Continuing from where he left at the External Affairs Ministry, Finance Minister Jaswant Singh will have his own media cell, headed by no less than a joint secretary level officer, to popularise the economic policies of his ministry in India and abroad.Additional Principal Information Officer Deepak Sandhu, the high profile Indian Information Service official who was earlier director of film festivals, will be in charge of the media cell and will have a battery of senior officers assisting her in disseminating the Finance Ministry’s vision.After writing to Information and Broadcasting Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad last month, expressing his desire to have an independent media cell for the Finance Ministry, Singh’s plans have started unravelling.As per Singh’s proposal, creation of the media cell is necessary to cope with the widespread demands of the knowledge era as also to promote international cooperation in the economic sphere.Among the tasks cut out for the media cell: on All India Radio, it plans to buy a 15 minute discussion slot, onward 9.15 pm prime time. Salient news channels are to be identified and these may include Doordarshan, BBC, CNN, CNBC, Aaj Tak and the likes.The media cell can cooperate through the US India caucus to present opportunities for export of goods and services in the infrastructure field to India, given the immense potential of US trade.Another reason cited for creating the media cell is this: prominent Acts enacted by Parliament like SEBI Act, UTI Act, Money Laundering Act, Copy Amendment Act require free and widespread dissemination of knowledge.The media cell’s head will be a joint secretary level officer who will also be the spokesperson. It will have a director in charge of external publicity, dealing with films and documentaries, who will be assisted by an under secretary level officer. The Chief Editor will be of the rank of deputy secretary who will be assisted by the Editor while an under secretary will be in charge of news clippings. All will be assisted by a support staff.The media cell proposed by Singh will have adequate funds. ‘‘The MEA media cell has an allocation of Rs 75 crore per annum for this purpose,’’ says a note prepared by Finance Ministry. Given the fact that media cell is Singh’s baby, there surely should be no dearth of funds for Sandhu and her team.
