UPA ministers to be on social media

Social media is the new buzz word for the UPA government

Updated on: Jan 25, 2013, 21:45:28 IST

Hindustan Times | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi New Delhi

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Social media is the new buzz word for the UPA government.

UPA ministers, who may not understand the modern media tools, would soon use them to reach millions on the cyber world and try to sell the government “game-changer” image in the crucial election year.

The National Innovation Council (NIC) headed by Sam Pitroda had formulised a plan on directions of the Prime Minister’s Office, which felt a need to improve government’s presence in the social media as part of new communication strategy.

In a brain-storming last week, a suggestion of Shekhar Kapur, director of Oscar winning Hollywood movie Elizabeth and NIC member, to make ministers put forth the government view on social media websites was adopted without much debate.

He proposed that the ministers should “telling a story” rather than making “boring speech” on you-tube which can connect them with young and vibrant social media audience. And after much discussion the NIC decided that the ministers would be on a two-minute video on you-tube and would also interact on popular social media interactive --- twitter.

Information and Broadcasting Manish Tiwari described it as a “fantastic idea” and said his ministry was working on improving government engagement on social media. “We would obviously take cognizance of the proposal and would try to take it forward,” he told HT.’
Tiwari’s colleague and Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal this week had admitted that the government was facing problems to deal with the “new” and “evolving” medium and said it should be used to empower the people.

As of now, very less official videos are loaded on you-tube and only a few government offices such as Prime Minister’s Office are on twitter. There is no strategy to counter anti-government propaganda on the social media, whose influence was felt by administrators at recent protests against gang-rape in Delhi.
Even though Internet penetration in India is about 11.4 percent the importance of social media can be gauged from the fact that its reach is expanding rapidly with telecom companies offering internet services at low prices.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

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