Mumbai: The Narendra Modi government spent nearly Rs356 million (Dh19.6 million) of government money on huge advertisements in leading newspapers across the country to celebrate its second year in power on May 26 this year.
According to data provided by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry to Right To Information activist Anil Galgali, the government spent Rs355.8 million to publish advertisements in 11,236 newspapers in the country.
The Public Information Officer, Rupa Vedi, of the Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity (DAVP) provided a CD containing information to the activist who had sought this data. “The CD contained all the advertisements and the cost of each advertisement in 179 pages,” said Galgali.
He also sought details of expenses incurred by the previous Manmohan Singh government on its second anniversary celebrations but was informed by Vedi that there was no publicity campaign conducted by DAVP during the former government’s time.
The activist has also pointed out that while the Modi government’s expenses on its publicity campaign in the print media was disclosed, the DAVP “has not provided expenses related to the campaign carried out through other forms of media like electronic, social media and so on. Hence it has concealed the true expenses on the entire publicity promotion.” He believes the expenses would shoot up if advertisements on television channels are also included.
In a letter addressed to Prime Minister Modi, he has requested the government to make its expenses public by putting information on its website like it has done in the case of expenses incurred on various foreign trips. Galgali further appealed to the PM that “looking at the fragile condition of the Indian economy, it was not appropriate to overlook the policy of austerity and hence it should not indulge in wasteful expenditure.”
