue is from tax on broadcasting service. As per the CAG report, there are nine (9) services relating to the entertainment sector which have been assigned separate account codes and are identifiable. Further, many services in the entertainment sector are not covered in these nine heads and are also not part of the negative list. Services of actors, artists and other professionals are also taxable, but not identifiable. Hence the overall revenue from this sector could be much more.
Service Tax evasion by clubbing theatrical rights with non-theatrical activities
The CAG in its report cited a few cases where the taxable commercial activities escaped taxation due to clubbing of theatrical rights with non-theatrical rights / other production activities. The revenue involved was not calculated by the CAG for want of required information.
It cited the example of M/s. Sohail Khan Productions and M/s Salman Khan Ventures Pvt. Ltd, producers of ‘Jai Ho’ and ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’ where the agreement consisted of both theatrical & non-theatrical rights. Both the producers claimed exemption from payment of service tax by treating the entire revenue as obtained from theatrical rights. It has to be noted that theatrical rights and the revenue earned from such rights are exempted from payment of service tax as per a notification of the government in March 2013. Though the concerned ministry treats all the pre-release activities like publicity etc. as a part of theatrical eights, the CAG refused to accept the ministry’s stand.
Treating copyrights transferred with limitations as transferred perpetually
The CAG report mentions that many agreements stated that copyrights were assigned for perpetuity, but certain features of the agreements clearly indicate that these were only restrictive rights and producer continues to have control over copyright.
The CAG mentioned the example of the films Chennai Express and Dabangg 2 whose music rights were sold to a company for Rs 6 crore and Rs 9 crore respectively. But the producers continued to exploit the assigned rights and received royalty. The CAG calculated that a service tax of Rs 1.85 crore was leviable. Even here, the CAG did not accept the ministry’s contention.
Tax evasion by treating service as exports
The CAG also cited multiple instances where artists/producers entered into agreements with foreign entities to establish a service recipient and place of provision in the non-taxable territory. Because of such practices, the amount exchanged for the portion of service provided outside India was treated as exports, leading to avoidance of tax.
The CAG quoted the example of a Telugu artist Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao, who under an agreement in July 2015 with the producer M/s. Vibrant Visuals Ltd., London, U.K, received an amount of Rs  7.33 crore for acting in the movie titled ‘Nannaku Prematho’ and claimed exemption from payment of service tax of Rs 1.10 crore treating it as export of services.
According to the CAG report, the ministry accepted the CAG’s findings in some cases but not in the other cases.
Non-registration of assessess and under-reporting of Income
The CAG report observed that there were 1312 companies providing services relating to entertainment sector who are active in MCA data base and have reported an income of more than Rs 10 lakh  (the threshold limit for service tax registration) but had not obtained service tax registration.  The report also mentioned that 199 Kannada film producers were not registered with service tax department.
The CAG report also highlighted various other issues like under reporting of income, non-filing of returns, non-inclusion of certain items in the taxable amount, non-payment, availing VAT credit on old invoices, availing VAT credit without payments.
Recommendations to improve Compliance
The CAG made the following recommendations to improve the compliance in the entertainment sector.

created: August 7, 2017


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Camouflage design photo of a US company is falsely portrayed as the photo of Indian Army soldiers - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
August 5, 2020
An image of soldiers in camouflage attire is being shared on social media claiming them as the brave soldiers of the Indian Army. The post praises the life-endangering efforts of the Indian army to protect the sovereignty of the Nation. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Photo of Indian Army soldiers in camouflage suits.
Fact: Photo shared in the post shows the Cross Cover Brown Camouflage pattern designed by US-based textile manufacturing company Gulch. The image was captured in Northwest Oregon, USA. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
On reverse image search of the photo shared in the post, we found the same photo in ‘Pinterest’, the image sharing and social media service portal. The photo is uploaded by Gulch Gear and lists the gear in the picture as their ‘Cross Cover Brown Camouflage Pattern.’
The Vimeo video on their Pinterest account which uses the same image in the post mentions the location as Northwest Oregon. The same can be found on their Facebook and Instagram accounts. The ‘About Us’ section in Gulch website mentions that ‘Gulch LLC, founded in 2014, is a company that focuses on crafting simplistic functional camouflage apparel using Toray® and Polartec® fabrics and manufacturing in the USA.’
To sum it up, Cross Cover camouflage design photo by Gulch Gear, a US based manufacturing company is falsely portrayed as that of Indian Army soldiers.
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created: August 5, 2020


