Formulated guidelines for empanelment of social media platforms: Govt

The Centre in May formulated policy guidelines for the empanelment of social media platforms with the Bureau of Outreach and Communication for release of government advertisements on social media, Lok Sabha was informed on Wednesday.

In a written reply to a question on whether the government has recently released policy guidelines for empanelment of social media platforms with the Bureau of Outreach and Communication, Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar said the guidelines are available on the website of BOC, www.davp.nic.in.

"The government has in May, 2020 formulated policy guidelines for the empanelment of social media platforms with Bureau of Outreach and Communication (BOC) for release of government advertisements on social media, which inter-alia includes eligibility criteria and other terms and conditions," he said.

In response to another question, Javadekar said the government revised the rates for awareness campaigns to be undertaken by Bureau of Outreach and Communication (BOC) through private TV channels in January, 2019 on the basis of recommendations of the review committee constituted in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting for this purpose.

The revised rates are valid for three years, Javadekar said.

Responding to another question, he said the modernisation and strengthening of basic infrastructure and network of Prasar Bharati is a continuous process under the scheme "Broadcasting Infrastructure and Network Development (BIND)".

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved the extension of this scheme for the period 2017-20 with a provision of Rs 1054.53 crore for this duration, he said.