Particulars of organisation, functions and duties

The Department of Information and Public Relations plays the role of a bridge between the government and the public. This department has the important responsibility of conveying information about the decisions taken by the government in public interest regarding various development related programs, schemes etc. to the public through various communication mediums. A brief description of the programs conducted by various branches of the department for discharging this responsibility is as follows:-

1. Press Information Branch

The press information branch is responsible for disseminating information about the policies, programmes, schemes, achievements and announcements of the government to the public through various media, including newspapers, electronic media, Doordarshan, Akashvani etc. Press notes, articles/features and review articles are published from time to time in Hindi, English and Urdu simultaneously by this branch. The Urdu branch of the department discharges the responsibility of making this information available to the Urdu speaking people in the state in a proper manner. The translation of advertisements, promotional material etc. issued from time to time is also done by this branch.

2. Chief Minister's Information Complex

For the publicity of Hon'ble Chief Minister, press notes are made available to electronic and print media at a fast pace by the Chief Minister's Information Complex, Annexe. Apart from this, messages of Hon'ble Chief Minister are prepared and sent for publication in newspapers and magazines. Along with preparing the base material for Hon'ble Chief Minister's tours, inspections, meetings, feature articles related to the achievements of the government are issued from time to time. Government's press releases and reference pictures are uploaded on the website and all media coordination work is also done from here. The work of monitoring all TV channels for important news is done by the Electronic Cell.

3. Press Division

The following works are performed by the Press Division with the objective of establishing coordination with the Government and helping in ensuring effective dissemination of Government policies by providing news gathering facilities to working journalists:-

By convening meetings of the Departmental Press Recognition Committee from time to time, State Headquarters and District level recognition is granted and journalists are issued recognition cards at the State Headquarters and all districts of the state. Through these cards, journalists get the facility of free travel in State Road Transport Corporation buses and rail travel at concessional rates for commuting to various places for the purpose of news collection. Recognized journalists also get the facility of treatment in government hospitals like government employees
. Press Division also makes arrangements for issuing Secretariat entry passes to those newspaper representatives who do not get recognition and who need to go to the Secretariat for news collection. This arrangement is also made for the officers of the Information Department, Government of India's Information Department.
To maintain cordial relations between journalists and the district administration in all districts, a district level permanent committee is formed under the chairmanship of the District Magistrate, whose member secretary/convener is the District Information Officer. This committee considers complaints related to harassment of journalists by holding meetings from time to time and if any complaint is sent for high level investigation, action is taken in it by the Press Division. If any complaint is received directly by the journalists in the Press Division, it is also resolved.    
The Press Division also makes arrangements for hospitality for press conferences/journalist tours etc. called by His Excellency Shri Governor, Hon'ble Chief Minister, Hon'ble Ministers and other eminent persons and VIPs.
PTI and UNI teleprinters are installed in the Headquarters, Raj Bhawan, Annexe Bhawan, Chief Minister's residence for the purpose of providing news easily to the newspapers of the state and for wide publicity of the policies and achievements of the Government of Uttar Pradesh. PTI news scans are also installed in the Annexe Bhawan to provide latest news from the country and abroad. Its installation and monitoring is also done by the Press Division.
Immediate action is taken by the Press Division regarding the announcements made by the Hon'ble Chief Minister regarding journalists.

4. Advertising Division

In order to widely publicise the policies, achievements, schemes and development programmes of the Government, keeping in view the importance of the work and the need for wide publicity of the policies, achievements, schemes and development programmes of the Government, tenders and decorative advertisements are published in the newspapers.

5. Field Publicity Division

District Information Offices have been established in all 75 districts of the state with the objective of taking the developmental programmes and achievements of the government to the people and maintaining direct contact with the public through various publicity units. These offices issue press notes at their level to publicise the various programmes, schemes and achievements of the government taking place in the districts.
Apart from the Lucknow headquarters of the Department of Information and Public Relations, the Area Publicity Organisations publicise the policies, programmes and achievements of the government at the district level as per the instructions received from the headquarters. At the district level, publicity is ensured through exhibitions, song and drama programmes, publicity seminars, press releases and articles/features, success stories, etc. These district level units prepare media plans as per local requirements under the guidance of the District Magistrate and properly publicise the policies, programmes, schemes and achievements of the government.

In order to make the district units more effective, equipment like CUG, computer/printer and photo copier etc. have been made available in the districts. All the offices have been connected to the headquarters through internet.

Under the Area Publicity Scheme, District Information Centres have been established in the districts. Daily newspapers/magazines, informative magazines and other useful books are also available for study in all the information centres. To speed up the work of publicity, distribution of departmental publicity literature and seminars are also organised through publicity vehicles.

6. State Information Centre, Lucknow

Keeping in mind the interest of the curious citizens and their families interested in writing and studies in Lucknow city, a multi-dimensional level State Information Center has been established in Hazratganj. This is a state level center in Lucknow to widely publicize and propagate the development of the state. Due to the availability of rare books, the library of this center is beneficial for the researchers studying, while Acts, reports and other details are available for the use of the public.

This centre receives newspapers and magazines in Hindi, Urdu, Bengali and English languages, and there is a provision to show three months' records to the general public. The centre has a separate study room for women. Children's literature is also available for children.

Magazines and books related to the competition are made available in the Premchand room located in this centre. The reading room of the State Information Centre remains open continuously from 8.00 am to 6.30 pm, while the library facility is available from 10.30 am to 6.30 pm. Various publications of the Directorate of Information and Public Relations are kept for the use of the general public by the State Information Centre. Information about the policies, decisions and achievements of the Uttar Pradesh government is conveyed to the general public through these publications.

The State Information Centre regularly broadcasts news from Doordarshan and Akashvani during office hours. Apart from this, there is also a system of providing desired information to the general public and broadcasting/providing the latest election results during elections.

In order to make the State Information Centre more useful and to benefit the competitive members, books related to various competitions are purchased and made available to the members as per their requirement.

7. Publication Branch

Publication Bureau provides the general public with proper information about the policies, programs, schemes and achievements of the state government through promotional literature. This branch publishes monthly magazines like 'Uttar Pradesh Masik', 'Uttar Pradesh Sandesh' in Hindi and 'Naya Daur' in Urdu. Along with this, 'Uttar Pradesh Yearbook' is also published every year. Along with periodical publications, promotional books, booklets, folders, handbills, posters, albums etc. are published. Apart from this, thought-provoking publications of permanent importance and selected speeches of Hon'ble Chief Minister are also published.

8. CM Recording Unit

This unit, formed for recording the speeches of Hon'ble Chief Minister, transcribes the cassette after recording and also edits it.

Various media persons record the interviews of Hon'ble Chief Minister and other important meetings and seminars by high commands and transcribe them. Apart from this, interviews of eminent persons etc. on other important occasions are also transcribed and kept as reference for publicity.

All speeches of Hon'ble Chief Minister are transcribed and kept safe as reference material for editing, along with this important and policy based speeches are selected and published. On demand by media related journalists, senior officers of concerned departments and legal institutions, copy of speech is made available. Apart from this, main excerpts from speeches of Hon'ble Chief Minister are collected and used by 'Uttar Pradesh Sandesh' and various media on various occasions.

9. Song and Drama Branch

Under this scheme, the policies, decisions and achievements of the government are publicised in various local dialects and languages ​​in remote rural areas through various cultural forms such as Birha, Alha, Bhajan, Qawwali, puppetry, dance, regional folk songs, magic, drama, nautanki etc. For the purpose of expanding the song and drama scheme, cultural groups are also selected at the district level in almost all the districts of the state.

10. Rural Broadcasting Branch

The Rural Broadcasting Branch (Information and Public Relations Department, Uttar Pradesh) located in the Akashvani Campus, broadcasts the policies, various schemes, programs and achievements of the state government for the upliftment of people through Akashvani in the Mazdoor Mandal Industrial Program from 4.45 to 5.15 p.m. and the Rural Program of Lokayatan from 6.15 to 6.45 p.m.

Under the Lokayatan programme, information about various schemes being run by the state government in relation to agriculture and rural development is broadcast after talking to subject experts and officials. Along with this, discussions with entrepreneurs awarded with state awards and their success stories are also broadcast.
The Rural Broadcasting Branch also broadcasts various programmes organised in the state through radio reports by recording them on the spot. In order to reach the schemes to the common man in an interesting manner, the schemes are also broadcast through radio, drama, musical drama, folk songs, folktales etc.

