No, That is Not an IAS Topper Pulling Her Father in a Rickshaw

CLAIM

A picture of a girl pulling an old man in a rickshaw has been going viral on social media, with the accompanying message claiming that the girl is an IAS topper, while the old man is her father.

The photo, along with the claim was tweeted by Dr J Aslam Basha, a Congress member from Tamil Nadu. It was in turn retweeted by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor as well.

The picture has been attributed by Basha to one Sanjay Singh.

TRUE OR FALSE?

While the picture is genuine, and not morphed in any way, the claims are false.

The girl in the picture is Shramona Poddar, a travel blogger, and not an IAS topper as claimed in the message. Poddar had shared the photo on her Instagram profile in April, while also detailing the story behind the photo.

View this post on Instagram

Repost from @wildcraftin So here goes the story behind this. Since childhood, whenever I used to visit the north and central part of Calcutta essentially, I would feel sympathetic everytime I would spot a hand pulled rickshaw, thereby choosing not to use them. Until recently when my sympathy coincided with the realization that we're helping to earn their bread and butter only when we're taking a ride. So last time I was in Calcutta, the #wildcraftwildling in me decided to pull a handpull rickshaw instead, to see how difficult and strenuous it really is. I asked the rickshaw uncle to have a seat while I pulled him around on the streets of Shobhabazar, tickling the bell at intervals while the whole street stood and watched in awe. I realized though there's a lot of mechanism involved, it wasn't a piece of cake at all. All my years of inquistiveness transpired to salutation for the extreme precision and relentless efforts that go in during each trip made. Yet each day they wake up with the same enthusiasm to battle the odds. This spirit is what inspires me to be #ReadyforAnything. #GoStreet #kolkata #calcutta #calcuttacacaphony #travel #handpullrickshaw #wildcraft #adventure #kolkatatourism #MishtiAndMeatftWildcraft Photo by @bhaskar_0007

A post shared by Shramona Poddar (@mishti.and.meat) on Apr 25, 2018 at 9:07am PDT

The photo was also picked up by Wildcraft, an outdoor and adventure product company, as part of their social media campaign.

However, speaking to BOOM, Poddar clarified that the photo was not clicked as part of an ad campaign. The photo in the viral claim has been wrongly credited to Sanjay Singh, when it was originally clicked by Bhaskar Chal.

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