Facebook was flooded with posts claiming that Anjali Birla, the daughter of Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, passed the Indian Administrative Services (IAS) exam without even taking the test. The claim is false; official exam records show that Anjali Birla took both the preliminary and main tests of the country’s top civil service exam in 2019.
The claim was published alongside a photo of Om Birla and Anjali on Facebook on January 7, 2021.
The post’s Hindi caption translates to English as: “Om Birla’s daughter cleared IAS in the first attempt. She didn’t undertake any exam. 90 seats kept for back door entry (reserve list) for the country’s most prestigious examination are being used for officials with power instead of poor, hard-working, people from a rural background and deserving candidates.”
The IAS exam, also known as the Civil Services Examination, is a highly competitive testing process for candidates seeking to join the Indian Administrative Services (IAS), the administrative branch of the Indian government. The test is administered by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) every year.
The photo and the claim were also published on Facebook here, here and here.
The claim, however, is false.
Anjali Birla’s name does appear on the list of reserve candidates from the 2019 examinations published on the UPSC website here.
Anjali Birla’s roll number — 0851876, as seen above — appears on the IAS’ list of 2019 preliminary exam takers here and main exam takers here.
Anjali Birla also refuted the false claim, calling it “baseless criticism” in an Instagram post on January 8, 2021.
“Rumours have always been fun to hear but I haven’t come across such a baseless, mindless criticism,” she said.
Read all the Latest News, Breaking News and Coronavirus News here
Comments
0 comment