New Delhi: With the Lok Sabha polls just months away, the Narendra Modi government is all set to “strengthen” its social media and Internet “outreach” by improving the operations of the New Media Wing, that was set up by the UPA in 2013. The wing will now monitor and aggressively publicise the government’s achievements and public welfare schemes.
The plan to strengthen the New Media Wing comes as the government scrapped the move for a Social Media Communications Hub, after widespread allegations by the Opposition that it would be used for “snooping”.
In order to strengthen it, it is learnt that the New Media Wing will be given more staff and better infrastructure to create awareness about public welfare measures initiated by the Modi government. It is believed that as the New Media Wing is already operational and was established by the Manmohan Singh government, it will not trigger any controversy over snooping or pushing a set narrative by the government on the Internet, sources said.
As part of the “strengthening” measures, the information and broadcasting ministry will integrate communications tools horizontally and vertically through various social media platforms to position the government on platforms like YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. The New Media Wing is headed by a joint secretary-level officer.
Earlier this month, the government told the Supreme Court that it had withdrawn the Request For Proposal (RFP) inviting tenders to supply software tools to set up the Media Hub and was reviewing the entire programme. The court was hearing a petition by Trinamul Congress legislator Mahua Moitra, who claimed the project was intended “to monitor social media content”. The government has, however, always said the hub was to gauge the public mood on different government policies. The RFP aimed at creating an entity that could ensure a “360-degree view of people who are creating buzz across various topics”. The withdrawal document on Broadcast Engineering Consultants India Ltd (Becil), a public sector unit attached to the I&B ministry, said the RFP issued on April 25 “is hereby cancelled and withdrawn with immediate effect”.
