Stung by negative media coverage due to various scams and “policy paralyses,” the Centre has embarked upon an ambitious project to “familiarise” journalists with its flagship programmes being undertaken by various Ministries. At least a dozen Ministries have been asked to complete the project before the budget session of Parliament that begins on March 16, 2012.
Official sources said Information and Broadcasting Secretary Uday Verma, under directions from the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), asked Press Information Bureau (PIB) head Neelam Kapur to prepare a detailed programme to take journalists across India, covering States, where the Centre-funded schemes have shown “positive results.”
While a group of scribes covering the Rural Development Ministry is already in Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi, a similar trip to Puducherry was organised for them a fortnight ago.
A group of journalists covering the Water Resources Ministry will be leaving to Rajasthan on Friday to visit Jalore and Barmer districts while those covering the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation will leave for Mysore and Pune in the next couple of days. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, and the Human Resource Development Ministry are also taking journalists to Nagaland next week.
However, information officers in-charge of other Ministries are struggling to finalise their tour itinerary due to problems in organising air tickets and hotels at short notice. For instance, the Ministry of Information Technology has identified the Andaman and Nicobar Islands for a trip early next month and are trying to finalise all arrangements.
Then there are the Ministries of Power, and the Social Justice and Empowerment that are still to decide which States to showcase, while some Ministries have entrusted the job on the public sector undertakings (PSUs) under them.
For instance, the Ministry of Steel has asked the Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) to take scribes to Bhilai and the Department of Mines, which has identified Hyderabad as destination for journalists, has entrusted the job on the National Mineral Development Corporation (NDMC).
“We have been given two-week's time to complete these trips as we are supposed to be in the Capital a week before the budget session. Previously, the budget for such trips used to get lapsed, but this year we have been asked to exhaust entire budget of the current fiscal. We had a detailed meeting with our head on Wednesday where we chalked out all nitty-gritty related to tour expenditures and documents/presentations to be given to journalists. The idea is to have good nationwide coverage of various government schemes that can be showcased before the crucial budget session begins,” said a senior PIB officer.
