Under the same clause of the Constitution, the Government of India (Allocations of Business) Rules provides for oneness of the Government as a body and soul with different Ministries and Departments being its limbs to provide specialized services to the people. It’s in this context that PIB, the centralized media unit for dissemination of all official information and publicity, posts departmental publicity officers (DPOs) to each Ministry and Department, who function as spokespersons and issue press handouts on the authority plenipotentiary of each such Ministry/Department by the related departmental publicity officer. The handout in question subverts flaggerantly such laid down rules and practices, as it is not issued on the authority plenipotentiary of the Ministry of Defence. Hence, baffling.

Such an unusual press release further pontificates that the Modi Government is transparent and corruption-free, notwithstanding the fact that corruption in the form of cuts, commission and payoffs in import of capital goods, purchase of defence equipment and hardware, procurement of materials, tendering, award of contract works, taxation regime etc. is an inherent part of trade, commerce and industry in general, and international business in particular. It’s so swift, so covert and yet so subtly manipulated in the prevailing world of collusive culture that law or no law, even under the veneer of zero tolerance of corruption and tighter almost foolproof anti-corruption watchdog mechanism, nothing can be done to nab the culprits to end such crimes. In this connection, it would not be far fetched to state that corruption of the current regime in such deals would surface later when it would have gone out of the reckoning then, notwithstanding its disclaimer.

It is intriguing that the press release in question also seeks to defend Ajit Doval, Niripendra Mishra, and impliedly Air Chief Marshall (Rtd.) Tyagi, all three closely associated with Vivekanand Foundation, a RSS outfit. Air Marshall Tyagi resigned (made to resign in a tactical move to avoid bad name to the Government in view of his name surfacing in the Agusta chopper deal (since aborted by the previous UPA Government) as the principal recipient of the payoffs together with his family clans. It’s for the people to sift chaff from the grain and get to the truth. Whatever it is, the press release raises doubts in public mind about credibility of its content, as the departmental publicity officer, attached to the Ministry of I & B, in the Bureau has not issued it on the authority plenipotentiary of the Ministry of Defence. Besides, it has the imprint of Arun Jaitly, the points man of the present regime. Added to this, there is already regimented flow of information regime and media prohibited on the corridors of power.

No wonder, the departmental publicity officer of the Ministry of I & B, who issued such ill conceived, confusing and unusually lengthy press release, has been rewarded with a training in media communications skill abroad in the USA (University of Berkley). He has since flown to his destination. The impugned press handout is in line with several such horrendous failures in past by likes of this departmental publicity officer. For example, one such official, attached to the Vice President Office, while issuing a press release about an official function had mentioned then Chief Minister of Delhi, Sheila Dixit, as “Chief Minister of India”. He got away because of collusive culture of protecting each other. Later, the official concerned shot himself dead over his marital dispute.

This also raises, once again, doubts about the ability of the present breed of Indian Information Service (IIS) personnel as professional communicators. The one and only way forward, in the prevailing scenario, would be to delink the current recruitment of IIS from the Combined Civil Services Exams and go for a separate recruitment system in line with Indian Economic Service/Indian Statistical Service, requiring in the case of IIS academic degree in mass communications and media skills with at least three years of experience of repute, if at all, the rot in IIS has to be stemmed! With the ever growing changes in the media world, fast evolving technology with myriad communication skills and market led complex globalised Indian economy, if the Government has to meet the challenges of media outreach strategy in the long run, the IIS has got to be overhauled, reshaped and professionalized to meet the challenges ahead! Any Union Government, the present and the future ones, will ultimately have to take a call to win the battle of adverse public perception and negative sentiments generated by the mushrooming private media world!