Only days after he gave an interview to Republic Bharat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi yet again graced television sets across the country on 5 April, by giving an interview to ABP News.
Over the course of his 75-minute discussion, the prime minister made several claims, ranging from the terrorism in Kashmir to employment generation in the country.
Here is a fact-check on some of the claims PM Modi made in his interview.
CLAIM: "The incidents that used to occur before (in Jammu and Kashmir), there has been a drastic drop in that..."
According to figures from the MHA's annual report for 2017-18, there has in fact been an increase in incidents of terrorist violence from 2013 to 2017, as of 31 December 2017.
Incidents of terrorist violence :
2013 - 170
2014 - 222
2015 - 208
2016 - 322
2017 - 342
2018 - 231 (upto June)
According to a Rajya Sabha answer, upto June 2018, close to 231 incidents of terror were reported in that year alone.
Takeaway: There has been a steady increase in terror incidence in Jammu and Kashmir, and not a decrease, as claimed by the PM.
CLAIM: “Tourism is increasing in Jammu and Kashmir.”
According to the last available Economic Survey for the year 2017-18, tourist arrivals in Jammu and Kashmir, documented from 2012, have witnessed a steady fall.
2012: 1.25 crore
2013: 1.09 crore
2014: 95 lakh
2015: 92 lakh
2016: 84 lakh
2017: 73 lakh
Takeaway: The prime minister’s claim is false, as depicted by the table above.
CLAIM: "When in Tamil Nadu there were protests against nuclear power plant, the Congress jailed over 6,000 people on sedition charges."
According to a Firstpost report, a team led by senior journalist Sam Rajappa had found that close to 6,000 villagers were charged with sedition by Tamil Nadu Police for protesting against the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant between September and December 2011.
It is pertinent to note that the state was then ruled by the AIADMK, which is the BJP's current ally.
Takeaway: This claim is false. It was the AIADMK and not the DMK-Congress combine that was then at the state's helm.
CLAIM: "4.25 crore people have taken loans for the first time under the MUDRA scheme. They would have started their own business and employed people. Is that not job generation? The CII report on the MSME sector mentions that close to 6 crore jobs have been created in that sector alone."
Firstly, taking loans under MUDRA can hardly be counted as an avenue or means for employment generation.
Secondly, according to data provided by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), the labour force participation rate between 2016-2018 has witnessed a steady decline, as can be seen in the table below:
Labour force participation rate
Sept-Dec 2016: 45.98
Sept-Dec 2017: 44.00
Sept-Dec 2018: 42.81
Meanwhile, the unemployment rate has fluctuated in the three-year period, as seen in the table below.
Unemployment rate according to CMIE
Sept-Dec 2016: 6.74
Sept-Dec 2017: 4.89
Sept-Dec 2018: 6.68
The government's refusal to publish data does not allow for any concrete evidence on the jobs created in the country. The RBI database has no records on employment since 2011-12.
The Economic Survey no longer provides updated numbers. An NSSO report said that at 6.1%, unemployment was at a 45-year high. Meanwhile, the CMIE pegs the current unemployment rate at 6.7%.
Takeaway: Lack of government-backed data does not allow for any concrete evidence on the jobs created in the country.
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