On Monday, September 11, the Press Information Bureau (PIB) took to X, formally Twitter to debunk the reports and social media accounts that claimed that the Indian government spent 300 per cent more on the G20 event than the funds that were previously allocated for the event in the budget. “This claim is misleading,” the official handle of the PIB fact check stated.
A tweet claims Govt spent 300% more on #G20 than funds allocated in budget#PIBFactCheck
— PIB Fact Check (@PIBFactCheck) September 11, 2023
1 This claim is misleading
2 The quoted expenditure is majorly towards permanent asset creation by ITPO & other infrastructure development which is not limited to hosting G20 Summit alone pic.twitter.com/CRGkraJw3J
Several so-called liberals and leftists targeted the central government amid the G20 summit in Delhi claiming that the government had spent Rs 4,100 crore for the two-day event. TMC MP Saket Gokhale also said that the amount allocated in the budget for the event was Rs 990 crore and that the centre had spent Rs 4,100 for the two-day event.
He also targeted the BJP and said, “Why shouldn’t BJP be made to pay this extra Rs 3110 cr since it was clearly non-essential spending purely for Modi’s self-advertisement and personal PR for 2024 elections?”
Also, Congress MP KC Venugopal criticized the government for allegedly spending a massive amount for a day event. This govt that cannot ensure cheap LPG or petrol/diesel refuses to compensate farmers who faced crop destruction does not release adequate funds for the restoration of flood-devastated Himachal Pradesh, has overshot the budget for this image-building exercise by 10x,” he said.
“No number of beautification drives can hide the economic mess this government has spread across the country. We don’t need to look any further than the flooded Bharat Mandapam to know how public money has gone down the drain,” he added.
One of the Congress supporters on Twitter claimed that the BJP was just promoting itself ahead of the 2024 elections. “G20 was an advertisement and no use to anyone,” he said. He also claimed that a massive amount of public money was wasted by the government amid the G20 event.
Apart from the liberals and opposition leaders, several media houses like Business Today, India Times, Deccan Herald, WION news, etc. also furthered similar information. A report by India Times said that the amount spent by the government for the G20 event in Delhi is four times the amount designated in the budget.
It also said that several countries like Indonesia, Japan, Argentina, China, etc. had spent much less than India on hosting international summits.
Expense toward permanent asset creation: PIB fact checks misleading claims on G20 Summit
However, the PIB fact check called out all the reports and said that misleading information was being spread by some media houses and political leaders. “A tweet claims the government spent 300% more on G20 than funds allocated in the budget. This claim is misleading. The quoted expenditure is majorly towards permanent asset creation by ITPO & other infrastructure development which is not limited to hosting G20 Summit alone,” the PIB Fact Check said quoting TMC MP Saket Gokhale’s tweet.
Group of Twenty or G20 is a group of 20 nations including the EU which was established in 1999, to facilitate discussions and cooperation on global economic and financial issues. India holds the presidency for the year 2023- which is done in rotation. A geopolitical event of this magnitude has a far-reaching direct as well as a notional impact on India which can benefit the country in the coming several years, maybe decades.
