750cabinetPrime Minister Narendra Modi (centre) chairing his first cabinet meeting in New Delhi on May 27, 2014. Image: PIB

During the last week of May 2015, several ministries of the Central Government released performance report-cards, listing their achievements during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's one year in office.

A fact-check of 14 departments and ministries reveals a string of overblown or misleading claims--alongside many new initiatives.

These claims range from factually incorrect assertions, such as “only 2km/day (of) road was being constructed, during 2009-14” or “production of (soil-fertility boosting) neem-coated urea is a fresh initiative of this government” to selective reporting, such as “electricity generation touched a trillion-unit mark--the highest ever” or “highest-ever electrification of railway routes” to implied references to the launch of new programmes.

It emerges that many "new" programmes, such as “Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayi Yojana (Prime Minister’s Irrigation Programme), Deen Dayal Upadhyay Gram Jyoti Yojana (Deen Dayal Upadhyay Rural Electrification Programme), Deen Dayal Upadhyay Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (Deen Dayal Upadhyay Rural Skill Programme)”, are repackaged versions of existing programs.

This is not to say that everything is exaggerated. Mixed in with the exaggerated and overblown claims are many initiatives, such as the establishment of new agriculture universities, new, universal social- security programs and the biggest-ever drug-resistant survey in the world for 13 tuberculosis drugs.

Over the next 14 days, using publicly available data—almost all of it from the government itself—Factchecker will run detailed examinations of the public claims made by Modi's ministries.

Today: Agriculture Ministry: Old Schemes Renamed, Other Misleading Claims

Fact Checker