Communication outreach vital for Government communication- Ajay Mittal

28th State Information Ministers Conference (SIMCON) Commences

Secretary level discussions focus on areas of Cooperation, Collaboration and Convergence

Shri Ajay Mittal, Secretary, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting has said that the paradigm shift in the communication process created a platform for convergence between Centre and States. In the fast evolving media scenario, it was critical to initiate policy changes that forged partnership across sectors to steer the growth of the Media, Entertainment and Communication sector in the country. Shri Mittal mentioned this while addressing the delegates at the inaugural session of the 28^th SIMCON Conference here today at Vigyan Bhawan. Senior officials from the Ministry of I&B and senior officials from State Governments including Chief Secretaries of Goa and Himachal Pradesh participated in the discussions.

Elaborating further, Shri Mittal said that the instant communication across platforms opened up challenges for the Government communication. Policy initiatives needed to be tuned to address the communication needs of different stakeholders in the media space. In this context, Ministry has already taken several steps focusing on the need for policies promoting the growth of the M&E Sector, skill development & employability and expanding the communication outreach for Good Governance. Secretary also touched upon the key sectors/issues where changes were in the offing taking into account the future growth roadmap.

Speaking about the changing media scenario, Shri Mittal said that with the changing information needs of the citizens, the role of governments has enhanced exponentially. The instant communication with paradigm shift in technology has posed enormous challenge for the Government to be dynamic, pro-active and innovative in its approach towards communication.

Shri Mittal, said that the Film sector was an important area where the role of Government as facilitators was essential. The sector offers tremendous revenue and employment opportunities and collaboration between Centre and States was critical to address the growing needs of the sector. In this context, he mentioned that support from the States in areas such as Facilitation of Film shootings permissions, seamless movement of equipment, permission for shooting at historic sites may be fast tracked to support the industry.

During the discussions the concerned Joint Secretaries in the Ministry of I&B gave a short presentation with a brief overview of the issues concerned to their sectors. Presentations on Films, Information & Broadcasting sector was made. Issues related to Public Broadcaster were also flagged separately with the State delegates.

During the course of the day, States gave their views on Facilitation of Film shooting in the country both Domestic & Foreign, National Film Heritage Mission, Most Film Friendly State award, screening of Public Service Awareness Films, Films Screen Density issue, Copyright & Piracy issues, Roadmap for Digitization of Cable TV, Issues pertaining to Cable TV Network act, Roadmap for Community Radio, Supreme Court directions on Government advertisements and future course of action in this regard, Developing skilled man power for media, Collaboration in  Social Media, Coordination & utilization of Directorate of Field Publicity resources among others. The meeting was attended

Minister of Information & Broadcasting Shri M Venkaiah Naidu will be chairing the State Information Ministers Meeting tomorrow. The two day conference is being organised on the theme – “Reform, Perform & Transform – A New Dimension of Communication” and is expected to provide a synergy between Centre and States for an effective communication outreach process. The conference was taking place after a gap of seven years.