Press Information Bureau

Last updated

Press Information Bureau
पत्र सूचना कार्यालय
Press Information Bureau, Government of India.jpg
Agency overview
FormedJune 1919;105 years ago (1919-06)
Headquarters National Media Centre, New Delhi
Minister responsible
Agency executive
  • Dhirendra K Ojha, IIS, Director General
Website pib.gov.in

The Press Information Bureau, commonly abbreviated as PIB, [1] is a nodal agency of the Government of India under Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. Based in National Media Centre, New Delhi, [2] Press Information Bureau disseminates information to print, electronic and web media on government plans, policies, programme initiatives and achievements. It is available in 14 Indian official languages, which are Dogri, Punjabi, Bengali, Oriya, Gujarati, Marathi, Meitei (Manipuri), Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, Malayalam, Konkani and Urdu, in addition to Hindi and English, out of the 22 official languages of the Indian Republic. [lower-alpha 1] [3] [4]

Contents

The head of PIB is also the Official Spokesperson of the Government of India and holds the rank of Principal Director General (Special Secretary equivalent). The post is currently headed by Rajesh Malhotra. [5]

History

The Press Information Bureau was established in June 1919 as a small cell under Home Ministry under the British government. Its main task was to prepare a report on India to be placed before the British Parliament. It was then located in Shimla.

The first head of the publicity cell was Dr. L.F. Rushbrook Williams of Allahabad University who was designated as Officer on Special Duty. Prof. Williams had earlier worked with Sir Stanley Reed on the Central Publicity Board.

In 1941, J. Natrajan became the first Indian to be head the Bureau as Principal Information Officer. The organisation's name was changed to the Press Information Bureau in 1946.

The Bureau has been reconstituted many times since independence of India in 1947.

Structure and Functioning of Press Information Bureau

Administratively, the Press Information Bureau is one of the media units working under the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Government of India. It is the nodal agency for public communication and media relations for the entire Union Government of India (though some organizations have their own outfits to look after their specialized media and publicity functions, e.g. Ministry of External Affairs and the armed forces).

With headquarters in New Delhi, it now has a nation-wide network of 8 regional offices and 34 branch offices. [6] Over 60 information officers are presently in position in the Bureau. The Bureau has Information Officers attached to different Ministries, constitutional bodies and autonomous organizations of the Government of India. They are responsible for information dissemination and unpaid publicity for those organizations.

The Bureau issues press releases, features, photographs, infographics and videos for giving information to electronic, print and web media on the following matters:

The Bureau has a Press Facilitation unit for press accreditation and facilitation during press conferences and events that are open for the media. At present, about 2500 editors, correspondents, camerapersons and technicians from print, radio, television and web media are accredited.

Its website contains archives of press releases issued by it since 1947. It has also launched the mobile version of its website [7] and a mobile app.

In November 2019, the PIB set up a fact-checking unit (PIB Fact Check Unit [8] ) to check government related news. [9] [10]

List of Heads/Government Spokespersons

No.Principal Information OfficersFromTo
1.Mr. J. HennessyApril 1938December 1941
2.Shri J. NatrajanJanuary 1942July 1945
3.Mr. Pothan JosephJuly 1945December 1946
4.Shri A. S. IyengerOctober 1946December 1948
5.Shri B. L. SharmaFebruary 1949March 1954
6.Shri M. L. BhardwajMarch 1954October 1955
7.Shri T. R. V. ChariOctober 1955July 1961
8.Shri M. L. BhardwajJuly 1961May 1963
9.Shri L. R. NairMay 1963January 1966
10.Shri M. L. BhardwajJanuary 1966July 1971
11.Shri H. J. D'PenhaJuly 1971June 1974
12.Dr. A. R. BajiDecember 1974August 1976
13.Shri L. DayalAugust 1976September 1977
14.Shri G. S. BhargavaJune 1978April 1980
15.Shri Wilfred LazarusApril 1980April 1982
16.Shri U. C. TiwariApril 1982May 1985
17.Shri I. Rammohan RaoJune 1985January 1992
18.Shri S. NarendraFebruary 1992December 1998
19.Smt N. J. KrishnaDecember 1998October 2002
20.Shri Sahab SinghNovember 2002February 2004
21.Dr. Shakuntala MahawalMarch 2004July 2005
22.Smt Deepak SandhuAugust 2005January 2006
No.Principal Directors General

(Media & Communication)

