Recently, a claim is making tours on the internet, according to which Uttar Pradesh-based scientist Khushboo Mirza has been promoted to the rank of director at the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). Khusboo Mirza also known as the ‘Moon Girl’ is from Chaugori Mohalla, which is a small Muslim neighbourhood in Uttar Pradesh’s Amroha town, about 200 km from Delhi.
The viral claim is shared with an image, in which one can see Khusboo standing with ISRO banner behind her, reads, ‘35 year old scientist Miss Khushbu Mirza, has been promoted as a Director in ISRO. She is an alumnus of Aligarh Muslim University and only the 2nd Muslim Scientist after Dr APJ Abdul Kalam to hold this rank at ISRO’.
This went insanely viral on Twitter. This viral claim was shared by a Facebook user, Jagdeesh Chawla, which was further shared by over 1,200 people on Facebook at the time of writing this story.
After doing a little research a post published by The Federal had Khusboo’s profile. As per the profile, Mirza is a scientist at ISRO hailing from Amroha district in Uttar Pradesh. It further mentioned that she was a part of dedicated teams for India’s two Lunar missions – Chandrayaan 1 and Chandrayaan 2. Also, the UP State General Secretary of Indian Youth Congress, Khustar Mirza tweeted a post, where he had mentioned that Khushboo Mirza is his sister. Khushtar Mirza dismissed the viral claim saying is not true. He further told that it’s an old post which keeps coming back every now and then. “This message was first brought to our notice in 2018. It’s not true,” he said.
Khusboo herself brushed off the viral claim, she said, “The claim that I have been promoted to the Director rank in ISRO is absolutely false. Such claims have been made in the past as well. I have brought this to the notice of my organisation as well.”
Digging in further, it was found that, previous year as well this claim went viral. Back then, Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) found this claim to be misleading. Mirza had been promoted to the director rank of ‘Scientist-F’ (SF) and not as the director of ISRO.
Some senior scientists are given the rank of SF in the space agency. But there are ranks above it as well. Also, the head of ISRO is called the chairman and not the director. Dr Kalam never headed the agency, though he led different space projects. Mirza hasn’t been appointed to the same rank as Dr. Kalam either.
Mirza had recently been promoted to ‘rank F’ in the government space agency, which is a senior scientist rank equivalent to director. However, Dr Kalam was two ranks above at ‘rank H’. The ISRO chairman also comes under ‘rank H’.
Furthermore, while Dr. Kalam worked with the organisation in multiple capacities, which includes working as the Project Director for development of the first indigenous Satellite Launch Vehicle in the 1980s, he never held top positions at the organisation. Also, Dr Kalam never held the position of director at ISRO whatsoever. Thus, the viral claim is misleading.
