“The Hindu” thought it was a scam. But Ministry of Railways shut it with its response

In retrospect, ‘The Hindu’ hasn’t shied away from showcasing its leftist political inclinations in its reporting. Since November last year, after demonetization, they carried out repeated and redundant editorials and opinion pieces about how the cash disruption was going to be disastrous for the GDP and the Indian Economy as a whole. Time and sense prevailed, and the newspaper was proven wrong.

However, that wasn’t going to be enough to silence the inner Congress sympathizer in the brand, and earlier today, when they carried out a report regarding an imaginary scam prevailing in the Ministry of Railways, the self-proclaimed honest fraternity of artists, music directors, and columnists were quick to jump the gun and blame Suresh Prabhu for being unable to shackle the corruption rampant in his ministry.

According to the report carried out by ‘The Hindu’, an activist, Ajay Bose, received information via the RTI about the Central Railway’s Catering Department (CRCD) procuring food items at a price ‘n’ times the MRP, or the Maximum Retail Price. According to the information mentioned in the RTI, each kilogram of Amul Curd was purchased for a staggering amount of ₹9,720 that is at a price 39 times the original price. The activist stressed about how we had to toil hard for the information and wasn’t made available to him by the Central Railways for many months. The report by ‘The Hindu’ stated that dal was procured at a price of ₹157/kg, boneless chicken for ₹233/kg, refined oil for ₹1250/lit, and water bottles for ₹60/unit. Alongside, the report based on the RTI stated that there was an inconsistency with the units of flour purchased by almost 90% that is while 250kg flour was purchased; distribution of 450kg was shown. 

The Hindu, like every report about the NDA Government, finished this one with a hint of skepticism, citing the possibility of an underlying scam within the Ministry of Railways.

Within no time, the report found a lot of takers, and they were quick to report it to the Railway Minister on Twitter.

Turns out, the truth is far from the report as The Hindu suggests. While an immediate inquiry was ordered by Suresh Prabhu, the Railway Minister, the Ministry emphasized on how they had to move to a transparent procurement system, with all the transactions being conducted digitally, leaving no room for such scams. With E-Samiksha in place, the monitoring of the budget is carried out on a daily basis, while ensuring consistency in India’s largest E-procurement system. The prices quoted within the RTI were false, as what the RTI saw as a single kilogram of curd for ₹972, was actually ₹972 for 108 cups of curd (each 100gm). The price of oil wasn’t ₹1250/lit but ₹1250 for a 15lit tin of oil, as the official Twitter handle of the Ministry of clarified.

Clearly, the information given away in the RTI was factually incorrect, leading to the immediate suspension of 3 railway officers and transfer for one. As this goes to publishing, the Ministry of Railways is clearing the air over the prices of the procured items through its Twitter handle.

Clearly, the Ministry doused the fire before it could turn into a PR disaster for the government. However, it’s time that newspapers should also take onus for the reporting they do.

While the Ministry has been quick to suspend the officials involved in the mistake, will The Hindu issue an apology and clear the air for good, or will the day pass with the Ministry explaining simple mathematics to the likes of Vishal Dadlani on Twitter?