Piyush Goyal Hits Back at Trolls, Says Nothing Fake in NASA Images Depicting Success of Rural Electrification
The images, though genuine, were released by NASA in 2016 -- two years before the Narendra Modi government claimed to have electrified all villages of India.
New Delhi, April 30: Railways Minister Piyush Goyal, ridiculed by social media trolls for sharing "fake image" of NASA to validate claims of 100 percent electrification, struck back by sharing links of the NASA report, along with a study conducted by the National Geographic, to prove his claim.
According to a report published in nasa.gov, India developed far more bright spots (under night time) in 2016, as compared to satellite images of 2016. The National Geographic report which further stresses on the leads provided by NASA, cited the government's rural electrification program as one of the factors for the change.
Night-time satellite image of subcontinental region in 2012:
NASA on its official portal also shares the satellite image from 2016. The change is evident:
Here's what Piyush Goyal tweeted hitting back at the trolls:
The National Geographic report states the following for the growing bright spots in India within a time span of four years:
That India has brightened dramatically, as shown by all the blue in the image below, is also not a surprise. The country is home to more than its fair share of people living without electricity, and its government has been working to change that by establishing a rural electrification program and investing heavily in renewable energy. There is still a lot of work to be done, but the results are already easy to see on Nelson’s map.
While Goyal's clarification has put the doubts related to the genuinity of images to rest, they have failed to answer whether it proves 100 percent electrification of India.
The images, though genuine, were released by NASA in 2016 -- two years before the Narendra Modi government claimed to have electrified all villages of India.
The Prime Minister, during his Mann ki Baat address on Sunday, said following the electrification of Leisang village in Manipur, "India has achieved the task of supplying power to every single village of the nation."
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 30, 2018 10:12 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).