No, Amartya Sen Didn’t Say Ban on PUBG Will Ruin Indian Economy

Amartya Sen’s daughter Antara Dev Sen told The Quint that he has not made any comment of the kind.

A quote on the effect of PUBG ban on the Indian economy is being falsely attributed to Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

Social media users have claimed that Economist and Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen said that the ban of PUBG will ruin the Indian economy even further.

However, Amartya Sen’s daughter Antara Dev Sen told The Quint that he has not made any comment of the nature and that the quote is “fabricated”.

This comes in the backdrop of India's Ministry of Information and Technology banning 118 Chinese mobile apps, including PUBG.

CLAIM

The claim reads: “Nobel winner economist amartya sen: banning of #PUBG will more ruin the indian economy. (sic)”

Tathagata Roy, former governor of Tripura, retweeted a tweet mentioning the same information and wrote: “Appropriate!”

You can view the archived version here.(Source: Twitter/ Screenshot)

Several social media users shared the same claim on Twitter and Facebook.

You can view the archived version here.(Source: Twitter/ Screenshot)

You can view the archived version here.(Source: Facebook/ Screenshot)

WHAT WE FOUND OUT

A Google keyword search with “Amartya Sen PUBG” led us to some links appearing in Bengali. We then searched using relevant keywords in Bengali and found a blogpost on Bharat News that was published on 4 September.

The article’s headline reads: ‘By shutting down PUBG, Modi has pushed the country’s economy further back: Amartya Sen.’

It is noteworthy that the article has been taken down and does not exist anymore.

The blogpost claimed that Amartya Sen had, indeed, made such a statement.(Source: Website/ Screenshot)

The article talks about how Amartya Sen has condemned the banning of Chinese apps in India. “He added that banning the app is not the solution to any problem. Today, India is dependent on China for technology and spare parts for children’s toys, various instruments and machines. So conflict with China will affect India's economy and supply of goods,” the article added.

But, did he really say this?

A Google keyword search with relevant keywords yielded us no credible news reports on Amartya Sen’s comment on PUBG ban.

Further, Amartya Sen’s daughter, Antara Dev Sen confirmed to The Quint that Prof Sen has not made any comment of the kind.

“The quote is entirely fabricated,” she added.

Evidently, a quote on the effect of PUBG ban on the Indian economy is being falsely attributed to Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen.

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