Centre to use street plays, social media to publicise decisions
Not happy with bland press briefs doled out by ministries, the Narendra Modi government has decided to scale up its communication paraphernalia to publicise Cabinet decisions.
From roping in “influencers” and “prominent voices” who have worked on a particular issue to organising “nukkad nataks” and putting up hoardings for last mile publicity, sending personalised SMSes, WhatsApp and video messages — the Cabinet Secretariat has directed all central ministries to leverage the “range and reach” of mass, social and personal medias to aggressively communicate a cabinet decision.
The cabinet secretariat has also amended its handbook on writing cabinet notes and incorporated these new measures, which will now become part of the drill.
Along with their cabinet note, respective ministries will have to send a detailed communication plan with focus on specific target groups, beneficiaries and regions, a May 19 communiqué issued by the cabinet secretariat reads. Currently, all Cabinet press briefs highlight just the details of the proposal, their possible impact and implementation strategy. But now the communication plan will vary depending on the importance of the decision that has been approved.
“It would also be advisable to reach out to influencers who have worked on a particular issue or are influencing voices on the particular issue. For example, on the National Health Policy, tweets and Facebook posts by leading doctors and health experts can have a strong impact,” the circular reads.
In interactions with his cabinet colleagues, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has repeatedly said that there was inadequate coverage of important government initiatives, and ministries are not doing much to disseminate information.
“With assembly elections due in several states and parliamentary elections two years away, it is clear that the government does not want to leave anything to chance to showcase its work; so the need to rework its communication strategy,” said a senior government official who did not wish to be quoted.
For a social sector scheme, the communication plan will be of a different dimension altogether and may involve a multi-pronged strategy, including using regional language to amplify the message.
“Where the cabinet/CCEA decision furthers the philosophy of the government such as Minimum Government Maximum Governance, Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas, Ek Bharat Shresth Bharat…this aspect may be highlighted by the ministries/departments in their communication plan,” the cabinet secretariat’s note states.
Iraqi authorities are trying to trace 39 Indians taken hostage by the IS terrorist group in Mosul in 2014, the country’s embassy said on Sunday.
The fate of these Indians, who were in Mosul when the IS captured the city, is set to come up during bilateral talks between foreign minister Sushma Swaraj and her Iraqi counterpart Al Ibrahim al-Jaafari on Monday. He will be on his maiden official visit to India. Accompanied by a delegation of senior officials, he will be here from Monday to Friday.
“Regarding the Indian citizens who were taken prisoner by Daesh (IS) terrorist group in 2014, search operations are on and there is high-level coordination between Iraqi and Indian authorities,” the Iraqi embassy said.
But the foreign ministry didn’t issue any statement about the missing citizens ahead of the meeting.
India pushed for information about the 39 Indians after Iraqi forces liberated Mosul, the country’s second biggest city, this July after three years of fierce fighting that left thousands dead and turned millions of people into refugees. The Indian government sent two delegations to Iraq to check how these people could be traced and rescued. The Iraqi mission reiterated the move. Other than that, there was little clarity about these Indians.
Ambassador Fakhri H Al-Issa said the embassy has no information about these people.
“I don’t want to say anything. Sometimes no news is good news. They might be in Badush prison,” news agency ANI quoted him as saying.
HT published a report on Saturday on the Badush prison near Mosul, where the government said the 39 kidnapped Indians had been last seen. It is a desolate, roofless and abandoned structure that has been unoccupied for weeks, if not months. The place is rigged with landmines.
The families of the missing Indians are set to meet Swaraj again after an interaction a week ago.