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While making an online address on 12 August, Prime Minister Narendra Modi claimed that his Bharatiya Janata Party-led central government had opened multiple campuses of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in eastern India, including one in Bihar's Darbhanga. 

But, how true is this claim? Read on!

🔖 In this edition, I will discuss how to fact-check politicians. In this case of PM Modi’s claim, we relied on the following sources:

• A press release by the MoHFW dated 22 July 2022, which gave updates on the setting up of AIIMS campuses around the country. 

• According to the response, "Encumbrance free land has not been handed over by the State Govt." 

• Bihar's Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav tweeted an official letter dated 22 June 2023 to Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, where he requested the reconsideration of the plot of land for constructing AIIMS in Darbhanga. 

• Mandaviya, too, took to ‘X’ (formerly Twitter) and posted a thread in response to Yadav’s tweet. He mentioned how the Modi-led central government gave its approval for building an AIIMS on 19 September 2020, and the events that followed due to change in the Bihar government.

• He further stated that the central government found the new plot of land unsuitable for construction of AIIMS and rejected the proposal on 26 May 2023. 

• TL;DR: Statements by leaders, along with the written letters prove the lack of decision on the plot for AIIMS in Darbhanga, which also confirm that PM Modi's claim of AIIMS being opened in Darbhanga is false. 

You can read the full story here:

Did Centre Open AIIMS In Bihar's Darbhanga? PM Modi's Claim False 

Here are few other sources that will help you in fact-checking political leaders:

• Scanning through Lok Sabha/ Rajya Sabha replies

• Going through the Press Information Bureau’s website for official press releases.

• Searching for official data on the concerned ministry’s website. 

• Going through data published by agencies such as National Crime Records Bureau, United Nations, World Health Organisation, World Bank, among others. 

• The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation also has a good repository of government reports. 

🅱️ Quiz

Do you know what really happened in the news this week? Find out by taking the BOOM quiz:

👆 Simply click on image below to start the quiz!

🤥 The Lie Count

15

Fact-Checks Published

Alarmist claims were tied at the top (40%), followed by Political claims (27%) and Communal ones (20%). e noted that the majority of alarmist claims are tied to the Haryana communal clashes. Of the 6 claims we fact-checked, 4 were tied to the incident. Political claims, on the other hand, followed no particular theme.

Read our Twitter thread to know the detailed analysis by Debraj Sarkar.

Surviving the Divide: Inter-Community Families Amidst Manipur Violence

📍 Manipur. For the past three months, a violent clash has persisted between the Meiteis and Kukis in Manipur. In this violence, over 150 casualties and more than 400 wounded individuals have been reported. Houses have been burnt and there have been several reports of sexual violence against women. 

Escaping the turmoil, more than 60,000 people have become refugees as they abandoned their homes to save themselves. The violence has also torn apart several families. During BOOM’s Kirti Rawat’s visit to Manipur, she met Rebecca, 28 whose mother is a Kuki and father is a Meitei. Watch!

The Tech Trials Of Anganwadi Workers With Mission POSHAN

🔖 It’s been eight months since Gauri*, a middle-aged Anganwadi teacher, has been uploading data of pregnant women, mothers and children on the Poshan Tracker app. If she doesn’t have the internet or a phone, she will lose her wages. 

Just like Gauri, there are 14 lakh Indian Anganwadi workers, who form the backbone of Mission POSHAN, started in 2018 and previously known as the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS). 

Anganwadi workers told Decode’s Hera Rizwan about the tech challenges they face with Mission POSHAN. 

*Name has been changed to protect identity. 

Read More

🎭 The Web Of FedEx Scam That’s Leading To Identity Theft

🔖 Meanwhile, after 2020, lakhs of unsuspecting Indians have been scammed innovatively. When news of one scam leaks out, another one is already brewing. Read how Noor Anand Chawla was scammed by an intricate web of lies involving a fraud within a scam.

Read More

'Woman' Not 'Harlot' Or 'Seductress': SC Handbook on Gender Stereotypes

🔖 The Supreme Court on Wednesday, 16 August, released a handbook on combating gender stereotypes which will act as a guide for judges to avoid using inappropriate terminology in court orders and legal documents. 

Read Ritika Jain’s report to know more about the handbook. 

Read More

🚫 Fake News You Almost Fell For

🔍 A message went viral on WhatsApp, showing the image of Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud with a text purported to be a quote from him, urging people to go out in the streets, and protest against the government. Read this fact-check by 🔗Archis Chowdhury & Ritika Jain↗.

🔍 Prime Minister Narendra Modi's claim in the Lok Sabha that for the first time, an institution like the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC) was established in the state of Mizoram, under his government, is misleading. 🔗Nidhi Jacob↗ found out the truth.

🔍 Social media has been rife with an image, showing a letter from the national archives, written by the Government of Bombay to the Government of India on 15 June 1930 sanctioning an allowance of Rs.100 per month for the maintenance of Mahatma Gandhi, while he was a prisoner at Yeravada Central Prison. Find out the truth in this fact-check by 🔗Archis Chowdhury↗.

🔍 BOOM’s 🔗Srijit Das↗ debunked a clipped video of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi speaking at the parliament which went viral with a misleading claim that he said the Hindu god Hanuman did not burn Lanka, the kingdom of Ravana.

🅱️ Recommends

📖 This week's recommendation is: From fallacies to Semi-fake news : Improving the identification of misinformation triggers across digital media by Elena Musi and Chris Reed

A scholarly look at fallacies and how they shape narratives during crisis episodes.

Read More

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and designed by H Shiva Roy Chowdhury.

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