India Fact Quiz was launched in February 2020 with the objective of challenging and correcting the biases of India's youth around data and facts on India, in areas like health, gender, population, environment climate and welfare.
The championship, targeted at quizzers between ages 17-25, serves as a launchpad to identify the brightest and most factful young minds of India. The championship began with an open online quiz contest, with over 450,000 quizzers across tier 1, 2 & 3 cities participating in this round. From here, 16 semi-finalists were shortlisted, who qualified for the regional finals for the North, South, East & West zones, which finally trickled down to the four finalists at the national final.
These finalists were quizzed on their knowledge and biases around topics like gender pay gap, urban and rural infrastructure, health and disease control, climate change, renewable energy, government schemes and policies and even Covid-19. The winner of the championship, Rajpriya, has recently completed her degree in Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) at St. Aloysius College in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh. Originally from Munger, Bihar, Rajpriya and her family moved to Jabalpur over a decade ago, with her father currently practicing as a homeopathy doctor and mother as a homemaker. Presently, Rajpriya is undergoing a 6-month long internship at Jabalpur Smart City and is being trained in policy and partnerships. With the knowledge gained through this experience, she aspires to work in the government sector and work in areas of social impact, peacekeeping and welfare development. On winning the India Fact Quiz 2020 Championship, Rajpriya said, "An aware citizen can contribute significantly in the upliftment of the economy and, for this, data and facts play a crucial and catalytical role. Participating in India Fact Quiz made me much more aware with respect to how much India has transformed over the years. I am grateful for IFQ for recognizing me on this national platform which will help to serve as a great stepping stone towards the direction I aspire to work and make a difference in." While Rajpriya emerged as the winner, the 3 runners-up were: - 1st runner up: Shriya Ejanthar, 20, B. Tech, Mechanical Engineering, PES University, Bengaluru, Karnataka (South)
- 2nd runner up: Pradunma Chowdhury, 22, B. S. Economics, IIT Kanpur, Agartala, Tripura (East)
- 3rd runner up: Aditya Maurya, 18, B. Tech, Mathematical and Computational Engineering, Delhi Technological University (DTU), New Delhi, Delhi (North)
The quizmaster for the grand finale was journalist Govindraj Ethiraj, founder of DataBaaz, a data-driven video story platform. He said, "With increasing media and technology exposure, we are seeing how our youth are vulnerable and susceptible to misinformation and disinformation. For this, we wanted to try and create a safe space for facts, data and evidence. Through India Fact Quiz, we want our young people to question status quo, challenge biases, develop an appreciation for data and evidence, be able to apply their knowledge towards critical thinking and finding solutions to everyday problems. All our fact champions today have proved that they are truly our country's harbingers of change and we wish them all the very best for their journeys as 'factivists' and changemakers here onwards." The special guest at the national finale was Hari Menon, Director, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, India, who said, "Being impatient optimists, we, at the Foundation, like to see change happen - and happen fast; and for us, this kind of work is done best when grounded in facts and evidence. When we look across the landscape of India, social media has done a lot of good, but one of the challenges has been the spread of opinions disguised as facts. With India Fact Quiz, we are delighted to have had an opportunity to come up with game-based learning and technology platform aimed at our young people between 17-25, to better understand India, and whose contributions are going to shape the future of India. For us, the biggest victory is this commitment displayed by all participants - to understand India better by using your observation, testing your own biases, trying to better connect with the reality of India - and this makes all of you winners! I hope you will be a big part of the future of India and the potential we have to build a more equitable and just society for all." India Fact Quiz (IFQ) is powered by DataBaaz, and supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation India. IFQ's partners are KPMG, Factchecker.in and Times NOW. All episodes of the India Fact Quiz 2020 Championship can be watched on: https://www.youtube.com/c/DataBaaz/videos | 
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