PMO WANTS BETTER MEDIA OUTREACH
The ministries have been told to work out a publicity strategy which engages more with people
Not happy with the media outreach of ministries — especially when it comes to publicising various government initiatives relating to “welfare of citizens” – the PMO has asked them to adopt a more proactive strategy to reach out to people.
NEW DELHI: Not happy with the media outreach of ministries --especially when it comes to publicising various government initiatives relating to “welfare of the citizens” – the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has asked them to adopt a more proactive communication strategy to reach out to people.
In a recent letter to secretaries of some key social and economic ministries including education, health, urban development, expenditure and telecommunications, Nripendra Misra, principal secretary to PM Narendra Modi has told them to work out a effec- tive publicity strategy which is “more engaging with the people, has better outreach and provides timely information to them.”
“(…) More needs to be done in this direction. This can be ensured if Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (I&B) as well as various administrative ministries and departments are on the same page in terms of the flow of information, especially when a major policy decision/ announcement of programme is in the offing,” Misra has written.
A committee of secretaries (CoS) that met in August to brainstorm on how to showcase government schemes more effectively, had recommended that all publicity activity of respective ministries and departments should be coordinated at the level of the secretary.
The CoS had also recommended that each government department should develop a communication strategy “suitable to its context and functioning.” Misra has directed the different ministries to work out their communication plan in line with the recommendations of the CoS. “In view of the importance being placed in communicating the initiatives of the govern- ment to the people at large, it is prudent that all the communication resources available within government should be utilised by all ministries/departments for disseminating the information relating to initiatives taken by them,” the principal secretary to PM further stresses in his letter.
The PMO had flagged these issues earlier also which had prompted the I&B ministry to review steps to ratchet up its media strategy. “There is a perception that there is inadequate coverage of important government initiatives and ministries, especially those in the social sector are not doing much to disseminate information,” a senior government official said.