Prime Minister Narendra Modi has set the political tone ahead of the Lok Sabha elections with his 95-minute-long interview to news agency ANI on the first day of the new year.

The prime minister replied to more than 40 questions on subjects ranging from elections to surgical strike, agrarian distress to Ram mandir. He made several claims about the achievements of his government in the past four years and seven months.

India Today Fact Check takes a close look at five such claims made by the PM.

1. Claim: Six to seven lakh people have availed medical benefits under the Ayushman Bharat Yojana in 100 days of its launch

What he said: "Agar aaj Hindustan mein gareeb vyakti ko paanch lakh rupaye tak ilaaj ki suvidha sarkar deti hai vo Ayushman Bharat Yojana abhi ko toh 100 din bhi nahi hue hai kareeb 6-7 lakh logon ne uska labh liya"

Fact: The Modi government's flagship programme, Ayushman Bharat - Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY), touted as the world's largest government-funded healthcare programme, completed 100 days on January 1, 2019. It is true that over six lakh people have benefited from the scheme so far. According to the official PMJAY website, 5,55,387 beneficiaries were admitted in various hospitals under this scheme till December 10 last year.

On January 1, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley wrote on his Facebook page that 6.85 lakh patients have been provided hospital treatment under the scheme. Jaitley's Facebook post was tweeted by the official handle of Ayushman Bharat.

#PMJAY completes 100 days today and more than 6.85 lakh patients have been provided free hospital treatment.

At this pace of creating awareness about PM-JAY, it is anticipated that in the next few years, almost 1 crore+ families will benefit each year.https://t.co/ZdCa9ghGla January 1, 2019

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2. Claim: When the BJP came to power, 18,000 villages were yet to be electrified. They all have been electrified now

What he said: "Hamara desh aazad hue itne saal ho gaye 18,000 gaon aise the jab main aaya bijli nahi thi. Isi 2018 main in sabhi gavon main bijli pahuchane ka kaam poora hua yeh safalta nahi toh kya hai!"

Fact: As per a PIB release of July 19, 2018, all 18,000 villages have been electrified. Leisang village in Manipur was the last village to be electrified, according to the government. When Modi came to power, 96 per cent of the villages already had electricity. But village electrification does not mean that all the households have access to electricity.

According to the government definition, a village is considered "electrified" if power cable from the grid reaches a transformer in the village and 10 per cent of its households, as well as public places such as schools and health centres, are connected.

3. Claim: Demonetisation was not an unwanted shock. When Manmohan Singh initiated economic reforms as finance minister in 1991, the GDP had fallen to below 2 per cent mark

What he said: "Manmohan Singh jab finance minister the, aur jab economic reforms hue aapko malum hai ki GDP kitna gir gaya tha, growth kitna gir gaya tha kareeb 2 per cent ke neeche aa gaya tha, kyunki ek badlaav aaya tha lekin baad main sthiti badalti chali gayi"

Fact: Economic reforms were initiated in the country by the then Finance Minister Manmohan Singh in 1991. The GDP growth rate indeed fell to 1.3 per cent during 1991-92 from the average GDP rate of 5.7 per cent in the preceding decade. It climbed to 5.1 per cent the next year.

4. Claim: India ranks No. 2 or 3 globally in startup ecosystem

What he said: "Startup ko promote karne ke liye humne yojna banaiyee hain jiske parinaam hai hum ne duniya mein teesre chauthe dusre, teesre number pe, hum pahunch gaye hain startup ecosystem se"

Fact: It is not clear whether the prime minister is talking about the overall startup ecosystem or that in a specific area. As per the Indian Tech Start-Up Ecosystem NASSCOM-Zinnov report of 2018, India continues to be 3rd largest Tech Start-up ecosystem in the world after US and China. However, if we check India's ranking in the overall start-up ecosystem and not just tech startups, we rank much lower. According to research by Startupblink, India is ranked at 37, even below Ukraine and Greece. Startupblink is a global startup ecosystem map with tens of thousands of registered startups from 125 countries. This ranking is done according to the startup ecosystem strength of these countries.

5. Claim: Number of my foreign visits would be roughly the same as the other prime ministers

What he said: "Sabhi pradhan mantiryon ki karib karib itni hi yatrayen hoti hain. Koi zyada fark nahi hotaagar aap hisab lagayenge. Ab international fourm bahut ban gaye hain. Aapko jana he padta hai"

Fact: Number of Modi's foreign visits is much more than his predecessor Manmohan Singh. So far Modi has already visited 92 counties (repeat visits included), with five months of his tenure still remaining. Singh had visited only 53 countries as PM during the five years of UPA II between 2009 and 2014. Minister of State for External Affairs General VK Singh in his Rajya Sabha reply on December 27, last year gave these details, which can be seen here.

In fact, the number of Modi's foreign visits almost equal those by Singh during his two terms as prime minister. Compared to Modi's 92 countries in four years and seven months, Singh visited total 93 countries in a decade of UPA rule.

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