#FactCheck: IAF Shivangi Singh was captured by Pakistan army after her Rafale fighter jet was shot down
Research Wing
Innovation and Research
PUBLISHED ON
May 12, 2025
10
Executive Summary:
False information spread on social media that Flight Lieutenant Shivangi Singh, India’s first female Rafale pilot, had been captured by Pakistan during “Operation Sindoor”. The allegations are untrue and baseless as no credible or official confirmation supports the claim, and Singh is confirmed to be safe and actively serving. The rumor, likely originating from unverified sources, sparked public concern and underscored the serious threat fake news poses to national security.
Claim:
An X user posted stating that “ Initial image released of a female Indian Shivani singh Rafale pilot shot down in Pakistan”. It was falsely claimed that Flight Lieutenant Shivangi Singh had been captured, and that the Rafale aircraft was shot down by Pakistan.
After doing reverse image search, we found an instagram post stating the two Indian Air Force pilots—Wing Commander Tejpal (50) and trainee Bhoomika (28)—who had ejected from a Kiran Jet Trainer during a routine training sortie from Bengaluru before it crashed near Bhogapuram village in Karnataka. The aircraft exploded upon impact, but both pilots were later found alive, though injured and exhausted.
Also we found a youtube channel which is showing the video from the past and not what it was claimed to be.
Conclusion:
The false claims about Flight Lieutenant Shivangi Singh being captured by Pakistan and her Rafale jet being shot down have been debunked. The image used was unrelated and showed IAF pilots from a separate training incident. Several media also confirmed that its video made no mention of Ms. Singh’s arrest. This highlights the dangers of misinformation, especially concerning national security. Verifying facts through credible sources and avoiding the spread of unverified content is essential to maintain public trust and protect the reputation of those serving in the armed forces.
Claim: False claims about Flight Lieutenant Shivangi Singh being captured by Pakistan and her Rafale jet being shot down
A viral video claims to show a massive cumulonimbus cloud over Gurugram, Haryana, and Delhi NCR on 3rd September 2025. However, our research reveals the claim is misleading. A reverse image search traced the visuals to Lviv, Ukraine, dating back to August 2021. The footage matches earlier reports and was even covered by the Ukrainian news outlet 24 Kanal, which published the story under the headline “Lviv Covered by Unique Thundercloud: Amazing Video”. Thus, the viral claim linking the phenomenon to a recent event in India is false.
Claim:
A viral video circulating on social media claims to show a massive cloud formation over Gurugram, Haryana, and the Delhi NCR region on 3rd September 2025. The cloud appears to be a cumulonimbus formation, which is typically associated with heavy rainfall, thunderstorms, and severe weather conditions.
Fact Check:
After conducting a reverse image search on key frames of the viral video, we found matching visuals from videos that attribute the phenomenon to Lviv, a city in Ukraine. These videos date back to August 2021, thereby debunking the claim that the footage depicts a recent weather event over Gurugram, Haryana, or the Delhi NCR region.
Further research revealed that a Ukrainian news channel named 24 Kanal, had reported on the Lviv thundercloud phenomenon in August 2021. The report was published under the headline “Lviv Covered by Unique Thundercloud: Amazing Video” ( original in Russian, translated into English).
Conclusion:
The viral video does not depict a recent weather event in Gurugram or Delhi NCR, but rather an old incident from Lviv, Ukraine, recorded in August 2021. Verified sources, including Ukrainian media coverage, confirm this. Hence, the circulating claim is misleading and false.
Claim: Old Thundercloud Video from Lviv city in Ukraine Ukraine (2021) Falsely Linked to Delhi NCR, Gurugram and Haryana.
The ongoing debate on whether AI scaling has hit a wall has been rehashed by the underwhelming response to OpenAI’s ChatGPT v5. AI scaling laws, which describe that machine learning models perform better with increased training data, model parameters and computational resources, have guided the rapid progress of Large Language Models (LLMs) so far. But many AI researchers suggest that further improvements in LLMs will have to be effected through large computational costs by orders of magnitude, which does not justify the returns. The question, then, is whether scaling remains a viable path or whether the field must explore new approaches. This is not just a tech issue but a profound innovation challenge for countries like India, charting their own AI course.
The Scaling Wall: Gaps and Innovation Opportunities
Escalating costs, data scarcity, and diminishing gains mean that simply building larger AI models may no longer guarantee breakthroughs. In such a scenario, LLM developers will have to refine new approaches to training these models, for example, by diversifying data types and redefining training techniques.
This global challenge has a bearing on India’s AI ambitions. For India, where compute and data resources are relatively scarce, this scaling slowdown poses both a challenge and an opportunity. While the India AI Mission embodies smart priorities such as democratising compute resources and developing local datasets, looming scaling challenges could prove a roadblock. Realising these ambitions requires strong input from research and academia, and improved coordination between policymakers and startups. The scaling wall highlights systemic innovation gaps where sustained support is needed, not only in hardware but also in talent development, safety research, and efficient model design.
Way Forward
To truly harness AI’s transformative power, India must prioritise policy actions and ecosystem shifts that support smarter, safer, and context-rich research through the following measures:
Driving Efficiency and Compute Innovation: Instead of relying on brute-force scaling, India should invest in research and startups working on efficient architectures, energy-conscious training methods, and compute optimisation.
