In a written reply by Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Rathore, Rajya Sabha was informed on Monday that the central government spent ₹4,880 crore in advertisements through electronic, print and other media since 2014-15.
The year-wise expenditure of the central government is as follows:
2014-15: ₹979.78 crore
2015-16: ₹1160.16 crore
2016-17: ₹1264.26 crore
2017-18: ₹1313.57 crore
The minister further said, “An amount of Rs 162.83 is a “booked expenditure” for 2018-19 so far.”
Breaking down the expenditure done on different mediums such as print, audio-visual media and outdoor publicity, Rathore informed that ₹2,128.33 crore was spent on print advertisements, ₹2,131.57 crore on publicity through audio-visual media and ₹620.70 crore on outdoor publicity.
The minister also informed about the government spending on Bureau of Outreach and Communication (BOC) for the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana, Swachh Bharat Mission, Smart City Mission and Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana for the last three years, which was ₹60.9442 crore, ₹83.2686 crore and ₹147.9600 crore in 2015-16, 2016-17 and 2017-18 respectively.
In May 2018, when Mumbai-based activist Anil Galgali sought details from the centre’s Bureau of Outreach and Communication (BOC) about the expenditure made by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on advertisements and publicity through different media since it assumed office, it was known that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government splurged a whopping Rs. 4,343.26 crore on the same. In the last fiscal itself, the government spent Rs. 955.46 crore on advertisements and publicity through different media.
Also read: Cow slaughter bigger crime than terrorism: Alwar BJP MLA
Between April-December 2017, the government spent Rs. 333.23 crore on the print medium alone, with the total figure of the last fiscal reaching Rs. 955.46 crore.
As per the reply, the government spent Rs. 79.72 crore on outdoor publicity, Rs. 424.85 crore on print media and Rs. 448.97 crore on electronic media for the period June 2014-March 2015. In the fiscal 2015-16, the expenditure on all the three mediums increased substantially. Rs. 118.43 crore, Rs. 510.69 crore and Rs. 541.99 crore were spent on outdoor publicity, print media and electronic media respectively. The total expenditure in this fiscal year was Rs. 1171.11 crore.
The BJP continued with its upward trend in terms of expenditure in the 2016-17 fiscal. It spent Rs. 185.99 crore on outdoor publicity, Rs. 463.38 crore on the print and Rs. 613.78 crore on electronic media, taking the total expenditure up to Rs. 1263.15 crore.
For the past six years, since the BJP came to power, questioning the government has…
With India facing crises on several fronts from public health to Chinese aggression, it would…
Even as the Coronavirus pandemic continues to rise in India unabated, the BJP government appears…
Written by Rajendra Singh Sohi Ever wondered, why controversy surrounding Amul has suddenly erupted?While it…
Written by Mohit Swami At a time when experts are warning of COVID19 upsurge in…
Written by Shaikh Sohit Leaders in India are known for making ridiculous statements without logic.…