WB girl’s Nasa scholarship claim appears to be a hoax

West Bengal resident Sataparna Mukherjee’s claim that she had won a US-based National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) scholarship appears to be a hoax, and the papers that she produced are most likely forged, as Nasa does not have such a scholarship at all in the first place.

It was revealed during the investigations of her claim that only US citizens are entitled to Nasa fellowships and the Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) offer internship only to students who live within 50 miles from New York City. There is no such scholarship called Goddard Internship Programme and GISS has no facilities in London. Some US-based media outlets have also quoted Nasa officials denying her selection.

The girl had claimed Nasa’s GISS offered to take her on board as an employee-cum-researcher to complete her under-graduation, post-graduation and doctoral at the University of Oxford.

Her claims have been widely published in the Indian media, including TV channels and reality shows.