Did Indian Government really shut down multiple departments due to economic crisis? Fact Check
Claim: The Indian government is facing a crisis and is shutting down multiple ministries like AYUSH, fisheries, archaeology among others.
Conclusion: The claim is false. No government ministry, respective department, or official sources has announced or is planning the closure of AYUSH, Fisheries, Archaeology (ASI), Minor Irrigation and Handloom departments. The image is fabricated and while the government has recently promoted austerity, there is no credible evidence of any closure of departments.
Rating: False 
Several social media users have shared an image which appears to be a newspaper snippet, claiming that the Indian government is facing a crisis. X user ‘dramithmpa’ shared such a post with the caption, “#संविधानवादियों_आवाज_दो_हम_एक_हैं” which when translated into English reads “Constitutionalists raise your voice, we are one”. Attached to the post is a newspaper style graphic which claims that many departments like AYUSH, fisheries and archaeology are in crisis. View the post and a translation of the image into English below –
#संविधानवादियों_आवाज_दो_हम_एक_हैं pic.twitter.com/WW2Jr2sNPa
— अमित भारतीय नागरिक Bsc,BHMS,MPH,LLB, DPT,LLM advo. (@dramithmpa) May 20, 2026
Other users have shared similar claims that can be shared here and here
FACT CHECK
DigitEYE India decided to investigate this claim and found it to be false. There is no official announcement or credible evidence suggesting that the government plans to shut down the AYUSH, Fisheries, Archaeology (ASI), Minor Irrigation or Handloom departments. The viral image appears to be digitally fabricated. Although recent government measures have focused on austerity and cost-cutting, no ministry or authorized source has indicated that these departments will be discontinued.
We first conducted a reverse image search on the image to learn about the source or the newspaper it has originated from. However, the search did not take us to any media outlet nor any organization that has shared such news. Searches of Indian government ministry websites reveal zero notifications about shutting down central ministries or departments.
The image attached to the post claims that departments like AYUSH, Fisheries, Archaeology (ASI), Minor Irrigation and Handloom departments will shut down. We then checked the official website of the Ministry of AYUSH but did not find any press release about closure. AYUSH is fully functional and from their instagram page we learnt that they recently posted about the upcoming International Yoga Day. View a screenshot of their latest press release below –
Following this, we checked the Fisheries Department of India and learned that it is fully functional and working. On April 22, 2026 they uploaded ten reports pertaining to the detailed demand for grants. Similarly, the Archaeological Survey of India under the Ministry of Culture has also uploaded a report on the opening of Nalanda Museum for Public Visit on May 15, 2026. View a screenshot of the events under the Ministry of Culture below –
The Ministry of Textiles and the Ministry of Jal Shakti (that handles minor irrigation) are also completely functional. PM Modi made seven appeals to the nation urging Indians to spend wisely and to avoid buying gold, limiting foreign trips, prioritizing work from home among others.
Nation First Duty Above Comfort!
PM @narendramodi gave 7 important appeals to strengthen India during challenging global times prioritize work from home wherever possible, reduce fuel consumption, avoid foreign travel for a year, adopt Swadeshi products, cut down cooking oil… pic.twitter.com/jhDGYTarH6
— MyGovIndia (@mygovindia) May 10, 2026
According to a TOI report published on May 13, 2026, PM Modi limited the size of his convoy to avoid additional expenditure. However, these are cost-control steps for individual citizens and not departmental eliminations of any kind. Lastly, we downloaded the image in the claim and ran it through an AI detector which proved that the image was made using AI. View the results below –
Thus, the claim is false.
