It has been more than a week since the Narendra Modi government announced the decision to scrap Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes, citing the move is aimed at putting an end to black money. Despite serious criticism from the opposition, the Centre has maintained that the move will cause ‘temporary’ inconvenience to the people.
Social media is replete with posts supporting or opposing the demonetisation move. Being a democracy, everyone has the right to express an opinion on any issue. However, it has been seen that several netizens opposed to PM Modi have been circulating posts that are entirely false.
Here are some of the false news being circulated on the internet.
- One of the myth doing rounds is that soon the government will seal bank lockers and freeze gold and other jewellery items. The Press Information Bureau (PIB) has denied any such claims, terming it utter baseless.
7/n #DeMonetisationMythsBusted
MYTH: Next up – seal Bank lockers, freeze jewellery!
REALITY: Baseless! No such proposal!#DeMonetisation pic.twitter.com/BNBWCfQa4m
— PIB India (@PIB_India) November 16, 2016
- Another rumour doing rounds is that the newly introduced Rs 2,000 notes are of inferior quality and the colour comes off. The government has stated that the new notes have a security feature called intaglio printing. The test for a genuine currency is by rubbing it with a cloth. It results in a turbo-electric effect, transferring the ink into the cloth.
- New notes have chips embedded in them to crack down on black money hoarders. According to the government, it is purely a figment of imagination.
- The PM is going to address the nation again, demonetising Rs 100 and 50 notes. The government has categorically denied this claim, saying there are no intentions of scrapping any other denomination.
- There have been reports about shops being looted because the people did not have cash to purchase goods. Here’s what the Delhi Police said on the claims.
News Update pic.twitter.com/YYTYs4Zfwl
— Delhi Police (@DelhiPolice) November 12, 2016
- The news reports about salt being sold at Rs 300-400 per kilogrammes across the country went viral and created panic among people. Several consumers were seen thronging at ration shops only to find that it was being sold at nominal rates.
1. No shortage in the supply of edible salt.Baseless rumors being spread. Salt Commissioner& Jt.Secretary Shri Raghavendra monitoring ….
— Nirmala Sitharaman (@nsitharaman) November 11, 2016
- Another rumour doing the rounds was that the trade unions had gone to strike against demonetisation. Later, it was found that the viral messages doing rounds dated back to 2015.
False stories are being spread on social media such as institutions going on strike. On zooming the picture we found it was from 2015: Das pic.twitter.com/1L4UDmnCve
— ANI (@ANI_news) November 15, 2016
- A picture of a girl went viral with captions suggesting she was UP BJP president Keshav Prasad Maurya’s daughter with a bundle of Rs 2,000 notes. However, the picture was later found to be fake.
- Another false story doing the rounds was that indelible ink would be used to identify people who withdrew money from the banks. It is a lie as ink would be used only for exchanging notes at the counter.
- The social media was abuzz with rumours that there are only 2,500 ATMs in India. However, it was later revealed that by December 31, 2015, there are 33,250 ATMs in rural India, whereas 51,942 ATM machines are in semi-urban centres.
