Senior leader of the Congress party, Priyanka Gandhi, on Tuesday shared a piece of news where it was claimed that Railways had earned 900 crore rupees through fees for exam-related registration process. The claim was that the fees for the exams have gone from Rs. 60 in 2013 to Rs 500 now.
Priyanka Gandhi said, “The fee of Railway Recruitment Board till 2013 was 60 rupees. The BJP government increased it to Rs 500 in 2016. The Railway Recruitment Board has recovered Rs 900 crore in the name of recruitment from the unemployed.”
The PIB has now debunked the news. It said that the claim that the fees for railway recruitment board has been increased to Rs 500 is wrong. It was announced that Rs 400 is refunded to candidates from unreserved and OBC categories and the amount is refunded in full to women, people from reserved categories and those with disabilities. As per reports, the amount charged for the latter categories is Rs 250 which is refunded later.
सोशल मीडिया पर दावा किया जा रहा है कि सरकार ने रेलवे भर्ती बोर्ड की फीस को बढ़ाकर 500 रुपए कर दिया है।#PIBFactCheck: यह दावा भ्रामक है। अनारक्षित व ओबीसी परीक्षार्थियों को ₹400 व आरक्षित श्रेणी के परीक्षार्थियों, महिलाओं और दिव्यांगों को पूरा पंजीकरण शुल्क वापस किया जाता है। pic.twitter.com/TmSLRkis5s
— PIB Fact Check (@PIBFactCheck) January 12, 2021
The only catch here is that the amount is refunded only to those who appear for the exams. In case someone registers for the exam but does not appear for it, the amount is not refunded to them. Thus, even for those who appear for the exam, the maximum fees effectively is Rs 100.
News reports had emerged early last year which claimed that the Railway Recruitment Board had earned Rs 500 crores from candidates. However, even those reports had mentioned that the amount is refunded if the candidate appears for the exams.
Thus, in the current instance, Priyanka Gandhi appears to be using misleading news from the past in order to target the Modi Government, something that she and her party is prone to doing in recent times.