Once bitten, twice shy

The Press Information Bureau (PIB), the government's official information dissemination arm housed in Shastri Bhawan, has made it mandatory for all non-accredited journalists (those who do not possess a PIB card) to get prior permission to enter the building from designated officers. It also insists that once a journalist gets permission to meet an official, she must meet the said official and not someone else. After the meeting is over, it is imperative for the journalist to return her permission slip to the authority concerned. As some officials pointed out, while these rules have always existed, they were never implemented strictly. But after the case involving the leak of classified documents from government offices blew up, they have been reinforced. Shastri Bhawan houses critical infrastructure ministries such as those for petroleum, coal and mines, besides human resource development.