Fact Check: Rahul Gandhi did not promise ₹1 lakh annually for using Facebook, Instagram
Rahul Gandhi was explaining the apprenticeship scheme termed "Pehli Naukri Pakki' mentioned in the Congress manifesto.
A video of Rahul Gandhi's speech where he promises to credit an annual sum of Rs. 1 lakh to those who are surfing Facebook, Instagram, etc. is being shared on social media (here, here, and here). Let's verify the viral video shared.
The archived post can be seen here.
Claim: Rahul Gandhi's speech promised to credit an annual sum of Rs. 1 lakh for those youth who are surfing on social media.
Fact: This clip is from Rahul Gandhi's election campaign for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in Bhagalpur, Bihar on April 20, 2024. At the 10:59 timestamp, he discussed the Congress manifesto's apprenticeship scheme, termed "Pehli Naukri Pakki." He explained that "under this scheme, all graduates and diploma holders in India would be granted the right to an apprenticeship. This entails providing every youth in India with the opportunity for their initial job experience. Similar to the rights provided by MNREGA for earning, graduates would be entitled to a one-year apprenticeship, during which Rs. 1,00,000 annually would be deposited into their bank accounts, equivalent to Rs. 8,500 per month. If they perform well during this period, they will be eligible for permanent employment." The viral video is clipped from 12:40 to 12:57 timestamps and shared on social media. Hence, the claim made in the post is Misleading.
On performing the reverse image search using the keyframes of the viral video, we found the live-streamed video of Rahul Gandhi's speech on his official YouTube channel. This video was published during his election campaign for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in Bhagalpur, Bihar on April 20, 2024.
On observing the video, we found that at 9:30 timestamp, Gandhi started speaking about unemployment under PM Modi's government. Gandhi's statement goes, "Under Narendra Modi's leadership, India has become a hub of unemployment. If you ask any young person what they do, they'll likely say they're not employed. Instead, they spend seven to eight hours on Instagram and Facebook. Why? Because unemployment has become widespread under Narendra Modi's tenure."
Further, he discussed apprenticeship, noting that wealthy individuals secure these opportunities while the less affluent in the nation are unable to access such programs. At the 10:59 timestamp, he discussed the Congress manifesto's (archived) apprenticeship scheme, termed "Pehli Naukri Pakki." He explained that "under this scheme, all graduates and diploma holders in India would be granted the right to an apprenticeship. This entails providing every youth in India with the opportunity for their initial job experience. Similar to the rights provided by MNREGA for earning, graduates would be entitled to a one-year apprenticeship, during which Rs. 1,00,000 annually would be deposited into their bank accounts, equivalent to Rs. 8,500 per month. If they perform well during this period, they will be eligible for permanent employment. These apprenticeship opportunities would be available across various sectors, including the private, public, and government sectors. This initiative aims to provide training to millions of young individuals, thereby equipping India with a skilled workforce."
He reiterated that "under the apprenticeship scheme, Rs. 1 lakh would be offered annually, with Rs. 8500 deposited into the accounts of young individuals who are currently unemployed and spend their time browsing social media, from the 12:40 to 12:57 timestamps." This portion is clipped and shared on social media.
To sum up, Rahul Gandhi did not promise an annual amount of Rs. 1 lakh to unemployed youth who spend time on social media but explained the apprenticeship scheme mentioned in the Congress manifesto.
Disclaimer: This story was originally published by Factly, and republished by HT Digital as part of the Shakti Collective.
