Social Justice & Empowerment ministry gets active on Facebook

With a view of taking its schemes to the tech-savvy population, the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has joined Facebook to have an online interface with the beneficiaries on the social media.
The new initiative comes against the backdrop of a communication from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's emphasis on his ministerial colleagues to use the social platform extensively to disseminate the initiatives of the Government.
Launched a few days back, the Facebook page gives detailed information on the centrally sponsored schemes for OBCs, SCs and persons with disabilities.
"Beneficiaries can post their suggestions and feedback on schemes executed by our ministry. Largely, our schemes are being implemented through the State Governments and District Collectors and this page would help us to get suggestions directly from claimants," Social Justice and Empowerment Secretary Sudhir Bhargava told PTI.

According to him, the awareness about the schemes offered by the ministry was relatively less among the beneficiaries and a Facebook page would come in handy in the light of the ministry catering for about 75 crore population in the country.
The Facebook page has received over 280 likes since it was thrown open on June 21 and has recorded an average user rating of 4.9 out of 10.

Ministry sources said that steps would also be taken to make the page user friendly for differently-abled persons so that they can access the information on Department of Disability Affairs, functioning under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment without any hassles.

Besides this, Public Service Advertisements on the evils of drug addiction and information on events organised by the ministry are also uploaded.
Bhargava said an Hindi version of the Facebook page would also made available.