Method
"Fact-check" is a claim, not a genre. Whether one deserves the name depends on method. Ours is below, in full, so you can hold us to it — the same way we hold jhoothkigoonj.com to it.
Four axes, scored independently
Quote accuracy
Did Rahul Gandhi actually say this, in these words, in this context? Verified against rally footage and transcripts — never against the site's paraphrase.
Evidence reality
Do the cited documents exist, and do they say what the rebuttal claims? Every link fetched and checked.
Rebuttal relevance
Does the evidence rebut the actual claim — or a strawman? (Denominator swaps, stock vs flow, absolutes vs rates, old data as current.)
Framing honesty
Is context amputated? Is a real fact deployed to create a false impression?
Source independence tiers
Every citation — theirs and ours — is classified by its position relative to the government's information chain. A press release from PIB, a DD News story, and a minister's Facebook post are the same voice in three costumes. Independence requires at least one of: recomputable microdata (PLFS/NFHS unit-level files), court records, original reporting, or international datasets with published methodology.
Verifying the verifiers
- PIB is the government's press office, not a fact-finding body. Its citations are treated as "the government asserts X" — the beginning of verification, never the end.
- MoSPI/NSO data is accepted only when the underlying microdata can be re-computed, and flagged where survey methodology changed between compared periods.
- Media reports are diffed against press releases: a rewritten PIB note is not a second source, it is the same source laundered. Ownership and government-advertising dependence are noted.
- International bodies (UNFPA, ILO, IMF) are checked for whether their figures originate in government-supplied data — their methodology annexes say so.
- Our own audit follows the same rules: every verdict carries citations you can open, and axes we have not yet verified are marked pending, not assumed.
What would change our verdicts
Evidence. Rally footage showing a quote was accurately reproduced; court records showing convictions we missed; datasets that survive recomputation. Corrections carrying evidence will be published with the same prominence as the original finding, credited. Send it to corrections@sachkigoonj.com or publicly to @camushq (see the about page).