Fact Check: Viral message about education of Bihar ministers in misleading

New Delhi (Vishvas News): Vishvas News came across a message being widely shared on WhatsApp and other social media platforms. The viral message states that it is the reply of Bihar government on the RTI filed. Vishvas News in its investigation found the viral message to be misleading.

What is in the viral post?

Facebook user Amitabha Choudhary posted a long message on his Facebook profile and wrote:

RTI REPLY OF BIHAR GOVT :

Bihar Cabinet Members.. Their Departments.. Educational Qualifications..

1. Nitish Kumar CM – Engr
2. Tejaswi Yadav – Dy CM – 9th Class Fail
3. Tej Pratap Yadav – Health, Irrigation and Transport – Class 12 Fail
4. Abdul Bari – Finance Minister – 12th Class
5. Bijendra Yadav – Power Minister – Class 10 Fail
6. Manju Verma – Social Welfare – 12th Class
7. Manmohan Jha – Land – 7th Class
8. Madan Sahani – Fertilizers – 10th Class
9. Ashok Chaudhary – Education – 10th Class
10. Vijay Prakash – Laborer – 5th Class
11. Kapil Dev Kamat – Panchayat – 3rd Class
12. Santosh Nirala – SC/ST Department – 12th Class
13. Abdul Jalil – Planning – 8th Class
14. Chandra Shekhar – Disaster Management – 4th Class
15. Jai Kumar Singh – Industries – 10th Class
16. Krishna Chandra Verma – Law – 6th Class
17. Khurshid Feroze – Small Scale Industry – 5th Class
18. Shailesh Kumar – Rural Development – 2nd Class
19. Alok Mehta – Co-operative – 3rd Class
20. Shiva Chandra Ram – Agriculture – Illiterate

Voters: graduates and post-graduates among others😡😭

Suprabhat

Check the post and its archive version here.

Investigation:

Vishvas News started its investigation by checking the education of all the ministers on by one as mentioned in the viral post.

We started with CM Nitish Kumar. According to the election affidavit of Nitish Kumar, his highest education qualification is indeed BSc (Engg) from Bihar College of Engineering, Patna. Nitish Kumar is indeed the Chief Minister of Bihar as claimed in the post.

The viral post claimed that Tejashwi Yadav, deputy CM of Bihar, is 9th fail. However, according to his election affidavit, he is 9th pass. It is true that Tejashwi is currently the deputy CM of Bihar.

The viral post claimed that Tej Pratap Yadav is an intermediate. This was reaffirmed by his election affidavit. Tej Pratap Yadav is not Health, Irrigation and Transport minister as claimed in the post but is minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.

The data in viral post suggests that Abdul Bari Siddiqui is just 12th class. But we found that he has a degree from AN College, Magadh University. Abdul Bari is Finance Minister as also claimed in the viral post.

Bijendra Prasad Yadav is 10th fail according to the viral message. But according to election commission website, he is 12th pass. Bijendra Prasad Yadav is MLA and not Power Minister as claimed in the viral post.

Manju Verma is indeed 12th pass as stated in the viral message. Manju Verna is Member of Bihar Legislative Assembly and not Social Welfare minister.

According to a viral message, Murari Mohan Jha has studied till seventh standard. However, the ECI website confirms that he passed class 10. Murari Mohan Jha is MLA and not Land Minister.

According to the viral message, Madan Sahni is 10th pass. However, according to ECI website, he is a graduate. Madan Sahni is an MLA and not a minister for fertilizers as stated in viral message.

The viral massage states that Ashok Chodhary has studied till tenth class. However, he is an MA from Patna University and a Phd from Magadh University in Bodhgaya. Ashok Chodhary is an MLA and not education minister.

Vijay Prakash according to the viral message is just 5th class pass. However he has an MA from AN College. Vijay Prakash is former minister of labour reforms and not current minister as stated in the viral message.

Kapil Deo Kamat is 8th pass and not 3rd pass as suggested in the viral post. Kamal Deo Kamat was former Bihar Panchayati Raj minister who passed away due to Covid in the year 2020.

Santosh Nirala according to the viral message has studied till 12th class. However, he has a bachelors degree from AN College, Patna. Santosh Nirala is former minister of transport and does not head SC / ST department.

Abdul Jalil Mastan according to viral message has studied till 8th. He is 12th pass from Purnea according to ECI website. Abdul Jalil Mastan is former MLA and planning minister as per the viral message. He is not holding any cabinet position currently.

Chandra Shekhar according to the viral message has studied till 4th standard but is a post graduate as per ECI website. Chandra Shekhar is minister of education in Bihar and not of disaster management as claimed in the post.

Jai Kumar Singh has not studied till 10th class but is a graduate according to his election affidavit. Jai Kumar is also an MLA and not industries minister as mentioned in the post.

Krishna Chandra Verma is not Bihar minister as stated in a viral message.

Khurshid Firoz Ahmad has not studied till 5th class. He is 10th pass. Khurshid Firoz Ahmad is former minister of minority welfare and sugar cane industries, currently not in the office.

Shailesh Kumar is 12th pass and not studied just till 2nd class as the viral message suggests. Shailesh Kumar is minister of Rural Work Department as stated in the viral post.

Alok Mehta is a graduate and has not studied just till 3rd class as the viral message suggests. Alok Mehta is Bihar MLA and not minister.

And finally, Shiv Chandra Ram is a graduate according to the affidavit and not illiterate as claimed in the viral post. He is former Art, Culture & Sports Minister and ex-MLA and not Agriculture minister as claimed in the post.

In the next step of investigation Vishvas News connected with Dainik Jagran’s Bihar editor Alok Mishra. He said, “Out of 20 in the list, 12 are not in the cabinet. Ashok Chodhary and Alok Mehta have a PhD. Tejashwi Yadav is 9th standard pass while Tej Pratap is 12th. The cabinet portfolios too are wrongly described in the list. This message is misleading. Not all the details are true.” According to him, no such RTI reply has been issued by the Bihar government.

In the last step of investigation, we did a background check on the user who has shared the viral message. Amitabha Choudhury is a resident of Durgapur, West Bengal and has 542 friends on Facebook.