Fact Check: Viral claim that Om Birla’s daughter cleared UPSC without taking exam is false

New Delhi (Vishvas News): A post regarding Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla’s daughter Anjali is going viral on social media again. In this post, it is being claimed that Anjali Birla passed the UPSC exam in the very first attempt without taking the exam. It attempts to convey that she received the benefit of her father’s position. Vishvas News investigated and found the viral claim to be fake. Our investigation revealed that Anjali had appeared for the exam and cleared both rounds of the UPSC exams in the first attempt, and also cleared the interview.

Earlier too Vishvas News has debunked the claim that Anjali qualified for UPSC without taking the exam.

Claim:

Facebook user Abhishek Singh Kushwaha on April 1 wrote in a post in Hindi, which roughly translates to: “Congratulations everything is possible since Modi is there teach your children as much as you want and I’m sitting at home Jai Jai Shri Mahakal.”

In this post, using the picture of Om Birla and his daughter, it was written, “Anjali, daughter of Lok Sabha Speaker Shri Om Birla ji, became IAS without any exam. Congratulations. Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla’s daughter Anjali Birla became IAS in the first attempt (that too without taking exam.) 90 seats which were kept for backdoor entry. The trend has started. The back door entry in the country’s most trusted UPSC exam has started preparations to close the entrance of UPSC for the hard working competitive students, children of the poor and rural people of the country. Now you just be ready to make your children servants, not officers.”

The archived link to the post can be accessed here.

Investigation

Vishvas News first resorted to Google open search tool to verify the veracity of the viral claim. In this, on searching about Anjali Birla, a report of Times of India was found. Published on January 5, 2021, it read Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla’s daughter Anjali Birla has cleared the Civil Services Examination conducted by the UPSC in the first attempt. Read the full news here.

Taking the investigation forward, Vishvas News scanned the website of UPSC. Here we got a notification dated January 4, 2021. It said the result of Civil Services Main Examination 2019 was released on August 4, 2020, itself, in which 829 candidates were named. Since the total vacancies were 927, the Commission has released the Consolidated Reserve List under Rule No. 16(4) & (5) of the Civil Services Examination Rules, it said. On scanning this list, we found Anjali Birla’s name at number 67. Her roll number was 0851876.

Taking the investigation further, Vishvas News checked the result of UPSC preliminary exam 2019, and found Anjali’s roll number in it. It was clear that she had cleared the exam. Taking the investigation further, Anjali’s roll number was also found in the UPSC Main Exam 2019 Result.

Vishvas News also contacted Anjali Birla during the investigation. Sharing the details of her UPSC attempt, she said, “I gave the prelims exam on June 2, 2019, and the mains exam on September 20. After this, the interview was on March 20, 2020. The UPSC main exam was held at Atal Adarsh Vidyalaya, New Delhi. I got a lot of support from my mother and sister in my studies.”

Anjali Birla had also shared the details of the application form and a copy of the admit card with Vishvas News. Previous investigations of Vishvas News can be read in detail here.

At the end of the investigation, the user who posted the fake post was investigated. Social scanning of Facebook user Abhishek Singh Kushwaha revealed that this account was created in January 2011.

Conclusion: Vishvas News investigated and found the viral post to be fake. The claim that Anjali Birla cleared the UPSC exam without taking any exam or interview is completely baseless. Investigation proved that Anjali had cleared the interview after clearing the prelims and main exam.

Tags

• Fact Check
• fake news
• Om Birla