Ever since the Government of India launched the Agnipath scheme for recruitment in the Indian Armed Forces, along with violent protests, a barrage of misinformation is also being spread against the scheme by nefarious elements. Only today (June 20), the official handle of the PIB India had to post a Tweet debunking a fake letter circulating on social media on the Agnipath Recruitment scheme, which was claimed to be issued by the Ministry of Defence.
Sharing a screenshot of the fake letter, PIB warned that the letter is fake. “The Ministry of Defence has not issued this letter”, read the Tweet.
Claim: ORs attested after 1 Jan 2019 & those not promoted to a substantive rank of Naik or equivalent on 1 July 2022 are to be kept under #AgnipathScheme #PIBFactCheck
— PIB Fact Check (@PIBFactCheck) June 20, 2022
▶️This letter is #Fake
▶️@DefenceMinIndia has not issued this letter pic.twitter.com/79SEUU1hHv
According to PIB, the letter circulating with claims of being issued by the Ministry of Defence to the chiefs of the Indian Armed Forces speaks about the revised terms and tenure of service for recently enrolled jawans, airmen and sailors. The letter is dated June 17, 2022, and duly signed by one MK Ramanna who has signed the letter as the Additional Secretary to GOI.
The fake letter was shared by several social media users on Twitter, trying to create more confusion and misinformation about the Agnipath scheme.
I only hope that this letter👇is fake otherwise the repurcussions are going to be very serious. It would invite endless litigation. pic.twitter.com/3GNHLnVtot
— Mukul (@Warrior_Mukul) June 19, 2022
The letter claims that the ORs attested after 1 Jan 2019 and those not promoted to a substantive rank of Naik or equivalent on 1 July 2022 are to be kept under the Agnipath Scheme. While dismissing the latter’s specific claim, PIB deemed the entire letter to be a fabrication.
Notably, OpIndia also did not find any MK Ramanna’s name in the list of officials working for the Indian Defence Ministry.
Centre bans 35 WhatsApp groups for spreading misinformation on Agnipath scheme, arrests 10 for spreading fake news
Earlier, on June 19, the centre banned 35 WhatsApp groups for spreading misinformation about the Agnipath scheme. The govt is tracking people spreading misinformation about the scheme, and taking action against such people.
Reportedly, the WhatsApp groups were found spreading wrong information about the Agnipath recruitment scheme and were fuelling violence against it. The union home ministry informed that other than banning the messaging groups, at least 10 persons also have been arrested for spreading fake news about the armed forces recruitment scheme.
The central govt has also appealed to the people to report any people or group spreading such fake news about the Agnipath scheme. People can inform the PIB fact check team about such spreading of misinformation through WhatsApp on the number 8799711259.
Notably, the Indian Army on Sunday released terms and conditions and related details for prospective applicants wanting to join the force under the Agnipath military recruitment scheme. OpIndia had also written a detailed report on the FAQs based on the information provided by the Ministry of Defence and the Armed Forces which would help individuals in understanding the scheme better.
