Taxpayer's money on ads; Centre spends Rs.1,700 cr on advertisements in 3 years

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• Dec 9, 2021 | moderator

New Delhi:  The amount of money spent on advertisement considering print and electronic media was estimated to increase this year. Last year, the Modi government spent over Rs 713.20 crore of taxpayers' money to advertise itself through promotions in newspapers, electronic media, hoardings, etc., over the last financial year.

Even though it was said earlier in the Parliament, the government has reduced spending on advertisements by reducing the size of non-communication advertisements like inviting tender or job vacancies and giving only bare minimum information with links for further details.

According to the latest data presented in the Parliament, the government spent Rs 429.55 cr in print advertisements in 2018-19, which decreased to Rs 295.05 cr in 2019-20, and further plummeted down Rs 197.49 cr during the pandemic in 2020-21. 

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On Tuesday, the Central government informed the Parliament that it disbursed nearly ₹1,700 crores on print and electronic media promotions between 2018 and 2021. 

Minister Anurag Thakur has replied to a question raised in the Parliament by All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) lawmaker Badruddin Ajmal and presented the data on money spent on ads this year by the government.

"The primary objective of the government advertising is to create awareness of government policies and schemes among the intended beneficiaries including the population living in far-flung and remote areas, through Print, Electronic & Outdoor Media," stated Thakur in a written statement.

The data shared by the ministry revealed that the government spent a total of ₹826.5 crores on advertisements in newspapers. 

It stated ₹118.59 crores was spent on advertisements in 6,085 newspapers in 2020-21. And ₹200 crores in 5,365 newspapers in 2019-20, and ₹507.9 crores was spent on ads in 6,119 newspapers in 2018-19.

The Bureau of Outreach and Communication stated that a cumulative of ₹1.95 crores was spent per day on advertisements in 2019-20. It included ₹295.05 crores spent on print advertisement, ₹317.05 crores on electronic media and ₹101.1 crores on outdoor advertisements in the form of hoardings and billboards.