Five Day Event To Begin From 19th December

Port Blair, Dec. 2: The Islands Lt Governor, Lt Gen (Retd) Bhopindher Singh will inaugurate the Bharat Nirman Public Information Campaign (PIC) in Little Andaman on 19th December.  Addressing the Inter Media Publicity Coordination Committee meeting (IMPCC) held at Tagore Government College of Education, Port Blair last evening, the Asst Director of Press Information Bureau (PIB) informed that the PIB is organizing the five day long campaign in close coordination with the Islands administration and Central Media units for the first time at Hut Bay in Little Andaman.

He told the IMPCC members that various departments of Islands administration, Public Sector units, Central Media Units and NGOs will take part in the campaign by putting up  40 stalls.

Briefing on the objective of the campaign, he said Bharat Nirman PIC is an innovative concept of media outreach strategy developed by the Press information Bureau to reach out the people at  grass root level.  The campaign is aimed at empowering every ordinary citizen, particularly in the rural areas with the knowledge about the Government flag ship programmes, so that they can avail the advantages of these programmes to improve the quality of their life. 

The Bharat Nirman Programme was launched during the first tenure of the UPA government and continued with more thrust during its second term with the support of the people and Panchayati raj Institutions at the grass roots. The programme with an estimated investment of about 1.74 crore rupees  comprises many components for rural development such as rural roads, rural irrigation, safe drinking water supply, rural electrification, rural housing  and rural telephony.  Apart from this, government has launched other major flag ship programmes like Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, Mid day meal programme, National Rural Health Mission, Janani Shishu Suraksha Yojana, Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana, Prime Minister’s 15 point programme for the minorities and Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee programme etc. to change the face of rural India.

The Bharat Nirman programmes envisages the delivery of services at the doorsteps of the people in people friendly manner. The islands administration has already taken a lead in this direction. Recently, the islands Lt Governor launched the doorstep services of pension payments to the old aged persons through Andaman and Nicobar State Cooperative Bank. Such remarkable achievements made by the administration will be highlighted in the campaign.

Informing about the programme activities during the campaign, Mr Dhanasekaran said the participating departments planned for various activities such as farmers meet, fisher men meet, awareness programmes, health camps, rallies etc. to enlighten the people on Government flagship programmes.  The PIB organizes three seminars and workshops as part of the campaign.  To encourage the functioning of the self help groups(SHG) in the islands, a seminar on “ The role of Self Help Groups in Women empowerment” will be organised in coordination with Andaman Nicobar State Cooperative bank at Hut bay on  December 20.  A Work shop on Right to Information and Transparency in Public administration will be held at ALHW hall at Hut bay on 21st  December, he said.

A special 3 day film festival on rural development organized by the Directorate of Information, Publicity and Tourism will be the added attraction of the campaign.  Along with the films on Rural Development, popular Indian feature films will be screened at different venues to entertain the visitors.

Earlier, addressing the members the Chairman of IMPCC, Mohan said all the media Units including Doordarshan and All India Radio would take active part in the PIC. 

During the campaign, the field units of Ministry of Information and Broadcasting would cover all the villages in Little Andaman with appropriate programme activities to involve cross sections of the people in the campaign.  To facilitate the participation of people from different areas, special sailings and special bus services will be arranged.

The islands already witnessed four such campaigns in Wimberligunj, Rangat, Car Nicobar and Diglipur.  The PIC in Little Andaman is the fifth campaign in these remote islands.

The campaign would end on December 23 with the valedictory function at Government Model Senior Secondary School, the venue of the campaign at Hut bay.