Mangaluru: Thousands of students were thrilled as messages made rounds 
on WhatsApp during the past days about a reported offer from the Mangaluru City Corporation to toppers in recent examinations.
The message said that the city body was giving away prizes of Rs 10,000 each to all students having scored 75% and above in Standard X and Rs 25,000 to all those having scored 85% and above in Standard XII examinations.
It also said that the requisite forms to apply for the prizes were available at the MCC office. A number of students are said to have arrived at the MCC and made enquiries only to find that it was a fake message. Mayor Jacintha Vijaya Alfred herself has said that it was a hoax.
The very offer sounded ridiculous to begin with. Such an offer would never come from the city body, which by itself finds it hard to recover taxes from the citizens. Secondly, only philanthropic organizations too would make offers to top-scorers above 85 or 90 per cent for example.
The number of students qualifying for the above-75% bracket would be staggering and the prize money required could be in several lakhs. This calculation alone should be proof enough to prove the offer to be false.
