Nowadays it has become very difficult to know whether the news that you are reading/seeing in the media is true or fake. Many times it is political parties who put fake news in the media against their opponents. The general public is fooled by these types of posts in print and other media. So many times, it so happens that even respected daily newspapers also get trapped in these types of stories and they are published in the newspapers, and sometimes the editorial team of the newspaper have to admit that they have printed fake story. The Congress party is among the leading opposition party that spreads fake news quite often.
Here are some of the fake news spread by the Congress party in recent times:
1 The 265-ton gold was mortgaged by the government to an overseas country, and nobody knows where that money went– the fact is
In the year 2014 the country had a stock of 557 tons of gold, whereas, by the end of 2022, the country had more than 760 tons of gold. The fact is that whenever a country buys gold from the world market, it is normal practice that the buying country always keeps its gold in some bank vaults of that country from where it has been purchased. This is generally done to avoid shipping and insurance/security charges while doing the shipment from buying to purchasing country. This was happening in the UPA government times also. But Congress wants to mislead the country that the gold is mortgaged.
2 There is a downfall in the price of petrol in the world market, but the present government by not reducing the prices has earned more than 20 lakh crore.
The fact is-that it is true that in many countries of the world, the petrol price is lower than that in India, but that lower price in those countries is there for the last 70 years. As per the current trends in the market, the average price of petrol in the world is approx Rs 106.90 per litre, whereas presently the average price of petrol in India is about Rs 105 per litre, which is matching with the world standard. The income from this has been used by the government in various welfare schemes for the poor like free gas cylinders, Mnrega, Jan Dhan Yojana, an old age pension scheme for poor women, and free rations during covid times.
3 What happened to the money earned by selling public sector companies-
The fact is- that no public sector company was sold, the shareholding of the government in those companies was disinvested, and the process is called disinvestment. This even happened during UPA also, the UPA government disinvested in 5 companies in 2009-10, 2 companies in 2011-12, 8 companies in 2012-13, and 12 companies in 2013-14.
4 World Bank gave a loan of 100 Cr $ loan to India, where it went– India signed a loan agreement with the World Bank, and this loan was taken for the improvement of the health services in the country. The funds will be used for the improvement of health services within PM’s Ayushman Health Yojana, which will benefit 7 states Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Meghalaya, Odisha, Punjab, Tamilnadu, and Uttar Pradesh. In the past in 2006, a similar loan was arranged by the UPA government, but the news leaked out to the World bank that the government had no such intention of improving health services, as when the World Bank asked for the blueprint for using the loan amount, the government did not have any concrete plans to show. Hence the World Bank cancelled the agreement.
5 What happened to the money donated to the PM care fund– The PM care fund is a transparent unit, anybody can visit their website and see where the funds received via donations are being used. But can the Congress party explain what they have done with funds received in Rajiv Gandhi Foundation, including the donations from the Chinese government? No one has heard whether they have done any welfare even during Covid times, forget in normal times. Have they ever supported any family of the martyred soldier?
It looks like the Congress party members have only one work in their hands which is how to malign Narendra Modi and discredit his government.
Waiting for your views on this blog
Anil Malik
Mumbai, India
4th April 2023