Centre placing publicity funds of ministries under CBC: Congress slams govt

The Congress on Thursday accused the Modi government of usurping 40 percent funds allocated to various ministries by Parliament for publicity and handing the same to the Central Bureau of Communications, asking whether it was not misappropriation.

Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh alleged that by doing so the government has undermined the sanctity of the Budget voted by Parliament.

He also dubbed the Central government as "Central(ised) propaganda machine under PM Modi".

Parliament votes budgets for all departments and ministries of the Government of India and each programme/scheme has a distinct budget head, he noted.

Ramesh said in an unprecedented move, the Ministry of Finance on May 19 ordered that 40 percent of the funds voted by Parliament for 'Advertising and Publicity' in various departments or ministries should be placed at the disposal of the Central Bureau of Communications (CBC) in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

Sharing the Finance Ministry's order, he said the CBC's Budget for 2023-24 approved by Parliament is Rs 200 crore. With the May 19th order of the Ministry of Finance, the budget for CBC for the current year will zoom to more than Rs 750 crore, he said.

"Clearly this CBC (along with CBI and ED) will be the spearhead of the Modi government's election campaign for 2024. The CBC is a 'super czar' dancing to the tune of the 'PM urf Prachar Mantri'. But this propaganda machine didn't have enough funds," he charged.

"Now with this surgical strike, just like the 40 percent Commission Sarkara dislodged in Karnataka, the Modi Government usurps 40 percent of funds already allocated to ministries by Parliament and enriches the CBC. Is this not de facto misappropriation?" he asked on Twitter.

"This directive is a further subversion of Parliament's Constitutional obligations. It not only ignores the expertise of specific ministries but it wholly undermines the sanctity of the Budget voted by Parliament," the Congress leader alleged.

Ramesh said normally, the Government of India is referred to as the Central Government. "Under Mr. Modi, it has become a Central(ised) Propaganda Machine," he charged.

The May 19 order of the Finance Ministry says, "For effective dissemination of information about government policies and programmes, in the most cost-effective manner, it has been decided to place 40 percent of the budget allocation 2023-24 of Ministries/Departments/Organisations (As per list attached) under the object head Advertising and Publicity at the disposal of the Central Bureau of Communications (CBC), Ministry of Information and Broadcasting".

"It may be noted that the amount allocated through LoA will not be available for expenditure/re-appropriation by the functional Ministry/Department in the current FY 2023-24," the order also said.

Senior Congress spokesperson and party MP Manish Tewari also said, "This is hilarious. How can @MIB_India by an executive order get spending rights on 40% of publicity budgets appropriated by Parliament under separate line items specific to each Ministry. This is totally illegal".

"It is obvious that government publicity funds would be abused for political purposes in an election year," he said.