I&B
Minister releases Annual Reference India/Bharat 2017
Minister
releases Swachhta Pakhwada Report Card
Report
focusses on Office Space retrieval, reduction in grievances and auctioning of
disposed goods
“Reliability, Dependability & Credibility of information”
is the “Hallmark of this Government”. Following this vision, India Year Book
2017 provided a treasure trove of knowledge with authentic information about
India, surveying the country from the prism of accuracy. It was essential to
bring out books, journals, magazines in all National languages in order to
reach out to New Generation. The Publications Division provided the ideal
platform to inculcate the reading habits amongst the people by publishing books
on diverse aspects of Indian Panorama and Heritage Minister for Information
& Broadcasting Shri Venkaiah Naidu mentioned this at the release function
of Annual Reference India2017/Bharat 2017 and launch of online digital Library
by Publications Division here today.
The
Minister while releasing the electronic version of the Annual India Year Book,
said that the e-version provided latest Technical Features and conformed to the
Best international standards. The e-book had a variety of reader-friendly
features like searchable content, referencing, and was priced at 25% less than
the print books. He added that taking forward the Governments digital push, the
Publications Division has converted over 750 books into digital format, and is
poised to meet the 12th Plan Scheme target of digitizing 1000 books by end of
March 2017. The Minister also launched the Online Digital Library created by
Publications Division which has a repository of over 750
books, with a wide range of titles that was available for free browsing to
visitors at DPD Book Gallery.
Shri
Naidu also emphasized the importance of digital way of life and its benefits.
He mentioned that digital transfer of knowledge, digital transfer of currency would
ensure arresting of Black Money and Corruption in the country.
Shri Naidu also gave an overview of the
activities and Initiatives taken by the Ministry of I&B and its Media Units
during the two weeks Swachhta Pakhwada for the period 16th to 31st
Jan, 2017. Ministry of I&B had proactively planned a theme based Swachhta
Calendar for period August 2016 to July 2017 to give a thrust to the Swachh
Bharat Abhiyan. The Ministry expanded the concept of Swachhta to bring out
innovative ideas to not only give importance to office cleanliness but also to
weed out old files, furniture’s, clear old court cases, pending files, service
records, inter-ministerial and government communication apart from identifying
old, unused items that can be auctioned.
The Minister highlighted the steps taken by
the Ministry to retrieve space after disposal of old furniture, fixtures,
electronic and electrical waste. He mentioned that the Ministry had been
successful in retrieving 60,624 sq. feet of space after the special campaign
was launched from September to November 2016. A sum of Rs. 14, 21,484 was
realized after auctioning of disposed goods. On the redressal of grievances,
Shri Naidu said that a total of 4132 grievances had been dispose off during the
last one year.
The Minister also mentioned the innovative
ways that were taken to seek people participation in the mission through Swachh
Bharat Short Film Festival, street plays, constitution of “Best Section Award
on Swachhta” by the Ministry. A special 5 minutes Bulletin – Swachhta Samachar
was also started on all weekdays by DD news. The platform of Radio including
community Radio was used extensively by IIMC to propagate the Swachhta
message.
Col.
Rajyavardhan Rathore, Minister of State for I&B, Shri Ajay Mittal,
Secretary I&B, Shri Parameswaran Iyer, Secretary, Ministry of Drinking
Water & Sanitation and senior officers from Ministry were also present
during the occasion.
CP/GV
