PM Modi to babus: Don’t use social media for self-promotion or spend too much time online
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was aware of the power of social media but added that at his meetings with bureaucrats through video conferences, he has often seen them busy taking pictures of the meeting on their mobile phones.
Use social media for public service and not self-promotion, Prime Minister Narendra Modi told bureaucrats on Friday, even as he pulled up a section of officials who he said spent too much time online.
“If the social media is used for announcing the date for the anti-polio vaccination then it’s very good,” Modi said in his address to bureaucrats on the 11th civil service day, asking officials to make better use of online interaction tools.
“But giving two drops of polio vaccine and then circulating the photo through social media should not be done,” he added.
Modi has more than 29 million Twitter followers with whom he constantly interacts besides using the 140-character interface to highlight government programmes.
The Prime Minister said the power of social media should be used only for people’s welfare and public causes.
“I see officers of district level so busy on social media that most of the time is spent on this (social media),” Modi said.
Modi said he was aware of the power of social media but added that at his meetings with bureaucrats through video conferences, he has often seen them busy taking pictures of the meeting on their mobile phones.