As is his usual practice, PM Modi peppered his Independence Day speech with many data points and we fact-check his claims here.
Claim:
PM Modi said, if his government was to continue with the pace that development projects were being executed in 2013, then many of his government’s achievements would have taken decades to happen.
Fact:
Rural Electrification
Villages electrified in 2013-14: 1197
Villages electrified in 2014-18: 18,374
Thus, at the pace that UPA government was working at in 2013-14, it would have taken about 15 years to supply electricity to the number of villages NDA did in 4 years.
It is important to mention here that a ‘factchecker’ has tried to say that this claim is false.
This is disingenuous and deliberately misleading. PM Modi clearly mentioned only the pace of 2013 and not the pace between 2005 and 2013. It is clearly dishonest to impute to the PM something other than what he said and ‘factcheck’ it as false.
Toilets
Toilets constructed in 2013-14 by UPA: 49 lakh
Toilets constructed in 2014-18 by NDA: 8 crore
Thus, working at the pace set in 2013-14 – the pace which the NDA government inherited, it would have taken 16 years to construct 8 crore toilets, something that happened in 4 years instead.
LPG Connections to BPL Families
Free LPG connections given to BPL households in 2013-14 by the UPA government: 3 lakh
Free LPG connections given to BPL households in 2014-18 by the NDA: 5.21 crore
Thus, at 3 lakh connections per year which were the pace the NDA government inherited from UPA, it would have taken a whopping 170 years for LPG connections to reach 5.21 crore BPL households.
Verdict: True
Claim:
A decline in LWE – from 126 districts to 90 Districts
Fact:
There has been a 20% fall in incidents of LWE violence between 2013 and 2017, and also a 34% fall in deaths related to LWE violence across the same period.
There used to be 126 districts marked as LWE affected. Out of these 44 districts came out of this LWE affected group while 8 got added.
Hence, 90 districts in 11 States are now categorized as LWE affected, down from 126.
Verdict: True
Claim:
Construction of rural homes doubled
Fact:
Rural houses completed in 2013-14 by UPA is 10.51 lakh
Rural houses completed in 2017-18 by NDA is 44.54 lakh
The number is clearly quadruple.
Verdict: True
Claim:
Women empowerment is visible even in the Indian Cabinet.
Fact:
Modi’s Council of Ministers consists of 9 female ministers, of whom 6 hold the rank of Cabinet minister. This is the highest number of female Cabinet ministers in any Indian government in history.
Verdict: True
Claim:
Supreme Court has three women judges.
Fact:
With the induction of Justice Indira Banerjee, the SC now has three women judges. This is the highest number of women judges in the apex court ever.
Verdict: True
Claim:
13 crore MUDRA loans given to entrepreneurs and among them 4 crore are first-time entrepreneurs.
Fact:
About 13.55 crore MUDRA loans have been given and it is a fact that around 3.5 crores of them are first-time entrepreneurs. So, although it is not 4 crore as PM claimed, it is close enough at 3.5 crores.
‘Factchecker’ in trying fact-check PM Modi ends up mixing millions and crores and making a mistake on this one. It is not 3.5 million first-time entrepreneurs but 35 million.
Verdict: True
Claim:
Sale of Khadi doubled after the NDA government came in
Fact:
Sales of Khadi clocked Rs 1,081 crore in 2013-14.
In 2017-18, it was Rs. 2,503 crore according to KVIC. This is more than double the sales of 2013-14.
Verdict: True
Claim:
Double the length of highways being built
Fact:
In the UPA era, between 2010-11 and 2013-14, the length of national highways constructed was 16,505 km.
In the NDA era, between 2013-14 and 2017-18 the length of national highways constructed is 28,531 km. This is a little less than double the pace.
Verdict: True
Other factual highlights of PM Modi’s speech
PERMANENT SERVICE COMMISSION FOR WOMEN ANNOUNCED
ECONOMY:
- India became the 6th biggest economy of the world.
SOCIAL JUSTICE:
- Constitutional status to National Commission on Backward Classes
PROGRESS FROM 2013:
- Record grain production
- Record mobile manufacturing
- Record tractors being sold
- Record aeroplanes being sold
DIGITAL INDIA:
- 3 Lakh villages have common serviced centres run by local youth
TECHNOLOGY AND SPACE:
- More than 100 satellites launched in a single rocket.
- Mangalyan successful in the first attempt.
- BY 2022 INDIGENOUS MANNED SPACE MISSION WILL BE LAUNCHED, India to become 4th country in the world to do so.
AGRICULTURE:
- India became the 2nd largest fish producer
- Ethanol production increased by 3 times
WOMEN EMPOWERMENT:
- Government is considering granting permanent commission (PC) to short service commission (SSC) women army officers.
OTHER:
- MSP: decision to offer 1.5 times MSP to farmers
- GST passed
- Insolvency & Bankruptcy Law passed
- Benami property law amended
- One Rank One Pension
HEALTH:
PM JAN AROGYA YOJANA: Ayushman Bharat will be launched on 25th September (birth anniversary of Pt. Deen Dayal Upadhyaya) insuring 10 crore families with INR 5 lakh per year, making it one of the largest healthcare schemes so much so that total number of beneficiaries of Ayuhman Bharat will be more than the total population of USA, Canada and Mexico combined.
POVERTY:
A recent report said “In the last two years, 5 crore people in India have come above the poverty line”
GHOST BENEFICIARIES:
6 crore ghost beneficiaries removed. It has resulted in INR 90,000 crore saving.
TAXPAYERS
One honest taxpayer is to be credited for 3 poor persons having their meal.
- Direct taxpayers jump: from 3.5 crores in 2013 to 6.75 crores.
- Indirect taxpayers: 70 lakh in 70 years, after GST, this number has increased to 1 crore 16 lakh in last one year itself.
ANTI-CORRUPTION:
- Online environmental clearance.
- 3 lakh Shell companies closed.
WOMEN EMPOWERMENT:
- 3 women judges in Supreme Court (highest till date)
- The union cabinet has the highest number of women in its history
- PERMANENT SERVICE COMMISSION FOR WOMEN ANNOUNCED
- Muslim women: Triple Tall bill introduced
- Women team has circumvented the globe, reference to INS Tarini
- Fast track courts for rape crime
Example -1. Katani rape case(MP): verdict out in 5 days giving death sentence to convicts.
2. Same is being done in Rajasthan.
SECURITY:
- AFSPA revoked in Tripura, Meghalaya and some districts of Arunachal Pradesh
(This article was first published on TheTruePicture.org)
OpIndia Editor’s note: A website called factchecker.in had tried to claim that some of the claims by Prime Minister Modi are false. They are they ‘fact-checkers’ mentions in the first point of this article. This website has been caught by us earlier spreading canards as well. We had earlier fact-checked its claims regarding the power ministry. They had also published a ‘fact-check’ claiming to counter Prime Minister Modi. We had reported how their fact-check itself was based on misreported passport rules.
