A recent claim was made by a leading news channel about the government mulling over a 30 per cent salary cut for its employees. The channel said that the government employees might have 30 per cent deductions in their salaries due to the coronavirus pandemic as the proposal was on the table and was being discussed.
Claims made
The reports stated that the pay cut was mulled in a graded manner adding that Grade-D and contractual staff to be exempted from this pay cut.
Verifying the claims
The news is fake and holds no relevance. The Ministry of Finance and Press Information Bureau (PIB) on Monday out rightly denied these reports that claimed salary cut of central government employees amid coronavirus pandemic.
Ministry of Finance said on its Twitter handle, "The reports in some section of media are false and have no basis whatsoever."
The Ministry said that no such proposal was being considered. It further added, "Please beware of fake news."
There were similar claims made in April and the Finance Ministry had that time also come out with a clarification over the reported claim of a salary cut.
In the April statement, the Ministry had stated, "It is being reported that a 20 percent cut in Central Government Pensions is being planned. This news is FALSE. There will be no cut in pension disbursements."
It should be noted that all MPs, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his entire council of ministers, had accepted a 30 per cent pay cut for a year, starting 1 April, as the government need to collect finances to tackle the COVID-19 crisis.
PIB's fact check post on Twitter garnered a huge response from Twitter users. Many stated that such fake news is the least people need in such crisis times. Broadcast media needs to be more responsible before circulating such news.
People demanded action against the news channel in question stating that if the government fails to take action; the accountability of news channels will reduce. It was added that many people are watching news channels in the country, especially during the lockdown when the number of viewers watching the news on TV has seen a steep rise.
