Port Blair, Dec. 16: The five-day ‘Bharat Nirman’ Public Information Campaign sponsored by the Govt. of India will be inaugurated at Little Andaman by the Lt. Governor of Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Lt. Gen. (Retd.) Bhopinder Singh on 19^th Dec. 2012.

The Bharat Nirman PIC is a centrally sponsored flagship programme, being implemented by the Press Information Bureau across the country. This is the fifth PIC organised in the islands.

Addressing a press conference this evening at Megapode Nest Resort, Port Blair, Shri A Dhanasekaran, Assistant Director, PIB, Port Blair said that unlike other states where the campaign in organised for 3 days, in the islands with the support of the local Administration the campaign has been extended to 5 days. It would include a rally on 19^th Dec. 2012 by the school students and general public at 7.00 am and would conclude with a marathon, being participated by the local populace, school children and defence personnel.

The marathon is being organised for the first time during such campaign. Apart from this a film screening at different venues would also be a major attraction, Dhanasekaran said. There will be films in Hindi, Bengali and Tamil.

There are 70 stalls in the main venue at Govt. Model Senior Secondary School out of which 30 has been earmarked for the local public and self help groups to conduct business activities like food stalls, display and sale of products etc. No outsiders have been allowed to have a stall in the venue, he explained.

The five day campaign will also include a seminar on Women Development with key emphasis on Right to Information Act. The half day seminar will dwell on the topics related to women and also Transparency in Public Administration, which is also the theme of this year’s Vigilance Awareness Programme.

The Assistant Director further said that Bharat Nirman is the brain child of UPA Govt. During the first tenure of UPA Govt. it had decided to reach information about central govt. programmes, schemes, Acts etc. to the rural India. The campaign was targeted for four years. With the UPA Govt. coming to power the second time, the programme was continued.

Dhanasekaran further said that after the campaign feedback will be taken from the general public and participants, which would be added in the report to be submitted at the Centre. The feedback will enable the Govt. to correct the loopholes if any and serve the people better.