Keeping in view the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, which, in normal case, is scheduled to be held by the middle of 2014, the UPA government led by Congress is set to go all out on an advertising blitzkrieg.
The Manmohan Singh government has received the financial approval from Expenditure Finance Committee (EFC) for spending more than `600 crore on image building and public outreach in the current five-year plan.
Interestingly of the total amount, the government contemplates to spend more than half within the first two years (2012-13 and 2013-14). The proposal, a copy of which is with this newspaper, is now set to be placed before the Cabinet for final approval.
The money is expected to be spent on the Bharat Nirman initiative launched by the UPA government in May. The information and broadcasting ministry has launched the Bharat Nirman multimedia initiative aimed at listing its achievements over the past nine years.
The total amount cleared by the EFC stands at `630 crore. While the majority of the funds will be spent on advertisements across multimedia platforms a substantial amount has also been kept for direct contact programmes.
Sources stated that for the first time separate fund of over `20 crore has also been kept for social media platform.
The multi-media initiative has already been broadcast in television, radio, print, outdoor publicity and cinemas with the objective of informing and appraising the public to encourage greater participation in these efforts.
UPA government’s schemes like Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, Right To Information, MNREGA and Right to Education Act’s positive impact on the aam aadmi are being depicted in the campaign.
The campaign has been launched in 11 regional languages across the country in order to reach out to the poor and the most marginalised people in all corners of the country. The funds are expected to be routed through the Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity.