A recent RTI revealed that the Modi government has spent close to Rs 5,000 crore on outdoor and electronic media advertisement, in the last four years of its governance. This amount is almost equal to the expenditure by the UPA government during 10 years of it being in power.
“Curious about how govt was actually spending money”
The RTI was filed by Ramveer Tanwar who has worked extensively to revive lakes around the Greater Noida and Noida area. Tanwar told The Logical Indian, “I think the government spends the least on environment-related causes. Whenever I would knock the doors of the authorities for funds for my lake revival projects, they would cite the issue of lack of funds. This made me curious about how the government was actually spending money.”
After filing the RTI, the information was obtained from the Bureau of Outreach and Communication (BOC). BOC comes under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and looks after the advertisement and publication of the various schemes of ministries of the government.
Modi govt’s expenditure in 4 years almost equal to UPA govt’s expenditure in 10 years
Of the approximate expenditure of Rs 5,000 crore, the RTI revealed that Rs 2,211.11 crore was spent on electronic media advertisement. This was closely followed by print media advertisement at Rs 2,136.39 crore. And about Rs 649.11 crore was spent on outdoor advertisement.
The expenditure on electronic media by the Modi government has seen an upward trend from 2014 to August 2018. From Rs 470 crore in 2014-2015, the amount spent has increased to Rs 584 crore between 2017- 2018(till August).
Just between April and September this year, Rs 54 crores has been the total expenditure on advertisements. This expenditure too has risen from 2014-15 (Rs 81.27 crore) to Rs 208.54 crore in 2017-18.
As reported by Factly, on an average, Rs 504 crore was spent during each of the 10 years of UPA government. The total amount spent was Rs 5,040 crore. On the contrast, the NDA government has spent Rs 1,202 crore each year, which means that in just four and a half years, the NDA government has spent about 4,996.61 crores, almost 99.1% of UPA’s expenditure.
Also Read: Rs 530 Cr Spent In Two Years On Swachh Bharat Mission Media Advertisements: RTI
