A former professor of the Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi, and the current Chairperson of the Centre for Economic Studies and Planning at the JNU, shared a video of a man assisting pedestrians to cross the road during the rains. She tweeted the video with the caption, “So much of “New India” with its old inequality in this video: collapsing infrastructure devastated by climate change, human ingenuity grasping any income-earning opportunity in a jobless economic context, barefoot worker serving the middle class…”
So much of "New India" with its old inequality in this video: collapsing infrastructure devastated by climate change, human ingenuity grasping any income-earning opportunity in a jobless economic context, barefoot worker serving the middle class… pic.twitter.com/wGsUCuExB9
— Jayati Ghosh (@Jayati1609) July 27, 2023
What Ms. Ghosh did not realise was that this video is not even from India and not a recent one as well. The video was reportedly taken in Barranquilla, Colombia, and gained attention as a viral video on Reddit last year. In the footage, a man is seen using a makeshift push cart to assist pedestrians in crossing a flooded road, and he accepts payment for his service.
In the video, a man wearing a blue t-shirt and going barefoot is shown collecting money from two pedestrians to help them cross a rainy, flooded street. He places the cash in a bottle and then proceeds to move a wooden cart, which already has two people on board, to the other side of the road. The video captures people patiently waiting for their turn to be assisted by the man’s wooden cart as he continues to ferry them across the street. Despite the challenging conditions, the man remains barefoot while performing his service. Throughout the footage, several automobiles can be seen navigating the flooded roadway.
Netizens found it amusing to observe how individuals who claim to be intellectuals from institutions like JNU and hold teaching positions at foreign universities, recognized as esteemed economists with numerous awards and international positions, can readily share content without verifying its accuracy.
Meet Jayti Ghosh. She is proffer at JNU and one of the supporter of terrorist Afzal Guru.
She is considered a great economist and the international ecosystem has given her so many awards and positions.
That’s why she is sharing fake news with a video from another country and… https://t.co/UVM1mkci6Z
— Vijay Patel🇮🇳 (@vijaygajera) July 28, 2023
Famous Fake news peddler Jayati Ghosh. Now that she is caught lying (again) she claims that the video was just a representational one n not from India.
— Madhubanti Chatterjee (মধুবন্তী চট্টোপাধ্যায়) (@MadhubantiChat3) July 28, 2023
Madam, this is a very old video and it's not even from India. Better do some research before posting.
— NBP (@NBP_IND) July 27, 2023
When a Twitter user pointed out the mistake, Ms. Ghosh was quick to reply, “Does it matter? Doesn’t it capture so much Indian reality?”
Jayati Ghosh criticised the Indian government in February 2016 for suppressing the student protests to commemorate the capital punishment sentence given to Afzal Guru. Her name along with that of Sitaram Yechury and Yogendra Yadav were allegedly mentioned as co-conspirators in the supplementary chargesheet in the Delhi riots case.
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