The Indian Express today published a report claiming that the New Education Policy draft makes Hindi language compulsory till class 8.
The report claims that to adhere strictly to a three-language formula with Hindi as a compulsory language till class 8 is one of the key recommendations in the draft report. At present Hindi is not mandatory in non-Hindi speaking states like Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Goa, West Bengal and Assam.
However, the source-based Indian Express report if far from it. Union Minister for Human Resource Development Prakash Javadekar took to Twitter to call out the fake report.
https://twitter.com/PrakashJavdekar/status/1083221140275978240?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Describing the report as ‘mischievous and misleading’, Javadekar clarified that the Committee on New Education Policy in its draft report has not recommended making any language compulsory.
The Indian Express report was then cited by other news websites. Times Now website ran the news crediting Indian Express as the source and so did News18. However, News18 report did include Javadekar’s response busting Indian Express’ fake news.
This is not the first time Indian Express has indulged in spreading fake news. In May last year, the Indian Express had reported that kickbacks worth Rs. 17.5 crore were given to Indian officials in Ministry of Defence by a Ukrainian company. However, the Ministry of Defence had vehemently denied the report, calling it ‘misleading’.
Similarly, the Women’s and Child Development Ministry had slammed Indian Express in December 2017 for wrongly stating their stand on triple talaq. Indian Express has also been caught using misleading headline with Chinese propaganda during the Doklam standoff.