The Centre Spent More Than 6000 Crore On Publicity

Boom Live: New Delhi: Tuesday, July 14, 2015.

The Central Government spent more than Rs. 6000 crore in 11 years from 2004 to 2015 on publicity campaigns and as the statistics show the spending has only increased during the reign of successive governments.

Government spending on publicity is nothing new. But in the last few years, the amount spent on publicity has increased multifold. In the last 11 years from 2004-05 to 2014-15, government spent more than 6000 crore rupees. In the last two years itself, more than 2000 crore rupees was spent, which is 1/3rd of the amount spent in the 11 years. The UPA in its second term spent more than twice the amount spent in its first term. The NDA in its first year itself spent close to 1000 crores on publicity of all kinds.

The publicity blitzkrieg of a government just before any election is a well known fact. A lot of tax payer’s money is used to publicize government’s achievements, schemes and what not. Quite often, this is one area where the government spends much more than the allocated budget. And also, this is one area where austerity is a foreign word. As per data available with ‘The Directorate of Advertising & Visual Publicity (DAVP)’, under the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting (MIB), the central government spent more than 6000 crore rupees on all kinds of publicity in 11 years from 2004-05 to 2014-15.

What is DAVP?

The Directorate of Advertising & Visual Publicity (DAVP) is the nodal agency that takes care of multi-media advertising and publicity for various Ministries and Departments of Government of India. Some Autonomous Bodies also route their advertisements through DAVP. This is under the MIB. DAVP majorly uses the following channels for communication

·       Press Advertisements

·       Outdoor Publicity – Display of hoardings, kiosks, bus panels, wall paintings, cinema slides, banners etc.

·       Printed Publicity – Booklets, folders, posters, leaflets, calendars, diaries etc.

·       Audio & Visual Publicity – Spots/Quickies, jingles, sponsored programmes, short films etc.

·       Digital media publicity through Bulk SMS, website and other emerging Media.

The information  was provided by DAVP in response to an application filed under RTI.