State Information and Public Relations day

Seram Mangi Singh *

Photo Exhibition on Achievement of SPF Govt of Manipur from 1 - 5 November 2011 organised by Directorate of Information & Public Relation (DIPR) :: Pix - Jinendra Maibam

The Information Department of the Government of Manipur celebrates the Information and Public Relations Day on the 1st November every year. It was on this day in 1949 that a Publicity Office of the Government of Manipur had been set up with late R.K Maipaksana as its first Publicity Officer. The Directorate of Information and Public Relations is celebrating the Day with a function at its office complex in the Old MSRTC complex in Imphal.

A 5-day Photo Exhibition is also being organised as part of this years celebration. A number of photographs depicting several projects and programmes taken up by the government are likely to be displayed.

The celebration not only remembers the first conceptualization of government publicity but also gives a message to the masses that the state government has an organization responsible for dissemination of information of public interest. Set up with a very limited number of manpower, infrastructure and equipment, the information machinery of the state government has now considerably been expanded following its up-gradation as a Directorate.

The Directorate has now its offices at the headquarters of all the nine districts with one District information Officer each and essential skeleton staff. Various sections of the Directorate have been opened. They include the News Section, the Publications Division, the Cinema Section, the Photo Section, the Audio-Visual Section, the Departmental Drama Unit and so on.

Publications like 'Manipur Today', 'Thakhaigi Chephong' etc. are published. Achievements of the state government are also highlighted by way of publishing books besides Calendar and Diary. In the recent years, proceedings of the Manipur Assembly (Question Hour) are telecast by way of coordinating with the Doordarshan Kendra, Imphal.

Opening of the State Institute of Journalism, pension schemes for journalist, awards for journalists, organization of conducted press tours, organization of photo and other exhibitions can also be enlisted as activities of the Directorate. The Directorate has also made the Manipur Information Centre in New Delhi after several years of neglect. In spite of all these things, a number of questions can be put about the working style of the Directorate and its efficiency.

Long before the conceptualization of the Right to Information, transparency, people's involvement and participation in development programmes, the idea of government publicity was borne. Government publicity can not merely be defined as publicizing what the government wants.

In India, in the early 1950s i.e. when the first 5-year plan had started, Government Publicity or Public Relations works were not seriously taken. When Engineers went to rural areas to construct roads, the people there thought that the road being constructed was meant for the government officers to drive automobile vehicles. 'Our bullock carts have nothing to do with' they used to comment openly.

In fact, the government officials had no sense of publicity and public relations and the people of that age had no sense of involvement in the government programmes. Of course, those days are gone. The concepts of government publicity and public relations emerged in the subsequent plans and have been gradually earning maturity.

The role of the information department of a government is not only to inform the people of the purposes of various programmes of the government and achievements but also to collect feedback. People's reaction to what the government is doing is equally important as what the government wants to tell the people.

People of various backgrounds need various information. To a farmer, availability of seeds and fertilizers at the local market is more important than inauguration of a costly government building in the capital city. In brief, the information needs of various sections of the people have to be assessed and catered to properly. People have to be made think of that the government exists for them and they can make their own say about what the government is doing. This will benefit both the government and people.

Has the DIPR of the government of Manipur been able to reach messages from the government to the rural masses ? The answer is not positive. For example, the department in the recent past organised so called multi-media campaigns at various district headquarters to explain to the people about the benefits to be given by the flagship programmes of the UPA government and the achievements as well.

As a customary practice or democratic fashion, such campaigns were inaugurated by VIPs and the inaugural functions were attended by huge crowds. As soon as the inaugural function was over and the VIP left the venue, only a few people who could be counted by fingers remained. As such, the purpose of most of the multi-media campaigns could not be served.

Target audience was hardly available on most occasions, if not all. How can one imagine the number of readers of the colourful books published by the DIPR to highlight various achievements of the government of Manipur in English language. No one will raise objection to the fact that folk media are effective in both urban and rural areas.

What the departmental drama unit of the DIPR is doing can be asked. Of course, on Khongjom Day their staff stage a play on Khongjom war and on some official occasions, their artistes present opening and closing songs. A couple of decades back, the then publicity office used to screen educative films in several localities of both rural and urban areas. How and why such activity has been done away with. These few points may please be treated as constructive criticism.

Media strategy and media management have now become a challenging task. Simply issuing press releases or organizing news conferences are easy routine works. Formulation of media strategy and its implementation to cater to the need of the situation have to be seriously thought of.

Various media particularly the print media have to be managed, if not controlled in a right perspective. The people manning the information department have to see that the eyes of the media fall on the positive things of the government and around it. Therefore trained professionals are needed in the information department of any government or undertaking.

See a photo Gallery on Photo Exhibition on Achievement of SPF Govt of Manipur :: 1 - 5 November 2011