Need to Synergise Government Communication efforts: Shri Ajit Seth

Cabinet Secretary addresses Valedictory Session on Workshop on Streamlining Government Communication

Cabinet Secretary Shri Ajit Seth has said that in the new communication environment, there was a need to integrate and synergise government efforts in a professional and calibrated manner. This was critical in view of the change in the mode, nature and content of communication. The need of the hour was to device modalities to deliver services and access to information. This would enable the government to engage with citizens and receive feedback. Ministries and departments need to be geared up to address the challenges of information dissemination especially in the social media space. There was a need to put in place strategies to utilise social media as a tool to interact with the people. Shri Seth stated this while delivering the valedictory address at the workshop on “Streamlining Government Communication” organised by the Press Information Bureau under the aegis of Ministry of I&B at the national Media Centre here today. Shri Seth further stated that in the recent past efforts had been made to mainstream communication in addressing disaster and emergency situations as there is a dearth of information in such situations. The challenge was also in view of the different communication requirements of concerned stakeholders and recipients. The officers of Press Information Bureau need to be empowered and given timely information. Elaborating further, the Cabinet Secretary mentioned that in view of the recent initiatives of the government such as “Digital India”, the crowdsourcing method had been adopted. This in turn reiterated the need to have a strategy for addressing issues in totality. In view of the framework adopted for the current workshop, states should be encouraged to organise such workshops on a similar pattern. Inviting suggestions for the forthcoming Civil Services Day on how to equip civil servants professionally in order to discharge their responsibilities better, he mentioned that one of the areas for discussions could be enhancing the ability of civil servants to communicate. Courtesy: pib.nic.in