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New Delhi: Organising a global media and entertainment summit on the lines of the World Economic Forum (WEF), an increased focus on social media and regional languages as well as feedback-oriented integrated publicity campaigns across ministries on common themes. These are among the long-term vision plans of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (I&B), ThePrint has learnt.

Other top priorities of the ministry include the growth of the media and entertainment sectors, showcasing India’s image abroad through various measures such as launching a new DD International channel or by making audio-visual content on India’s “success stories”.

An I&B ministry official, who didn’t want to be named, told ThePrint a global media and entertainment summit on the lines of the World Economic Forum held in Davos is set to be organised by the end of this year or, at the most, next year.

The summit will focus on the business aspects of the Indian media and entertainment industries, the official added.

According to the I&B ministry’s vision plan, reviewed by ThePrint, several industry bodies such as the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry, the Confederation of Indian Industry, music companies and even ministries of culture, tourism, external affairs can participate in the summit and discuss the ease of doing business. Industry bodies can also seek infrastructure and financial support for employment generation in their respective sectors.

Full migration of private TV channels to Indian satellites

Encouraging shooting of foreign films in India, increasing density of theatres in tier-I and tier-II cities are among other long-term plans.

The I&B ministry also plans to migrate private channels from foreign to Indian satellites. At present, nearly 70 per cent of the over 900 private TV channels are being transmitted from foreign satellites.

According to the vision plan, a full-fledged institute on film and television in Arunachal Pradesh built at a budget of Rs 200 crore will be operational by 2022.

Greater attention to Northeast, J&K

The ministry also proposes to make audio-visual content on India’s “success stories” and publicise it abroad. The success stories could be on Ayushman Bharat, Yoga and other subjects. There are plans to translate these “success stories” into languages recognised by the UN, which will then be shown in various countries.

An audio-visual project on climate change is already under way.

The vision plan also envisages greater attention to Northeast, Jammu and Kashmir and Left-wing extremism-affected areas as well as in identified “aspirational districts”. The aim is to ensure effective dissemination of government policies, programmes and achievements through the creation of content specific to those regions and through community radios, according to the ministry.

Also read: I&B ministry tells DD & AIR to ensure level-playing field for all parties after EC rap

Focus on social media, regional languages

The vision plan also envisages an increased use of social media in government communication, calling for redesigning communication approaches with a focus on web, print and electronic platforms in an integrated manner.

To increase communication in regional languages, there are plans to expand the regional base of DD and All India Radio by making them run 24×7, to develop social media handles in regional languages and to increase the use of local languages for publicity and content creation.

A dashboard is also being set up by the ministry to analyse and disseminate audience feedback received through print, electronic and online platforms on major government initiatives, decisions, policies and programmes.

The ministry official quoted above said there will be a “paradigm shift” in the way the government has campaigned its initiatives or programmes so far.

“Holistic campaigns across media based on selected themes would be run across ministries to make government communication more effective as it would focus on a particular target population,” the official said.

The vision plan says sectoral ministries like agriculture, rural development, finance, chemicals and fertilizers, petroleum, power, Jal Shakti etc. could be part of the integrated multi-media campaigns under the overarching theme ‘Khushal Kisan Khushal Bharat’.

Also read: Modi govt’s I&B to-do list — regulating platforms like NaMo TV, Netflix & online news

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