Publicity of key schemes to mark Modi govt’s 9 yrs at helm

The government’s citizen engagement platform MyGov.in is coordinating this communication campaign—being organised with an eye on the general elections next year—to showcase the government’s achievements.

Last month, MyGov CEO Akash Tripathi wrote to all ministries, seeking information and data on various schemes implemented by the government with a focus on their achievements in the last nine years. However, the letter warned that the video testimonials to be collected from state governments or field officers should include only genuine beneficiaries and should not show prompting by the crew during filming or given prepared scripts.

The Modi government has had extensive publicity programmes drawn around its flagship schemes in the past. In February, The Indian Express reported that the I&B ministry is spearheading a multimedia publicity plan comprising comprehensive videos on beneficiary-oriented schemes, creative infographics, radio jingles, brochures, and short films on social media to amplify and promote its schemes.

Tripathi’s letter highlighted that the videos should be of high resolution and have good sound quality. They should be, at the most, 60 seconds to three-minute long, highlight benefits under the scheme and include shots in which beneficiaries and other stakeholders express their gratitude, it added.

Moreover, the focus should be on schemes which directly benefit the masses or have a measurable impact on their lives, include testimonials in simple language without technical jargons and long sentences.

The campaign will highlight comparative data pre and post 2014 related to the coverage and impact of various schemes—especially those with a direct connect to people such as the Vande Bharat train promoting religious tourism and Jammu and Kashmir’s development—it is learnt.

The ministries were also asked to provide important facts on how various groups such as senior citizens, construction workers, domestic workers, artisans and differently-abled would have benefitted from a certain scheme.

The letter also suggests that the videos highlight government achievements while comparing them with other countries wherever possible, such as in the instance of vaccination drives.

Another focus of the campaign will be to highlight global indices and how they improved on various parameters in comparison to pre-2014, such as in World Innovation Index and World Tourism Index, while also highlighting praises for certain schemes from eminent institutions such as World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Health Organization (WHO) and World Trade Organisation (WTO), among others.

For instance, the letter said, the IMF report on Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana — which is a government food security welfare scheme — or the IIT-Kanpur study on Ujjwala Yojana showing health improvements in 45 per cent beneficiaries of gas stoves and the UN praise on the Namami Gange project, can be highlighted. As part of the information on various schemes to be provided to MyGov, the ministries were also suggested to highlight praises for an initiative from reputed magazines, newspapers.

As per the letter, the videos should highlight the transformation a scheme led to and should include clips of beneficiaries and other stakeholders expressing their gratitude for having benefited from them. Written testimonials, it added, should be of maximum 300 words.