I&B ministry print media policy calls for timely payment for advertisements

nNEW DELHI: The information and broadcasting ministry’s latest print media policy encourages central ministries and government bodies to make advance payments to a nodal body for advertisements they intend to publish.

The policy document, which was put on the ministry’s website and will be applicable from August, also says newspapers with a circulation of more than 25,000 will have to get their circulation certified by the Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC), Registrar of Newspapers for India or the Press Information Bureau (PIB). Earlier, this condition applied to newspapers with a circulation of more than 45,000. It has also been decided that roughly 20 % of the government advertisements will be spent on English newspapers while the rest will go to dailies published in Indian languages.

“One of the aspects that the print industry has been raising is about pending payments,” said a person familiar with the developments.

“The Bureau of Outreach and Communications (BOC) places order on behalf of various ministries, which often make delayed payments. There is an attempt to correct this situation in the new policy,” the person cited above said.

According to the policy document, Central ministries and other bodies should route their display advertisements through the BOC. Central ministries will have to place the funds “to the tune of 80% of their annual Information, Education and Communication (IEC) budget in advance to BOC within the first quarter of financial year budget through Letter of Authorization (LOA)”. Alternatively, BOC should be provided with 100% of the estimated expenditure of the advertisements in advance by client ministries/ departments, PSUS, autonomous bodies, etc. before release of the advertisement by BOC. “This is a major step to ensure that pendency does not cross a limit,” said the person cited above.

She would do facial, manicure, pedicure, haircut and many other things in a space she created all by herself. But the dreamworld has ended. She finally shut down her beauty parlour for women on June 22. “In these days of physical distancing, very few people are ready to be in such close proximity with somebody outside their immediate family,” observes Preeti Sachdeva.

In her 40s, Ms Sachdeva was getting very few customers after she reopened the parlour, in May, when the coronavirus triggered lockdown was lifted. “It was no longer viable... I was finding it tough to pay the rent to the landlord, and I also had to pay monthly salary to Mamta, my helper.”

Ms Sachdeva had founded the parlour in 2008 in Jyoti Park, a neighbourhood in Gurugram’s Sector 7. She had named it Roopshree, “which is one of the names of Matarani, Lakshmi Ma.” This mother of two had many reasons to start her own business. Talking on Whatsapp video from her home in Devilal Colony, she lists them one by one. a) “My husband was still establishing his business. I thought it would be convenient to have some extra money at hand.” b) “It is nice to regularly get out of home, to the city you never see dress up daily, to have an active professional life, and to stay busy and productive. It makes one feel good and confident about oneself.” c) “Many of my (female) relatives had their own parlours too. In fact, I learnt beauty tips from my sister-in-law, Shashi Ahuja, who runs a parlour in Faridabad. I also did initial training under the supervision of Sunita Didi, who runs a beauty parlour in Arjun Nagar.” d) “Earning on my own, I hoped, would make me independent, powerful and well-respected in my circle of relatives and friends.” There was one more advantage of engaging with the wide world outside, that Ms Sachdeva learnt later. Everyday she would get to meet women from a variety of backgrounds and ages, all of which, she says, enriched her experiences and helped her in learning new ways of looking at the world and at herself. “Working in the parlour gave me a chance to see the world through the lives of other people, and since I’m very chatty by nature, my clients would always feel comfortable sharing stories about themselves.”

The lady gives an example. “One of my regular customers was an aunty, in her 70s, almost my mother’s age, but very tiptop.” Sometimes Ms Sachdeva’s other, much younger, clients would curiously ask the elderly woman why she cared so much for her grooming in her advanced age and “Aunty” would cheerily shoot back, saying, “Why shouldn’t I?!” That response made Ms Sachdeva rethink her views on aging, and how she would like to be when she reaches

70.

In the early years of the parlour, Ms Sachdeva’s school-going kids were still little. Every afternoon she was obliged to close the parlour for a couple of hours, and hurry back home to feed them lunch. It was a 10-minute walk between the house and the parlour. Lately, both her son and daughter were busy in their higher studies, her husband involved in his business, and she was freely immersed in her thriving parlour that would open six days a week from 10am to 8pm. (Even so, she would be single-handedly cooking the dinner every night.)

And then the pandemic arrived, “just when everything was running so nicely, and we all were so happy with our routines.”

After giving the shop space back to the landlord, Ms Sachdeva crammed up all her beauty parlour furniture and make-up stuff at her home. It occupies a corner of the upstairs room. Showing it through the mobile phone screen that connects her to this reporter, she says, “I had built my parlour with so much care.” The lady is speaking very matter-of-factly, as if she didn’t like the indulgence of wallowing in regrets and disappointments. Looking at the mirror, she declares that not everything is lost. “I have already started working from home, and maybe my old customers will start coming back.”

With this hope, she calls her son to hold the mobile as she poses for a portrait.