UK firm lends a helping hand to improve Indian govt's image

Pai has written to P Chidambaram, inviting Indian administrators for a one-week study programme in the UK

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The tax dispute with British telecom company Vodafone may have dented India's image as a favourable investment destination, but now, another British company has offered to help India improve its image and streamline its communication strategy.

London-based Public Administration International (Pai) - which advises governments which are going through political, economic, structural, and legislative change - has written to Finance Minister P Chidambaram, inviting Indian administrators for a one-week study programme in the UK.

At a time when the Bharatiya Janata Party, particularly Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, has scored over the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government at Centre in the use of social media and communication, Pai will teach the Centre how to use news, social and digital media to deliver effective policies and programmes.

"The massive changes in the media market place make communication ever more challenging for ministers, their advisers and officials as well as for professional communicators. This programme will help you tackle these challenges through understanding the strategic basis of good communication and how the UK government has sought to apply it both to digital and more traditional media," it said.

Pai - which has run consultancy services in countries such as South Africa, Nigeria, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Nepal, the Philippines, and Vietnam - said it would welcome any opportunity to support the Indian government at federal and state levels.

"We are certainly very keen to work with the Government of India and have already welcomed more than 50 senior Indian public servants to London to attend our various high-level study programmes, which are for multi-national groups," said Claire Cameron, director, Pai in response to an e-mail query.

The UPA government has got a lot of criticism from many quarters for its policies and handling of various issues in the past few years. Tax proposals in Budget 2012-13 on retrospective taxation of indirect transfer of assets (even after Vodafone winning the case in Supreme Court) and General Anti-Avoidance Rules (GAAR) deteriorated the investment climate.

However, of late, the government has tried to do the damage control by softening the blow on GAAR and proposing reconciliation with Vodafone.

Realising the need of the hour is digital and social media, it is planning to set up a special cell in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to focus on platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Google Hangout, Slideshare, and Flickr to promote UPA's achievements and respond quickly to any negative propaganda.

Recently, Chidambaram, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, and Road Transport Minister C P Joshi came on Google Hangout to put forward their views.