This has been all along the prime prerogative of the Bureau head, who on the basis of right aptitude, flare for departmental publicity and ability to communicate effectively policy and public welfare programmes of the Government through multi-media has been posting and attaching information service officials to Ministries/Departments, Constitutional and other outfits in the Government of India.

Ministry’s orders of December 17, 2018 exhibit spinelessness, helplessness and professional incompetence of the official media head of PIB, who cannot stand up against such high handed autocratic action competently professionally. This is a fascistic streak that puts lid on the free flow of information. This also centralizes authority unto the Government from the media heads, who have enjoyed decentralized prerogative, heretofore, to allocate assignments to individual officials on their respective suitability within media. It is, indeed, autocratic as it is against the grain of democracy and hitherto held rule of law based system of governance where power structure is decentralised. This also subverts the sole prerogative of head of department (herein media head). This is also the consequences of democratically elected NDA Government turning autocratic and arbitrary.
To explain the gravity of state of affairs in the Union Government, one information personnel in the rank of DG has been assigned three Ministries located in Shastri Bhawan, Nirman Bhawan and Paryawaran Bhawan, one ADG information official given eight portfolios of different Ministries and organizations located distantly from each other, others of similar rank allocated a cluster of two, three, four and five Ministries thus forcing them to stretch too far themselves, fatiguing physically, so much so that they will be unable to do justice to individual Ministries in publicizing their welfare measures for the people in our system of governance where people are sovereign masters of the Government of the transient majority as such democratically elected government are accountable to the people.

Lid on free flow of information to people through media through the present management of information flow suits the one man NDA Government which has nothing perceptible economic uplift of people to show through regimented and controlled flow of official information. Government has been surviving through rhetoric of divisive politics, splintering people on religious lines, communal consolidation and related emotive issues where development takes back seat. Private media too, both print and electronic, are regimented with their owners arm twisted by the Government to toe its line and media losing in general its sheen to scrutinize functioning of the Government. It’s undeclared emergency that mobilizes people on pure emotive issues and Government of the day has nothing to show.

Government orders show IIS as a professional service cadre in the bad light that seems to be forerunner to its ultimate demise because of gross failure to show its metal and rising to occasions and conducting itself lock stock and barrel incompetently like typical bureaucrats, with little initiatives and right drive. With the IIS cadre fast depleting in number, strength and professional prowess, it will be sad days when this prestigious service, introduced with big fanfare in March 1960 to provide well integrated coordinated thrust to the multi-media and multi-lingual concerted flow of developmental official information, is dismantled!