Country will suffer for propagating of lies: Pitroda

Sam Pitroda, adviser to the prime minister on Public Information Infrastructure and Innovations, warned Monday that the country risked suffering on account of "propagating of lies" ahead of the Lok Sabha election.

He also blamed a misinformation campaign for obscuring the government's decade-long performance.

"If at the end of the day you think that eight percent growth for eight years is zero, you're propagating some more lies and India will suffer because lies sell in this country," Pitroda told media persons at the Indian Women's Press Corps.

This situation has come about because of people "outsourcing" their thinking, he said.

"I believe, in India people have outsourced their thinking to the media. I say, be rational, think, don't just make up your mind because some TV person is saying that ' nothing has happened with our growth," Pitroda said.

Declaring his optimism that people have felt the effects of development has a real basis, Pitroda said: "In 2004, only 10 percent youth went to schools, which figure has recently doubled to 20 percent. Polio has been eradicated from the country."

"Thirty years ago India had only around two million phones and no exports. Today it has 900 million phones, and its exports of software services are worth $120 billion every year," he added.

Replying to a query on the government's inability to communicate its achievements to counter misinformation, he said: "We have our jobs, our work to do, and cannot be inordinately occupied with publicity."