Yogi Adityanath claims Uttar Pradesh govt gave farmers Rs 80,000 cr, when it actually gave 1/6th that amount

By Chaitanya Mallapur Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath, in an interview, talked about his government’s performance over the last 10 months, ahead of the investors summit held on February 21 and 22, 2018. We fact-checked five claims made by the UP chief minister–on direct benefit transfer (DBT), ease of doing business rankings, riots, dues paid to sugarcane farmers and hours of power supply to farmers–of which two are unclear, one false, one true and one partially true. Claim: “In the last 10 months, Uttar Pradesh government has disbursed over Rs 80,000 crore to farmers via direct benefit transfer.”

In last 10 months, UP Govt has disbursed over Rs 80k cr to farmers via DBT. Govt is in progress to make 1 lk cr hectar land cultivable in coming years, says UP CM Yogi Adityanath in an #EXCLUSIVE interview with our Executive Editor @SupriyaShrinate. pic.twitter.com/F4fgZXrC9i

— ET NOW (@ETNOWlive) February 19, 2018

Fact: False. The UP government gave Rs 14,540 crore in 2017-18 under DBT through 682.5 million transactions, according to the government’s DBT dashboard on 21 February, 2018. The government reported 49 million beneficiaries and savings of Rs 128 crore through these transactions.       Achievements  Rs 14,540 crore  Rs 127.59 crore  68.25 crore  4.90 crore  

  Source: Uttar Pradesh Government – Direct Benefit Transfer   Adityanath took over as the chief minister on 19 March, 2017, after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won 312 out of 403 (77.4 percent) seats in the state Assembly elections held last year. As many as 634 million people have benefitted from DBT across the country in 2017-18 with Rs 1.03 lakh crore given till February 21, 2018. About 1,797 million transactions were reported with savings of Rs 57,029 crore. Under cash schemes like direct benefit transfer for liquefied petroleum gas (PAHAL), direct cash transfer for food grains and Atal Pension Yojana, the central government transferred Rs 82,287 crore to 407.8 million beneficiaries in 2017-18 (as on 21 February, 2018). The expenditure under in-kind schemes like Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (Prime Minister’s crop insurance scheme) and Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (Prime Minister’s scheme to provide free cooking gas connections to women from below poverty line households) was Rs 21,062 crore with 436.5 million beneficiaries. Claim: “We were at 17th position in ease of doing business, now we are at seventh position over a period of 10 months.”

In the ease of doing business, we were at No. 17th position. Now, we are at No. 7 position: UP CM @myogiadityanath to @SupriyaShrinate #YogiInterview

— TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) February 19, 2018

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Fact: Unclear. Uttar Pradesh is ranked 14th in the ease of doing business ranking in 2017, maintaining its earlier position of 2016, according to the central government dashboard that tracks the implementation real-time as on February 21, 2018. The rankings are updated each time a response by a state is validated by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, a division of the commerce ministry. The state, however, has improved in terms of score from 84.52 percent in 2016 to 95.12 percent in 2017. The state was ranked 10th in 2015 with a score of 47.37 percent.

Source: Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion; *2017 ranking as on February 21, 2018.

  Claim: “No riots took place in the state over the last 10 months.”

EXCLUSIVE: Yogi Adityanath says no riots took place in UP in 10 months; vows to promote Taj Mahal#YogiInterviewhttps://t.co/WNS21SCpEA

— TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) February 19, 2018

Fact: Unclear. Uttar Pradesh reported the most (195) communal incidents across the country in 2017 that killed 44 people and left 542 injured, according to this reply to the Lok Sabha (Parliament’s upper house) on February 6, 2018. The state accounted for almost one-fourth of all communal incidents in the country last year. Source: Lok Sabha Communal incidents in UP increased 47 percent from 133 in 2014 to 195 in 2017, _IndiaSpend_ reported on 9 February, 2018. The reply by the home ministry does not specify under which sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) these incidents were reported. The National Crime Records Bureau, under the home ministry, collects and maintains records of crimes across the country. Cases for riots are registered under section 147 to 151 of the IPC while cases pertaining to “promoting enmity on ground of religion race and place of birth” are reported under section 153A of the IPC. Kasganj in western UP witnessed communal violence on January 26, 2018, in which a 22-year old youth–Chandan Gupta–was killed after being hit by a bullet. As many as 44 people were arrested in connection with the violence, which erupted over an unauthorised march on Republic Day, The Indian Express reported on January 27, 2018. However, the director general of police said that the Kasganj violence was a group clash and not a communal violence, Scroll.in reported on February 14, 2018. Claim: “We have implemented farm loan waiver and paid Rs 25,000 crore due to sugarcane farmers.” Fact: Partially true. The Uttar Pradesh government paid Rs 23,044 crore (91 percent) out of Rs 25,387 crore due during the sugarcane crushing season in 2016-17, Ram Vilas Paswan, minister of consumer affairs, food and public distribution, told the Rajya Sabha in his reply on 11 August, 2017. The outstanding dues then were reported to be Rs 2,343 crore, as on July 31, 2017. “Almost three months have passed since the crushing season began, but sugar mill owners are yet to pay the Rs 2,200 crore due to the farmers in Uttar Pradesh," The Hindu reported on 25 January, 2018. The UP government processed loan waivers of Rs 7,371 crore in the first phase, Livemint reported on 13 September, 2017. Only one million (11 percent) of the 8.6 million targeted debt-ridden farmers in the state could receive the maximum benefit of Rs 1 lakh under the scheme, The Times of India reported on 19 February, 2018. Claim: “Farmers in Uttar Pradesh are receiving power supply for 18 hours in their villages.”

EXCLUSIVE: Yogi Adityanath says no riots took place in UP in 10 months; vows to promote Taj Mahal#YogiInterviewhttps://t.co/WNS21SCpEA

— TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) February 19, 2018

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Fact: True. The average power supply to the agriculture sector in Uttar Pradesh was reported to be 18.08 hours per day in January 2018, according to Central Electricity Authority’s January 2018 report. As many as 13.7 million rural households in UP are yet to be electrified as on February 21, 2018, according to the central government’s real-time dashboard. About a third of voters had said power cut was the biggest problem in the state, IndiaSpend reported on 6 February, 2017. As many as 38 percent of those surveyed said they faced power cuts every day while 16 percent said they faced power cuts every week.