Rs 600cr to highlight UPA schemes
In a bid to launch an aggressive add blitzkrieg ahead of 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the government is all set give its nod to a scheme worth `600 crore, which is being named as “Development Commun-ication and Information Dissemination for the 12th Plan”. Incidentally, out of the total budget for the entire 12th Five-Year Plan, about `350 crore would be spent during the current financial year.
Sources in the government said, after getting the financial approval from the Empowered Finance Committee (EFC) for spending more than `600 crore on image building and public outreach in the current Five-Year plan, the scheme has now been put before the Cabinet for its final nod.
“Of the total amount, the government contemplates to spend more than half within the first two years (2012-13 and 2013-14),” sources said.
The money is expected to be spent on the Bharat Nirman initiative launched by the UPA government last month. The information and broadcasting ministry launched the Bharat Nirman multimedia initiative aimed at listing its achievements over the past nine years.
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 a separate fund 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.
The UPA government’s schemes like Food Security Ordinance, 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.
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