Investing in Multimodal and Diverse Data: While indigenous datasets are being developed under the India AI Mission through AI Kosha, they must be ethically sourced from speech, images, video, sensor data, and regional content, apart from text, to enable context-rich AI models truly tailored to Indian needs.
Addressing Core Problems for Trustworthy AI: LLMs offered by all major companies, like OpenAI, Grok, and Deepseek, have the problem of unreliability, hallucinations, and biases, since they are primarily built on scaling large datasets and parameters, which have inherent limitations. India should invest in capabilities to solve these issues and design more trustworthy LLMs.
Supporting Talent Development and Training: Despite its substantial AI talent pool, India faces an impending demand-supply gap. It will need to launch national programs and incentives to upskill engineers, researchers, and students in advanced AI skills such as model efficiency, safety, interpretability, and new training paradigms
Conclusion
The AI scaling wall debate is a reminder that the future of LLMs will depend not on ever-larger models but on smarter, safer, and more sustainable innovation. A new generation of AI is approaching us, and India can help shape its future. The country’s AI Mission and startup ecosystem are well-positioned to lead this shift by focusing on localised needs, efficient technologies, and inclusive growth, if implemented effectively. How India approaches this new set of challenges and translates its ambitions into action, however, remains to be seen.
Today, let us talk about one of the key features of our digital lives – security. The safer their online habits are, the safer their data and devices will be. A branded security will make their devices and Internet connections secure, but their carelessness or ignorance can make them targets for cybercrimes. On the other hand, they can themselves unwittingly get involved in dubious activities online. With children being very smart about passwords and browsing history clearing, parents are often left in the dark about their digital lives.
Fret not, parental controls are there at your service. These are digital tools often included with your OS or security software package, which helps you to remotely monitor and control your child’s online activities.
Where Can I find them?
Many devices come with pre-installed PC tools that you have to set up and run. Go to Settings-> Parental controls or Screentime and proceed from there. As I mentioned, they are also offered as a part of your comprehensive security software package.
Why and How to Use Parental Controls
Parental controls help monitor and limit your children's smartphone usage, ensuring they access only age-appropriate content. If your child is a minor, use of this tool is recommended, with the full knowledge of your child/ren. Let them know that just as you supervise them in public places for their safety, and guide them on rights and wrongs, you will use the tool to monitor and mentor them online, for their safety. Emphasize that you love them and trust them but are concerned about the various dubious and fake characters online as well as unsafe websites and only intend to supervise them. As they grow older and display greater responsibility and maturity levels, you may slowly reduce the levels of monitoring. This will help build a relationship of mutual trust and respect.
Step 1: Enable Parental Controls
iOS: If your child has an iPhone, to set up the controls, go to Settings, select Screen Time, then select Content & Privacy Restrictions.
Android: If the child has an Android phone, you can use the Google Family Link to manage apps, set screen time limits, and track device usage.
Third-party apps: Consider security tools like McAfee, Kaspersky, Bark, Qustodio, or Norton Family for advanced features.
Check out what some of the security software apps have on offer:
If you prefer Norton, here are the details:
McAfee Parental Controls suite offers the following features:
McAfee also outlines why Parental Controls matter:
Lastly, let us take a look at what Quick Heal has on offer:
STEP 2: Set up Admin Login
Needless to say, a parent should be the admin login, and it is a wise idea to set up a strong and unique password. You do not want your kids to outsmart you and change their accessibility settings, do you? Remember to create a password you will remember, for children are clever and will soon discover where you have jotted it down.
STEP 3: Create Individual accounts for all users of the device
Let us say two minor kids, a grandparent and you, will be using the device. You will have to create separate accounts for each user. You can allow the children to choose their own passwords, it will give them a sense of privacy. The children or you may (or may not) need to help any Seniors set up their accounts.
Done? Good. Now let us proceed to the next step.
STEP 4: Set up access permissions by age
Let us first get grandparents and other seniors out of the way by giving them full access. when you enter their ages; your device will identify them as adults and guide you accordingly.
Now for each child, follow the instructions to set up filters and blocks. This will again vary with age – more filters for the younger ones, while you can remove controls gradually as they grow older, and hence more mature and responsible. Set up screen Time (daily and weekends), game filtering and playtime, content filtering and blocking by words (e.g. block websites that contain violence/sex/abuse). Ask for activity reports on your device so that you can monitor them remotely This will help you to receive alerts if children connect with strangers or get involved in abusive actions.
Save the data and it has done! Simple, wasn’t it?
Additional Security
For further security, you may want to set up parental controls on the Home Wi-Fi Router, Gaming devices, and online streaming services you subscribe to.
Follow the same steps. Select settings, Admin sign-in, and find out what controls or screen time protection they offer. Choose the ones you wish to activate, especially for the time when adults are not at home.
Conclusion
Congratulations. You have successfully secured your child’s digital space and sanitized it. Discuss unsafe practices as a family, and make any digital rule breaches and irresponsible actions, or concerns, learning points for them. Let their takeaway be that parents will monitor and mentor them, but they too have to take ownership of their actions.
Become a part of our vision to make the digital world safe for all!
Numerous avenues exist for individuals to unite with us and our collaborators in fostering global cyber security
Awareness
Stay Informed: Elevate Your Awareness with Our Latest Events and News Articles Promoting Cyber Peace and Security.
Your institution or organization can partner with us in any one of our initiatives or policy research activities and complement the region-specific resources and talent we need.