11. Exhibition Division

The Information Department organizes exhibitions in rural and urban areas from time to time with the objective of providing information about the policies, programmes, achievements and cultural and development related activities of the state and to spread the message of mutual harmony among the public. The major policies, achievements, decisions and future plans of the government are presented through attractive pictures, charts, collages, panels, working models, hoardings and translites. The schemes announced by the government are prepared in the form of exhibition kits and made available in the districts so that the message of the government can be conveyed to as many people as possible through exhibitions on the occasion of fairs and other events. Apart from this, exhibitions are organized outside the state at the International Trade Fair in New Delhi and important fairs of the state.

12. National celebrations

Every year on the occasion of Republic Day, the Department of Information and Public Relations displays a grand tableau on behalf of Uttar Pradesh in the Delhi parade and the headquarters in the Lucknow parade. These tableaus are based on Uttar Pradesh's cultural and historical heritage and biographies of great men, industries, important pilgrimage places or development works.

An organization named Anjum Sair-e-Gul Faroshan organizes a cultural program every year in the 'Phool Walon Ki Sair' organized in Mehrauli, Delhi, in which many states of the country participate. On behalf of Uttar Pradesh, the Information Department sends two fans and a cultural group to the said program. In the program, as a symbol of unity, both Hindu and Muslim communities offer one fan at the tomb of Sufi saint Hazrat Khwaja Bakhtiyar Kaki and the other fan at the temple of Yogmaya of the Pandava period.

13. Research and Transcription Room (Reference Library)

The following tasks are performed by the reference library of the department to propagate the policies, development programs and achievements of the state government -

The publication of the Department of Information and Public Relations' prestigious and continuously published reference book 'Uttar Pradesh' is done from the reference library itself.

The Department of Information and Public Relations has a modern reference library, which has about 24000 reference and important books. This library was established in the department with the objective of providing reference for writing work to His Excellency the Governor, Hon'ble Chief Minister, Hon'ble Ministers, journalists, writers, researchers, senior officers of the government and officers/employees of the department.

Keeping in view the increasing reference importance due to the rapid changes taking place in social, economic and political fields, the reference library has been strengthened and computerized.
 
The library provides reference and research material to an average of 10 persons of various levels daily, mostly university researchers, journalists, writers, departmental officers/employees, senior government officials, etc. Adequate arrangements have been made for the study of readers on the first floor of the reference library.

The library has important reference books on state, national and international topics. There are sufficient books on year books, reports, economic and development related topics. Important books related to literature, culture and art fields are also available in the library. There is a good collection of books on subjects like gazetteer, mass media, computer, journalism, history, biography etc., which researchers avail through the library staff. This library provides reference material to senior officials of the government as per the requirement from time to time.

14. Inspection Branch

The Inspection Division of the Department of Information and Public Relations is an important division of information related work. This division inspects almost all the newspapers/magazines published from the state and Delhi and other important international and national magazines and the news and suggestions related to public problems and government published in them are immediately brought to the notice of the government. The Inspection Division prepares clippings files and sends them daily to His Excellency Shri Governor, Hon'ble Chief Minister, all Hon'ble Ministers, Chief Secretary, Principal Secretary Information, Principal Secretary Home, Director of Information etc.

This division usually works in two shifts from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. National, regional and regional level newspapers/magazines are inspected by this division. Subject wise files of articles, reviews and important news related to various departments are prepared, which are used as reference as required. To consider the eligibility of newspapers/magazines for inclusion in the advertisement and press recognition list, the report of language, tone policy, size, level and regular publication etc. is also given by this division.

15. Film Bandhu

To encourage the film industry in the state, 'Film Bandhu UP' has been formed to implement the works related to the Film Policy under the single arrangement given in the Revised Film Policy-2001.

To provide financial facilities to film makers, the process of accepting grants is done under the Revised Rules of Procedure-2004.
There is a provision to provide scholarship to 10 resident students of the state studying in the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune. Apart from this, there is also a provision to provide scholarship to 10 resident students of the state studying in Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute, Kolkata. Students of Bharatendu Natya Academy are sent to Film and Television Institute of India, Pune for three months for special training.
 
16. Plan Cell

The Plan Cell prepares the department's plans, budget and prepares data related to the department's accounting, budget and expenditure and presents it to the Government.

17. Group Doordarshan Scheme

The TV Branch undertakes the work of installation and maintenance of Government TV sets in the offices and residences of His Excellency Mr. Governor, Hon'ble Chief Minister, Hon'ble Speaker of Legislative Assembly, