Union Minister Anurag Thakur on Friday said India, as the world’s largest democracy, should be an equal participant in giving shape and form to the new information order in the world.
Speaking at the valedictory session of 52 Indian Information Service (IIS) officials of the 2018, 2019 and 2020 batches, Mr. Thakur said: “...we are now witnessing the birthing of a post-pandemic new information order as geopolitical lines of alignment are being redrawn and geo-strategic concerns are being re-framed.”
Stating that the overwhelming dominance of Big Tech in “grey, hazy algo-driven information dissemination” lay at the core of the developments, the Information & Broadcasting Minister said: “Once again, we are seeing the West giving shape and form to the new information order, with Big Tech firmly aligned with them.”
Mr. Thakur cautioned that this could impinge on the autonomy of nation states to decide what was best for them. Herein, he said, the IIS officials needed to become a bulwark against the externally enforced information order, adding that the service was the frontline defender of India’s official information system that protected the country’s interests and shielded its democratic structure of governance.
Although the democratisation of public spaces offered by Tech platforms had allowed a bottom-up participation in the popular debate and discourse, he said “malicious, weaponised disinformation, whether internal or external, has worked against the positive gains of this democratisation of public spaces”. He asked the officials to ensure that the gains from democratisation of digital public spaces were not eroded by disinformation.
He said in the technology driven era, the officials would be competing with non-official information disseminators to provide a more reliable and wholesome information. He exhorted them to become well-versed in cutting-edge tools, trends, and techniques to effectively engage with audiences and communicate the government’s messages.
Mr. Thakur told the officials that communication should be citizen centric; the target audience needs to be involved in the creation and design of communication to ensure relevance; they should work in coordination with the stakeholders to achieve the best outcomes; effectiveness of communication strategies needs be evaluated for improvements; and there should be continuous effort to develop skills and knowledge to keep up with the evolving technologies and challenges.
