New Delhi: In a major development, the Union government has announced the merger of the Central Bureau of Communication (CBC) and the Press Information Bureau (PIB) at the headquarters level.
In an attempt that appears aimed at an administrative overhaul and to create a unified public outreach mechanism, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) has brought about an integration of the government’s flagship advertising and publicity agency and the primary media relations arm.
The unified organisation will be called PIB, according to the ministry.
The strategic consolidation is expected to eliminate functional overlaps, optimise resource allocation, and deliver efficient messaging on government policies, welfare schemes, and national initiatives, said ministry sources.
The combined entity will be headed by the Director-General (Coordination), PIB, New Delhi, who will report to the Chairman/Communication Board, they added.
All the state- and branch-level organisations will also be replicated.
By combining the CBC’s extensive advertising and overall outreach infrastructure with PIB’s daily information and press dissemination capabilities, the MIB intends to establish a faster, more responsive, and integrated communication ecosystem. The CBC is a unit of the MIB and has the mandate of providing all-round communication solutions to ministries, related departments, Public Sector Undertakings, and autonomous bodies.
It was set up on December 8, 2017, with the integration of the erstwhile Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity (DAVP), Directorate of Field Publicity (DFP), and Song and Drama Division (S&DD).
This change was made with the purpose of maintaining uniformity and streamlining the vocabulary of the state and central divisions, according to ministry officials at that time.
CBC undertakes various campaigns towards sharing government policies and programmes to evoke people’s participation in developmental activities using various communication platforms, like print media advertising, audio-visual campaigns, dissemination through exhibitions, outdoor campaigns, digital media, among others.
Meanwhile, PIB is the government’s nodal agency to disseminate information to the print and electronic media in several languages on government policies, programmes, initiatives and achievements.
It functions as an interface between the government and media and serves to provide feedback to the government on the people’s reaction as reflected in the media.
PIB’s history can be traced back to the First World War, making it a century-old organisation.
(IANS)
