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PEOPLE AND THEIR
PROBLEMS
NEW DELHI, 26 August 2005
No Image Building
GOVT. ADS, NEED NEW
APPROACH
By T.D. Jagadesan
Of late there has been a spurt in paid advertisements in
newspapers by various Central Ministries and State Governments with photographs
of Ministers and Chief Ministers and also of party Presidents and the Prime
Ministers, extolling the progress they claim to have achieved. Advertisements
are often issued even on certain routine activities or on programmes of
conferences to be held. They too carry the photographs of the Ministers and
sometimes even of the bureaucrats heading the Departments.
Advertisements in the past used to be made by political
parties and certain specified ministries at the time of elections, but issuing
paid advertisements these days seems to have become a regular practice of some
ministries and State Governments. An important lesson thrown up by the India
Shining blitz a few months preceding the last general election was that such advertisements
have little positive impact on the electorate.
With the level of illiteracy in some of the large States (Bihar 53 per cent, UP 44 per cent, Rajasthan 40 per cent,
AP 40 per cent), the number of people in the country who read newspapers is naturally
very low. The number of readers of English newspapers is much lower. Even among
those who are regular readers of newspapers, the natural tendency is to doubt
the veracity of what governments advertise as their great achievements.
Newspaper readers may attach importance to what journalists
write about because they believe that journalists are generally not influenced
by political considerations when they report events. However, the new trend of
issuing frequent Government advertisements with photographs of the Prime
Minister, presidents of both national and State level political parties, Chief
Ministers and ministers make the readers cynical about such advertisements.
It is not surprising that the discerning readers view them
as exercises in image projection and misuse of public funds. Government
advertisements have been a mixed lot. Some are subtle in presenting a good
image of the minister concerned. Some others are unabashed projections of the
minister’s leadership and contribution.
Some ministers use the opportunity for advertisements to
display loyalty to their party president and for lauding the “guidance and
inspiration” provided by their party leaders in their work. Such advertisements
become shameless indulgence in sycophancy and people naturally resent the
practice of spending Government money for such publicity.
Let us examine a few recent advertisements issued at heavy
cost to public exchequer and see to what extent public interests, if any, have
been served by them. Most of the daily newspapers of August 13 carried
half-page advertisements by the Indian Railways with the photograph of a
smiling Lalu Prasad Yadav, Minister of Railways, comparing the state of the Railways
in 2005 with that in 2001.
The key words in the advertisement below the photograph of
Lau Prasad Yadav describe him as “a visionary who scripted the financial turn
around of Indian Railways.” Unlike most other Ministers, Lalu Prasad did not
share his advertised glory with anyone else, including the Prime Minister or
even his own Minister of State. The advertisement gives full credit for the
claimed “financial turn around of Indian Railways” to Lalu Prasad Yadav.
It is relevant to note that advertisements of this type at
public cost are appearing when the elections to the Bihar Assembly, in which
the Railway Minister has a heavy stake, are expected to be held in two months
time.
A few days ago there was an advertisement by the Government
of Gujarat with the photograph of the Chief Minister and of Mahatma Gandhi
listing out various achievements of the Government in the development of
infrastructure, industries and services in the State and in attracting foreign
investments. Here the not-too-subtle attempt was made to project the Gujarat
Government as a successful example of fulfilling the Mahatma’s dreams of making
India
an ideal State of peace and progress.
Mahatma Gandhi’s photograph would have been more relevant in
an advertisement for popularizing programmes close to his heart such as khadi
and village industries or improving the lot of the under-privileged sections of
society like the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled tribes.
But it was morally not quite justified to use the photograph
of the Mahatma, the greatest human who ever walked on this earth in the 20th
Century, to promote the image of the Gujarat
administration in the manner it was done in the advertisement.
Take another half-page advertisement which was issued by a
State Corporation of Punjab in the first week of August when Punjab
was awarded the first place among the 20 large Indian States in a survey
conducted by India Today magazine. As
this survey is conducted in an impartial manner by professionals, it has become
a very prestigious one and Punjab has every
reason to be happy at this recognition.
However, what has surprised many readers is the fact that
the advertisement was to extend congratulations to Sonia Gandhi, Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh, and Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, for “making Punjab the
State of excellence.
If Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh are to be given
congratulations for the achievements of the people of Punjab, then blaming them
should also be in order for the poor ranking of some of the States ruled by
their party, like Assam and Andhra Pradesh which ranked only 16 and 11
respectively in a list of 20 large States covered by the survey.
One may even say that since the Congress is sharing power
with the RJD in Bihar, the party’s national leadership, on the same logic,
should get a share of the blame for Bihar’s 20th
rank in the list of States. It should also be noted that Punjab itself has
ranked only at 12 in a list of 20 States on the important criterion of law and
order, obviously the blame for this or the relatively poor showing of Andhra
Pradesh or Assam cannot be placed on the party president or the Prime Minister.
A little more balance and discretion would make
advertisements at public expense more acceptable, if such advertisements are
considered necessary. It would be appropriate and advisable if instructions are
issued to all ministries and to State Governments by the Prime Minister to
desist from spending public funds for advertisements carrying photographs of
ministers or party leaders in newspapers on every activity or programme which
they consider important.
There are certain special occasions like Independence Day,
State foundation day, etc, where advertisements giving information on the
progress made by the Central Ministries or State Governments would be
considered justified. In any case, there should be strict instructions to the
ministries and to the State Governments to ensure that advertisements paid for
from public funds are not used by the ministers for their own image building. –
INFA
(Copyright,
India News and Feature Alliance)
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