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Image Credit: Twitter/UP Congress, Twitter/Pankhuri Pathak
Did Modi Government Lose 2.8 Lakh Crore In 5G Spectrum Auction? No, Viral Newsclip Is Morphed
Writer: Jakir Hassan
A journalist at heart loves the in-depth work of reporting, writing, editing, research, and data analysis. A digital and social media enthusiast.
India, 5 Aug 2022 10:59 AM GMT
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As the founding editor, Bharat had been heading the newsroom during the formation years of the organization and worked towards editorial policies, conceptualizing and designing campaign strategies and collaborations. He believes that through the use of digital media, one could engage the millennial's in rational conversations about pertinent social issues, provoking them to think and bring a behavioral change accordingly.
Creatives : Jakir Hassan
A journalist at heart loves the in-depth work of reporting, writing, editing, research, and data analysis. A digital and social media enthusiast.
We found that the viral news clip is morphed. The real news clip did not mention the loss but the income of Rs 1.5 lakh crore to the government from the auction. This comes after India’s latest 5g spectrum auction ended on Monday, with bids upwards of Rs 1.5 lakh crore.
In the recent 5G spectrum auction, the government earned more than Rs 1.5 lakh crore. Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Jio, Sunil Bharti Mittal's Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and Gautam Adani's flagship unit of Adani Enterprises were in the race for 5G spectrum. Reliance Jio emerged as the largest bidder for the 5G spectrum, acquiring nearly half of all the airwaves sold in the auction for ₹ 88,078 crores.
Meanwhile, a screenshot of an English newspaper, 'Times Business mentioning a record loss in a 5g spectrum auction is viral on social media. The headline of the news reads, Rs. 280000000000000 5g Spectrum auction suffer a record loss of 2.8lakhs cr". While targeting Bharatiya Janata Party, many Congress leaders, accounts associated with the congress party, and social media users shared this newspaper clip and claimed the Government of India had suffered a loss of Rs 2.8 lakh crore in the auction of 5G spectrum.
Congress leader Pankhuri Pathak tweeted this clip and wrote, "5G स्कैम पर पूरे देश की मीडिया चुप ...कोई डिबेट, कोई शोर, कोई चर्चा नहीं! क्योंकि कई सारे 000 इनके मुंह में ठूंस कर इन्हें चुप करा रखा है."
[English Translation: The entire country's media is silent on the 5G scam. No debate, no noise, no discussion! Because many 000 have kept them silent by stuffing them in their mouths.]
Twitter handle of UP Congress and Bihar Youth Congress shared this image clip with a similar claim. UP Congress wrote, "केवल ज़ीरो गिनिए और देश के खजाने को हुए नुकसान का अंदाज़ा लगाइए! 2G के दौरान काल्पनिक आंकड़ें देने वाले 5G के आवंटन में हुए वास्तविक घपले पर मौन क्यों हैं.]
[English Translation: Just count to zero and imagine the loss to the nation's treasury! Why are those giving fictitious data during 2G silent on the actual scam in the allocation of 5G?]
Writer Ashok Kumar Pandey tweeted the newspaper cutting and wrote, "Count to zero and tell in how many days ED will raid on The Times?"
Congress leader Vinay Kumar Dokania, Madhya Pradesh Congress Sevadal also shared this newsclip with a similar claim.
It is being widely shared on Facebook as well.
Claim:
Viral newspaper claimed that the Government of India had suffered a loss of Rs 2.8 lakh crores in the auction of 5G spectrum.
Fact Check:
The Logical Indian fact check team verified the viral claim and found it to be false. The viral newspaper clip is morphed.
During the initial investigation, we observed the newspaper clip carefully and found that the amount written in the heading has 14 zeros after 28 i.e. this amount is 28 thousand lakh crore rupees. Whereas in the sub-heading, the amount of loss was stated to be Rs 2.8 lakh crore.
In further investigation, we searched for this news on the Times Business website. However, we did not find any news with the headline of loss of 2.8 lakh crores in 5G auction. Then we watched the newspaper carefully and saw that the viral clip has the byline of 'The Times of India' National Editor Pankaj Doval. We checked Pankaj Doval's Twitter account and found that he had tweeted the page of Times Business on August 2. The tweet's caption reads, "That's how the Business Page looks like when you start the day with record spectrum auctions and end the day with record auto sales." We found that the original news clip was not about the loss, but the auction's income of Rs 1.5 lakh crore to the government.
We then compared the original news clip with the viral clip and found the viral clip is morphed. Apart from the heading, the rest of the news on this page and the news mentioned in the viral clip were the same. Below you can see the comparison.
Our investigation shows that the screenshot of the viral newspaper shared by many Congress leaders and the Official handles to take a jibe at the BJP on 5g spectrum auction is morphed. The real news clip did not mention the loss but the income of Rs 1.5 lakh crores to the government from the auction.
If you have any news that you believe needs to be fact-checked, please email us at factcheck@thelogicalindian.com or WhatsApp at 6364000343.
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