FromTo
1.Smt Deepak SandhuFebruary 2006December 2008
2.Dr. Umakant MishraDecember 2008March 2009
3.Smt Neelam KapurApril 2009August 2014
4.Shri Frank NoronhaAugust 2014April 2018
5.Shri Sitanshu KarMay 2018September 2019
6.Shri K. S. DhatwaliaOctober 2019February 2021
7.Shri Jaideep BhatnagarMarch 2021July 2022
8.Shri Satyendra PrakashAugust 202228 February 2023
9.Shri Rajesh MalhotraMarch 2023August 2023
10.Shri Manish DesaiSeptember 2023March 2024
11.Smt Sheyphali B. SharanApril 2024June 2024
12.Dhirendra K. OjhaJuly 2024 Incumbent

See also

Notes

  1. The Meitei language (officially called Manipuri) versions of the press releases are presently available in Bengali script, but there is plan of changing the script into Meitei script (Manipuri script) in due course of time.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Languages of India</span>

Languages spoken in the Republic of India belong to several language families, the major ones being the Indo-Aryan languages spoken by 78.05% of Indians and the Dravidian languages spoken by 19.64% of Indians; both families together are sometimes known as Indic languages. Languages spoken by the remaining 2.31% of the population belong to the Austroasiatic, Sino–Tibetan, Tai–Kadai, and a few other minor language families and isolates. According to the People's Linguistic Survey of India, India has the second highest number of languages (780), after Papua New Guinea (840). Ethnologue lists a lower number of 456.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meitei language</span> Tibeto-Burman language of India

Meitei, also known as Manipuri, is a Tibeto-Burman language of northeast India. It is the official language and the lingua franca of Manipur and one of the official languages of Assam. It is one of the constitutionally scheduled official languages of the Indian Republic. Meitei is the most widely-spoken Tibeto-Burman language of India and third most widely spoken language of northeast India after Assamese and Bengali. There are 1.76 million Meitei native speakers in India according to the 2011 census. Most of these, or 1.52 million, are found in the state of Manipur, where they represent majority of its population. There are smaller communities in neighbouring Indian states, such as Assam (168,000), Tripura (24,000), Nagaland (9,500), and elsewhere in the country (37,500). The language is also spoken by smaller groups in neighbouring Myanmar and Bangladesh.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meitei people</span> Ethnic group of South Asia

The Meitei people, Meetei, Manipuri people is an ethnic group native to Manipur. They form the largest and dominant ethnic group of Manipur in Northeast India. They speak the Meitei language, one of the 22 official languages of the Republic of India and the sole official language of Government of Manipur. The Meiteis primarily settled in the Imphal Valley region in modern-day Manipur, though a sizeable population has settled in the other Indian states of Assam, Tripura, Nagaland, Meghalaya, and Mizoram. There is also a notable presence of Meitei people in the neighbouring countries of Myanmar and Bangladesh. The Meitei ethnic group represents about 53% of Manipur's population.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meitei script</span> Writing system used to write Meitei language

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (India)</span> Ministry of India

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The Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity (DAVP) is the nodal agency of the Government of India for advertising by various Ministries and organisations of Government of India, including public sector undertakings and autonomous bodies.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meitei language in Tripura</span> Meitei language in Tripura

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References

  1. "PIB Home Page". PIB official Portal.
  2. "Sonia, PM to launch Rs 60 cr media centre". The Hindustan Times . 24 August 2013. Archived from the original on 24 August 2013. Retrieved 14 September 2013.
  3. "PIB press releases in Manipuri : 25th nov15 ~ E-Pao! Headlines". e-pao.net. Retrieved 23 January 2023.
  4. "PIB website has news in regional languages now". KanglaOnline. 24 November 2015. Retrieved 23 January 2023.
  5. "Satyendra Prakash named new PIB DG". PIB.
  6. "About PIB". PIB Mumbai official Portal.
  7. "PIB launches mobile version of its website". The Economic Times . Press Trust of India. 31 August 2012. Archived from the original on 22 September 2013.
  8. "Press Information Bureau". pib.gov.in. Retrieved 17 May 2024.
  9. "Press Information Bureau sets up unit to combat fake news related to government". The Hindu. PTI. 29 November 2019. ISSN   0971-751X . Retrieved 30 November 2019.
  10. "PIB establishes checking unit to combat fake news against government on social media". The Economic Times. 28 November 2019. Retrieved 30 November 2019.