RTI: Modi government spent Rs. 3755cr on publicity
Ever wondered how much the BJP government spends on its glitzy and eye-catching advertisements? How does it ensure that Swachh Bharat and Digital India messages reach every household? An RTI reply by the I&B Ministry has revealed that the Modi government spent a whopping Rs. 3,755cr on advertisements. This was the expenditure from April 2014 to October 2017 through print, electronic and outdoor publicity.
How much did the government spend on different media?
The RTI reply revealed that the government spent over Rs. 1,600cr on electronic media ads including community radio, digital cinema, Doordarshan, Internet, SMS and TV. They spent over Rs. 1,700cr on print media. On outdoor advertisements like hoardings, posters, booklets and calendars, they spent Rs. 399cr. Further, in 2015, Centre spent Rs. 8.5cr on newspaper advertisements for Modi's "Mann ki Baat."
Publicity budget is higher than budget allocated to key ministries!
Shockingly, Modi government's publicity budget is higher than the yearly amount allocated to some of the government's key ministries. In the 2017 budget, the amount allocated to the skill development ministry was Rs. 3,000cr and the environment ministry was Rs. 2,600cr. Moreover, the government's allocation for pollution abatement in the last 3 years was only Rs. 56.8cr.
