CLAIM
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the new government’s first budget on Friday, 5 July.
Soon after the budget speech was over, Twitter was abuzz with a claim that Sitharaman had said that the government has distributed “35,000 crore LED bulbs” under the Ujala Yojana, a scheme aimed at enhancing awareness on using efficient equipment to reduce electricity bills and preserve the environment.
Many users took a dig at the government hinting at corruption in the name of the scheme.
The message was shared along with a screenshot of a TV screen graphic plate which read, “35,000 crore LED bulbs distributed”.
TRUE OR FALSE?
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman didn’t say 35,000 crore LED bulbs were distributed under Ujala scheme. What she had in fact said was “approximately 35 crore LED bulbs have been distributed under UJALA Yojana leading to cost saving of 18,341 crores annually.”
WHAT WE FOUND OUT
We went through the finance minister’s speech in the Parliament and found out that while talking about “Ease of living” Sitharaman said:
“A programme of mass scaling up of LED bulbs for widespread distribution at household level was taken up resulting into massive replacement of incandescent bulbs and CFLs in the country. Approximately 35 crore LED bulbs have been distributed under UJALA Yojana leading to cost saving of 18,341 crores annually.”Nirmala Sitharaman, Finance Minister
Here is the full video of Sitharaman speaking to the Parliament and she can be heard making the statement at around 1 hour and 24 minutes.
The entire budget speech which has been uploaded on the ‘Indiabudget.gov’ website quotes Sitharaman as saying that 35 crore bulbs were distributed under the scheme.
The Quint spoke to a source at CNBC Awaaz who confirmed that the graphic was used by mistake but was taken off air immediately.
(This copy has been updated to incorporate the quote from CNBC Awaaz)
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