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What is the rule behind the order of names on the EVM? - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
May 2, 2019
What is rule behind the order of names of contesting candidates on the EVM? Whose name comes first?
The role played by the symbol in Indian electoral politics is well known. Often, people vote for the symbol of the party without even knowing the credentials or the details of the contesting candidate. Most people remember political parties with their symbols like BJP ka Kamal or Congress ka Haath. But what about new political parties? Can they get a symbol of their choice to contest elections? This issue becomes important when hundreds of new political parties get registered during an election year.
The Recognized parties
A registered political party can attain recognition as a State party or a National party provided it fulfills the criteria listed in ‘The Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968’. Factly has extensively written about these criteria. As soon as a party is recognized as a State party in a particular state, they are entitled to a reserved symbol of their choice from the list of free symbols. This symbol can be used by all the candidates of that party in that particular state. In the case of a party recognized as a National party, the candidates put up by that party can use that symbol across the country. Currently, there are seven (7) recognized national parties and over fifty recognized state parties in various states.
What about new Political Parties?
In order to provide a fair chance to new political parties in terms of the symbol, a two time concession is provided to all the registered political parties. As per para 10B of the ‘The Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968’, a new registered political party may be allotted a common symbol in the case of a general election to a state assembly if it satisfies the following conditions
In addition, the party is supposed to give a choice of 10 symbols in order of preference in a specified form. These 10 symbols could be chosen from the list of free symbols available with the Election Commission of India (ECI). The party could also propose three new symbols of their choice, with the names and clear design and drawings of symbol provided they have no resemblance to the existing reserved symbols or free symbols, nor shall have any religious or communal connotation or depict any bird or animal. But such a proposal has to be made at least three months before the date of expiry of the term of assembly. In the case of parties contesting Lok Sabha elections, similar rules exist for the allotment of a common symbol. The allotment of symbols is made on first-come-first- served basis. If two or more political parties apply at the same time and opt for the same symbol, then the allotment is decided based on draw of lots.
It has to be noted that parties have to provide an undertaking to the ECI that it shall contest in the minimum number of seats required for the common symbol and that it shall be liable for punitive action if they don’t contest such minimum number of seats. Such a concession would be available to new registered political parties twice. They could use it as per their preference. The concession will continue beyond two times in case they poll a minimum of 1% of the polled vote in the last general election.
What about the order of names on the EVM or Ballot Paper?
The order followed for the purpose of list of contesting candidates on the Electronic Voting Machine or the Ballot paper is the following. This is based on Section 38 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.
Within each of these groups, names are arranged in alphabetical order.


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Can you guess who received the most recommendations for Padma Awards 2017?
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
May 23, 2017
The MHA put out a list of recommendations received on the Padma Awards portal. For the 2017 Padma Awards, more than 18000 recommendations were received with one individual getting more than 4000 recommendations. Can you guess his name?
The government for the first time opened up the 2017 Padma Award recommendations and asked citizens to recommend individuals for various Padma Awards through a centralized web portal. A total of 89 individuals were finally given the Padma Awards for the year 2017. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has recently released the list of recommendations received for the 2017 awards. An analysis of these recommendations reveal some very interesting insights.
More than 18000 recommendations received
As per the list released by MHA, a total of 18,768 recommendations were received from various individuals, state governments and others. The most such recommendations came from Haryana (4438). We will see why Haryana is on the top  a little later in the story. 3200 recommendations were received from Maharashtra. More than 1000 recommendations each were received from 6 states. More than 500 recommendations each were received from 10 different states. Only one recommendation was received from Meghalaya, the least from any state.
In terms of city, the most number of recommendations were received form Sirsa in Haryana (more than 4000) followed by Ahmednagar (more than 1000).
Only 46 of the awardees had recommendations from the portal
As per the list put out by the MHA, only 46 out of the 89 awardees were recommended by various people on the web portal. The rest of the 43 were not recommended by anyone as per the MHA list. Out of those who were recommended and finally received an award, Shri Sadhu Meher received the most recommendations (13) followed by Shri Punam Suri (8). Two others received 6 recommendations each while four others received 5 recommendations each. Ten awardees received only one recommendation each. And further, only 3 of the 18 names recommended by the search committee were finally awarded.
Can you guess who topped the recommendation charts?
Am sure you wouldn’t have guessed his name right. The one who received the maximum number of recommendations on the portal is the leader of Dera Sacha Sauda, Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh. He received a total of 4203 recommendations on the portal with 4110 from Haryana, almost all of them from the city of Sirsa. The data reveals the existence of a coordinated campaign to recommend him since 10 different individuals recommended his name more than 40 times each. In terms of sheer numbers, his recommendations account for more than 22% of all the recommendations on the portal.
The next in the list of most number of recommendations is Shankarrao Genuji Kolhe, chairman of the Sanjivani group of educational institutions and a former minister from Maharashtra. He received more than 1000 recommendations, almost all of them from Ahmednagar, his hometown. This also looks like a coordinated campaign.  Another politician from Maharashtra, Vasant Nivrutti Pawar also received more than 300 recommendations.  A total of 11 individuals received more than 100 recommendations each. Twenty-One (21) individuals received more than 50 recommendations each. In fact, 80 individuals received at least 14 recommendations each, but none of them were given the award. Arnab Goswami also received a recommendation from one Darpan Goel of Barpeta in Assam.  There were a few dummy names also in the recommendation list.
Featured Image: Padma Awards 2017