A screengrab of a broadcast by India TV aired on May 31 has been shared by several social media users. It reads, “प्रधानमंत्री की बड़ी बातें 1 करोड़ कोरोना मरीज़ों का फ्री में इलाज किया (Prime Minister’s big talk. 1 crore corona patients treated free of cost.)” A bottom ticket on the screen also stated the Prime Minister as saying, “Ayushman Bharat has benefitted the poor people of this country.” Based on the graphic, many individuals have mocked the PM stating that India has less than 2 lakh COVID-19 cases. while the total number of cases in the world is 62 lakh. Below is a tweet by lawyer Dushyant (@atti_cus) which garnered 8,600 likes and 3,500 retweets as of this writing.
The screengrab was also tweeted by Amina (@LuvAminaKausar) who describes herself as an American but Indian by heart.
Writer Sanjukta Basu tweeted, “So Modi did say 1 crore COVID patients treated free. India has 182k patients and even the whole world doesn’t have 1 crore.”
The graphic also reached Facebook. Below is a post by the page Dr.Manmohan Singh – Fan Club.
India TV airs erroneous graphic, PM Modi did not make the claim
The graphic was part of India TV’s broadcast aired in the morning of May 31 where PM Modi’s radio show ‘Mann ki Baat’ was played live. However, on June 1, India TV aired a correction. “Yesterday during the broadcast of Mann Ki Baat, it was reported that one crore patients of corona have been treated in India. This was a human mistake. Let us make it clear that the number of corona patients in India is not so high. We are sorry for this mistake.”
#Correction कल मन की बात के प्रसारण के दौरान ये खबर चली कि भारत में कोरोना के एक करोड़ मरीज़ों का इलाज हुआ। ये मानवीय भूल थी। हम साफ कर दें कि भारत में कोरोना मरीज़ों की संख्या इतनी ज्यादा नहीं है। इस गलती के लिए हमें खेद है। pic.twitter.com/bUk6VvhMwC
— India TV (@indiatvnews) June 1, 2020
India TV’s broadcast concerned PM Modi’s ‘Mann ki Baat’ address on May 30 where he spoke about the coronavirus pandemic and the Ayushman Bharat health scheme which he said has helped the poor. He can be heard talking about the same 18 minutes onward in the show. The Prime Minister stated that the beneficiaries of Ayushman Bharat scheme have crossed the figure of 1 crore. This was misreported by India TV as him claiming that 1 crore COVID-19 patients have been treated for free.
Therefore, an erroneous video report by India TV led many social media users to target PM Modi. However, India TV later clarified that the channel made a mistake.
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