Fact Check: Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla's daughter passed IAS exam without taking test?

Anjali Birla, daughter of Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, has recently passed the IAS exam. But over the last few days, a message about her has been going viral on social media. The message claims that Anjali Birla, daughter of Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, was selected as an IAS officer without even appearing for the exam. The message also claimed that 90 candidates were admitted to the UPSC exams through "backdoor channels" . Many posts making such claims are currently going viral. It is also alleged that the government is now preparing to block access to UPSC for children from poor and rural areas.

News agency AFP scanned the merit roll for Civil Services (Main) Examination - 2019 and found Ms Anjali's name and roll number in it. The list is also available on the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) website.

Dismissing the rumours, Ms Birla also shared the experience of speaking with another news agency, The Quint, about the false claims and shared a post on her personal Instagram account.

"The Quint approached me to do a fact check on rumours going viral on internet that I got into civil services without giving any exam. When I read this viral tweet/post I laughed... Rumours have always been fun to hear but I haven't come across such a baseless, mindless criticism," she said.

Anjali Birla further explained the process of cracking the UPSC exam for the uninitiated.

An online rumour in India that politician Om Birla's daughter passed the top civil service exam without even taking the test is false ❌

Official records show Anjali Birla took both the preliminary and main test in 2019 🖊️🎓 https://t.co/2klAxyJe4C

— AFP Fact Check 🔎 (@AFPFactCheck) January 19, 2021

View this post on Instagram