India TV Fact Check: As swiftly as social media delivers information, it also propagates fake news with equal speed, often ensnaring the common individual who struggles to distinguish truth from falsehood. Similarly, a story is circulating on a website alleging that PM Narendra Modi has initiated the Prime Minister Free Laptop Scheme 2024. However, our investigation has confirmed this claim to be fake.
What is the claim?
There is a website on Google named 'PM Yojana Adda', which claims that the Indian government is providing free laptops to all students. The entire news is written on this website. The headline of the news is, '[Free] PM Yojana Adda 2024 Laptop Yojana: The Indian Government is Providing Free Laptops to All Students, You Can Also Apply!'
The news claims that the All India Council for Technical Education has started a scheme named Prime Minister Free Laptop Yojana 2024, through which laptops will be provided to economically weaker students across the country to complete higher education. The date of commencement of application has not been mentioned on the website, however, regarding the last date it has been written that 'will be available soon'. The address of the official website is given as www.aicte-india.org.
India TV did investigation
When we became suspicious about the claims of this website, then India TV's fact-checking team started their investigation. Firstly, we visited the given website address, which turned out to be the official website of the All India Council for Technical Education. However, despite searching extensively, we found nothing about this scheme. Meanwhile, we came across a notice issued by AICTE, which revealed the truth of this matter.
According to the notice, AICTE has debunked false and misleading news spread about the Prime Minister's Free Laptop Scheme for students. It stated that recently, several misleading news articles have appeared on online news portals, claiming the launch of such a scheme. These articles suggest students to apply for this scheme through a link provided to the AICTE website, while in reality, neither the Indian government nor AICTE has initiated any such scheme. These reports could potentially deceive students and parents, so caution should be exercised regarding such news.
What came out in investigation?
A news portal has asserted that the Indian government is distributing free laptops to all students under a program called the 'Prime Minister Free Laptop Scheme.' However, our investigation has determined that this claim is entirely false.
