Rs 26.30 cr earmarked for death, birth anniv ads of leaders

Percentage of expenditure incurred on account of advertisements on the birth and death anniversaries of former leaders is not very huge, says Manish Tiwari

The Department of Audio Visual Publication (DAVP) has earmarked over Rs 26.30 crore for advertisements on death and birth anniversaries of various leaders in financial year 2012-13.

This was informed by I&B minister Manish Tewari in a written reply to a query in Lok Sabha.

Of this amount, Rs 5.9 crore was kept for advertisements on October 2, the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, while Rs 3.7 crore was committed for the occasion of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi's birthday (Aug 20) and over Rs 2.38 on his death anniversary (May 21).

The DAVP, which falls under the I&B ministry, has kept over Rs 1.65 crore for advertisements on the birth anniversary of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi (Nov 19) and over Rs 1.12 crore on her death anniversary (Oct 31).

Among other leaders on whose birth or death anniversaries, the DAVP committed money to release advertisements included Dr B R Ambedkar, Maulana Azad, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, Shaheed Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev, Swami Vivekanand, Sardar Patel, S Radhakrishan and Lal Bahadur Shastri.

Tewari said the amount spent on the advertisements is only 8.09 per cent of the total expenditure incurred under the print media head in the last four years from 2009-10 to 2012-13.

He said percentage of expenditure incurred on account of advertisements on the birth and death anniversaries of former leaders is not very huge.

'It is imperative on the part of the government to make the young generation aware about the great contribution and sacrifices made by the freedom fighters and great national leaders in nation building,' Tewari said.