JAMMU: Chief Secretary, Atal Dulloo, today took a comprehensive review of the activities being carried out by Information Department regarding its public outreach with authentic information and dissemination of reliable news for the public consumption. The meeting, besides Administrative Secretary, Information, Rehana Batul and Director Information, Jatin Kishore, was also attended by Special Secretary; Joint Directors, Deputy Directors and other senior officers of the Department. During this review, the Chief Secretary appreciated the Department for being a reliable and trustworthy source for information dissemination to the public in general and media houses in particular. He further made out that the role of the department becomes even more important in view of the greater chances of fake/misinformative news finding its way to the public consumption. He enjoined upon the Department to be a bridge between the public and the administration for ensuring an effective two-way communication between both. He observed that since every department has some people-oriented aspects of great repute, it should be ensured that the success stories are published for optimum publicity in the larger public interest. He also favoured inspiring the youth for foraying in different vocations by sharing success stories registered by people in different areas of interest. Regarding the promotion of J&K as a popular film shooting destination, the Chief Secretary maintained that the Department has an added responsibility to facilitate the Production Houses in smooth and hasslefree completion of their projects. He advised for taking on board the institutes of national eminence like NFDC, ISD, IIMC etc. for holding film festivals, conducting workshops and Film Bazaars for different stakeholders. The CS also took note of media campaigns, social media activities, advertisements, cultural activities and other capex works taken up by the Department during 2023-2024. In her detailed presentation, the Administrative Secretary, Information Department, Rehana Batul gave out a brief about the functioning, role and responsibilities assigned to the Department. She revealed that during the previous financial year, the Department has undertaken robust public outreach activities by issuing about 15,498 press releases and giving widespread coverage to more than 600 government programs. She elucidated that the department works by way of utilizing multiple mediums such as print, radio, audio-visual, digital & social media to keep the masses well informed about the policies, programmes and activities of the government. Regarding the social media reach, it was revealed that the FB pages of DIPR have cumulative 3,56,000 followers, X (Twitter), 3,16,000 followers, Instagram and YouTube Channels have 6,000 followers each. Director Information, Jatin Kishore, took the opportunity to apprise the meeting that the Department after conducting an exhaustive exercise has recently launched Jammu and Kashmir Film Policy 2024 which is much more inclusive, futuristic and incentive driven. It was also revealed that the onboarding of Film Shooting permissions and Film Subsidies on the Single Window Platform is being done. The Director also informed about the new initiatives undertaken by the Department for the timely dissemination of news to the public. He mentioned that the Department has introduced the features like Rebuttal(s) issuance against the fake news items. It was also revealed that the Department plans to hold Film Festival and Literary festivals later this year. He revealed that the Department has recently launched the Season 2 of two youth oriented programs namely “Inspire Gen-Z” and “Beats of J&K” in the first ever mega Youth Conclave at Jammu. Furthermore, the meeting was apprised about the mega outreach campaigns carried out by the Department during the past year. It was mentioned that the Department has been successful in giving wide publicity to major events like G-20, UT Foundation Day, Annual Shri Amarnath Ji yatra and the VVIP visits to the Union Territory.
