For PMO, silence is no longer golden

The PMO's Twitter handle has been listing out what it possibly considers to be some of the big achievements made in the two terms of UPA

The Prime Minister's silence is being replaced by what looks like a communication onslaught, after the government on Friday shook off allegations of policy paralysis and finally pushed through with crucial reforms.

A day after Business Standard reported that a government media campaign to justify the diesel price hike and LPG is in the works, the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), too, has got into the act.

Since Sunday (September 16), the PMO's official Twitter handle has been listing out what it possibly considers to be some of the big achievements made in the two terms of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) under the hashtag of #ReformToReality.  What is curious, however, is that the data presented, sourced from the 2011 Census of India, covers the period between 2001-2011; the UPA has been in power since 2004. 

The #ReformToReality series mentions the following 10 achievements:

1. More than 77 million households connected to banking services in a decade

 

2. More than 34 million households acquired concrete roofs over their heads

3. More than 60 million households got new electricity connections just in a decade

4. Telephony reached 137 m houses in 10 years - second fastest growth in the world

5. More than 37m households obtained LPG/PNG connections in 10 years

6. More than 44 million families moved into their own houses during the last two 5 Year Plans

7. Nearly 38 million houses obtained tap water connections during in the last decade

8. Just in 10 years, 56 million households obtained TV sets:

9. More than 29 million families acquired a two-wheeler between 2001 to 2011

10.Computer penetration has increased the most during last decade

So, after much criticism of social networking platforms, particularly Twitter, in recent weeks by the government, at least the PMO seems to have turned around and chosen the 140-character-limit microblogging site for making its case.

However, #HappyBdayNaMo - the hashtag for Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's birthday - remained among the top trends on Twitter this afternoon. Not #ReformToReality.