Bihar Government’s new Information and Public Relations Minister Vijay Kumar Chaudhary took charge of the department on Tuesday. Department Secretary Anupam Kumar and Director Vaibhav Srivastava welcomed him by presenting him a bouquet. After assuming charge, Minister Choudhary said that the Information and Public Relations Department is very important like other departments. This department is responsible for providing accurate information, statistics and public welfare schemes of all 45 departments of the government to the general public.
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He said, “My aim will be to make every scheme and work of the government accessible to the people and to provide maximum benefits of the schemes to the people. The scope of the department is extended up to the subdivision level, we will make it more effective, so that the achievements and schemes of the government can reach the public in a transparent manner. The Information Department not only disseminates information but also establishes direct communication with the public. It also dispels any misconceptions arising regarding the work of the government.”
Took the post of Information Minister for the third time
Minister Vijay Chaudhary has become the Information and Public Relations Minister for the third time in the Nitish Kumar government. Before this, he has successfully handled the Information Department twice in the year 2015 and 2024.
Department will answer public’s questions on social media
As soon as he assumed charge, the Minister gave clear instructions to the officers that along with providing information about government schemes, the Information Department should immediately identify and refute fake news, so that the right information can reach the public at the right time. Also, prompt official answers should be given to the questions and problems asked by the general public on the official social media handles of all departments like Facebook, X (Twitter), YouTube and Instagram etc.
Important role of social media and PR team
The Minister inspected various branches of the department and took information about the working of the Public Relations Team and Social Media Team. The Secretary informed the Minister that the large team of Social Media and Public Relations (PR) of the Information Department is widely publicizing the work of all the departments of the state. A total of 69 people work for different departments in the social media team. In these, social media executives work for all the departments, who spread awareness on various schemes of the respective departments, application process, information about latest departmental events/programs, field visits etc. to the public. Along with this, followers, reach, views, engagement are increased through social media campaigns.
He further informed that the PR team is effectively communicating the schemes, policies and achievements of the government to the public. For this, the team does wide publicity of government schemes and development works through advertisements, press releases, press conferences and other communication mediums. Apart from providing correct and accurate information to the people through newspapers, TV, radio, digital media, hoardings and banners, it is also taking immediate cognizance of misleading or wrong news and bringing correct information based on facts to the people. Success stories of the schemes, ground-level actual reports and also spreading awareness.
More than 800 influencers selected in the state
Bihar Social Media and Other Online Media Rules, 2024 (commonly called Social Media Policy) is a government policy designed for wide publicity and public awareness of public welfare programs in the public interest through social media, web portals and other online media which are developing with technological development. Under this, a total of 806 influencers, 13 mobile apps and 287 web media have been selected (empaneled) from the department’s social media.
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New integrated website of the department will be launched soon
The websites of all the departments of Bihar Government are operated in an integrated manner by the Information and Public Relations Department. Soon its new version will be launched with new design and features.
Most Facebook followers in the country
According to the latest data, the Facebook page of Bihar Information and Public Relations Department has the highest number of followers in the country at 8,34,535. It ranks second in the country on YouTube with 2,13,862 subscribers. She has 4,91,089 followers on Instagram, which is fifth in the country and has a total of 68,633 followers on Instagram. During this, all the officials of the department including Additional Secretary Satyendra Kumar Singh, Rajiv Kumar Singh, Vidhubhushan Chaudhary, Joint Director Ravi Bhushan Sahay, Special Duty Officer Kumaril Satyanand were present.