CLAIM
A viral message claiming that NGO Prerana should be contacted by “bright students with poor financial background” who have passed 10th standard this year with a score of more than 80 percent, has been doing the rounds on social media.
The message states that NGO Prerana is being “supported by Infosys Foundation”, and lists three contact numbers.
TRUE OR FALSE?
The viral message currently being shared is false. NGO Prerana is not being supported by Infosys Foundation presently. Thus, there is no way that they can assist the students with financial issues.
In addition to this, the three numbers given in the message are not functional.
WHAT WE FOUND
On conducting a search on NGO Prerana and Infosys, the viral message floods the search results.
NGO Prerana is headquartered in Bangalore and has a single branch which provides financial aid to meritorious students from underprivileged backgrounds.
On being contacted by The Quint, Mr Ram Shastri, the secretary of NGO Prerana said, “The message is a viral one. It was initially shared 7-8 years back.” He also added that Infosys currently does not support the NGO but there was an association four years back.
In addition to this, he said, “The numbers in the message are of people who no longer work with NGO Prerana.”
Infosys distanced itself from the message completely. A spokesperson said, “We were in touch with Prerana earlier, but not anymore. Infosys is not supporting any NGO and does not have anything to do with the message.”
Thus, the viral message circulating widely holds no truth as of now.
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