DMK Minister Mano Thangaraj, in an attempt to peddle the usual DMK narrative of “North is flourishing, South is perishing”, was caught lying that the Central Government was treating the Tamil Nadu government unfairly and that they had allocated fewer funds to Tamil Nadu under the Khelo India scheme.
In a tweet on Monday (12 December 2022), the DMK Minister for Information Technology and Digital Services Mano Thangaraj attached the data about the funds allocated to different states under the Khelo India scheme and said,” The Central Government has allocated ₹809.5 crores to states for sports development over a three-year period. Gujarat received ₹285 crores out of the total of ₹809.5 crores, while Tamil Nadu received only ₹4.32 crores. Isn’t this discrimination?”
இது ஓரவஞ்சனை இல்லையா ?
மூன்று ஆண்டுகளில் மத்திய அரசு மாநிலங்களுக்கு விளையாட்டு மேம்பாட்டிற்கு ஒதுக்கியுள்ள 809.5 கோடியில்
குஜராத்திற்கு 285 கோடி
தமிழகத்திற்கு 4.32 கோடி
இது தான் பாஜக -வின் சமநீதி pic.twitter.com/Q8Kbu661yf— Mano Thangaraj (@Manothangaraj) December 12, 2022
This distorted data about the Kelo India scheme was circulated by the DMK IT wing and journalists supporting DMK.
One BR Aravindakashan of Sathiyam News, a Dravidian Stockist and a anti-Hindu bigot disguised as a journalist, tried to peddle the same half-truths shared by the DMK Minister. He added that the Central government is taking revenge on the Tamil people by allocating fewer funds to Tamil Nadu.
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Do you know how much funds the Union govt has provided to adequately support the efforts of the state govts in promoting sports?809.5 crores have been released to states in the last three years
Out of which, Gujarat has received the highest amount of Rs 285 crores in India pic.twitter.com/vNFVgEHmi0— Aravindakshan B R (@RealAravind36) December 12, 2022
However, netizens were quick to point out the flaw in DMK Minister Mano Thangaraj’s argument, stating that the Khelo India scheme, to which the minister refers, is a demand-driven scheme, and that because the Tamil Nadu government did not demand money from the Central Government, Tamil Nadu received a smaller share of overall funds allotted.
According to the website’s description of the Khelo India scheme, “Khelo India Scheme is a demand-driven scheme under which projects are sanctioned regularly on the basis of proposals received from various State/UT Governments and other eligible entities from time to time. The timeline for the completion of sports infrastructure projects sanctioned under this scheme is two to three years. However, the responsibility of executing the projects rests with the grantees, who receive the financial assistance.”
It should be noted that BJP Tamil Nadu President K. Annamalai has previously criticized the DMK government in August 2022, for failing to use the Khelo India scheme to upgrade sports infrastructure in the state and for failing to secure adequate funding from the central government by not proposing sports-related schemes.
In a press release dated August 9, 2022, the Tamil Nadu BJP President said,”Under the Khelo India scheme, the central government provides funds to the state government based on the projects proposed by the state government. Other states, besides Tamil Nadu, are making good use of this scheme and improving the state’s sports infrastructure with financial assistance from the central government. However, the DMK government led by M.K.Stalin has failed to properly implement this program.”
This blatant misinformation pedddled by the DMK minister about the Khelo India scheme is seen as an attempt to conceal the DMK government’s failure to improve sports infrastructure in Tamil Nadu.
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