No, Physicist HC Verma Doesn't Donate Royalties to PM Relief Fund

HC Verma denied the rumours in 2018 on his Facebook page and called himself "a common man and a physics learner."

The physics teacher and researcher denied the claim on Facebook in 2018.

(Photo: Facebook/Altered by The Quint)

A set of photographs of an elderly man is being shared on Facebook with the claim that he is physicist HC Verma, who wrote the widely used school textbook, 'Concepts of Physics'. The claim says that Verma receives one crore rupees as royalty for his book and that he donates the entire amount to the Prime Minister's Relief Fund and lives a simple life.

However, we found that while the photos were indeed Verma's, he had refuted this claim in 2018 when the text was being shared on Twitter. Multiple news outlets also carried his clarification regarding the same.

CLAIM

The text which accompanies the photograph reads: "This is Kanpur IIT senior professor HC Verma. He receives one crore rupees as royalty every year for his book Concepts of Physics; which he donates to the Prime Minister's Relief Fund and other charitable organizations. He pays the fees of all the poor students from his salary. Even today, he travels on his old Bajaj Priya scooter. Salute to such a personality. But the surprise is that our media never discusses such a person (sic)."

(Photo: WhatsApp/Screenshot)

More such claims on Facebook can be seen here and here. The claim has been around since 2018.

The Quint received this query on its WhatsApp tipline as well.

WHAT WE FOUND

We ran a reverse image search of the photographs and found them on HC Verma's website.

We used keywords such as 'HC Verma royalties' and were led to news reports from 2018, by DNA and Moneycontrol, which discussed how the physicist had denied these claims, calling himself a "common man and a physics learner".

Further, we found a post dated 13 April, 2018, on HC Verma's Facebook page where he clarified the rumours himself.

The IIT professor took to Facebook to clear the air.

(Photo: Facebook/Screenshot)

As per his Facebook post, he wished to "categorically deny the information", adding that he never owned a scooter of the colour and make as described in the claim.

HC Verma was awarded the Padma Shri in 2020, three years after his retirement from research and teaching.

Clearly, the claim that HC Verma donates all his books' royalties to the PM's Relief Fund and pays poor kids' fees is baseless. The physicist denied the rumour himself in 2018.

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