Fact Check: PM Modi announces free LPG cylinders? No, video is AI-manipulated

Hyderabad: The ongoing conflict involving the United States, Israel and Iran has disrupted global energy supplies through the Strait of Hormuz, affecting India’s imports of LPG cooking gas.

Against this backdrop, a video showing Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaking at a public event has gone viral on social media. The clip is being shared with the claim that the Prime Minister announced free LPG cylinders under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana starting March 12.

In the video, a voiceover purportedly says, “My brothers and sisters, observing the shortage of gas cylinders from March 12, our government has made an announcement. This time, under the Ujjwala Yojana, free cylinders will be given to everybody. To avail the offer, register fast.”

In the viral clip, the voiceover claims that viewers can avail the offer by filling out a registration form. The female voiceover says, “To avail the offer, share it with five friends, find and open this page and follow it. Then click on the link provided in the bio and fill in the details. Two cylinders will be delivered within two days.”

The video was shared by a Facebook page named Niharika (Nihu). The page has around 4,50,000 followers and contains several similar videos asking users to fill out forms to avail different types of offers.

A Facebook user shared the video with the caption: “Free LPG cylinder.” (Archive)

Similar posts can be seen here, here and here.(Archive1, Archive2, Archive3)

But did the Centre announce a free LPG scheme?

Fact Check

NewsMeter found that the claim is false. The viral video does not show PM Modi announcing free LPG cylinders. The clip contains AI-manipulated audio added to older footage.

We conducted a targeted keyword search to verify whether the Prime Minister has recently announced any scheme offering free LPG cylinders. However, we did not find any credible media reports or official government announcements (MyScheme, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Press Information Bureau releases) supporting this claim.

Examination of the visuals

A reverse image search and keyword checks on keyframes from the viral clip traced the footage to an older speech delivered by PM Modi at the launch of the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi in Gorakhpur on February 24, 2019.

The authentic video is available on the official Prime Minister’s Office YouTube channel, uploaded on Feb 24, 2019.

The video showed the Prime Minister addressing farmers and announcing the PM-KISAN scheme, which provides Rs 6,000 annually to eligible farmers as income support. The visuals in the viral clip match the footage in the original video at the 34:48 timestamp.

A review of the original speech confirmed that PM Modi discussed agricultural initiatives and farmer welfare measures. However, he did not mention LPG, the Ujjwala scheme or any plan to provide free cylinders.

While the Ujjwala scheme does provide subsidised LPG connections to households, it does not offer free cylinders.

Examination of video using AI tools

Further examination of the viral clip revealed that the audio does not perfectly sync with PM Modi’s lip movements. The voice also contains unnatural phrasing and tonal shifts, indicating possible manipulation.

AI voice detection tools such as Hive Moderation and Resemble AI flagged the audio with a high probability of being synthetically generated.

The viral video does not show PM Modi announcing free LPG cylinders under the Ujjwala scheme. It is an older clip from February 24, 2019, with AI-manipulated audio.

Therefore, the claim is false.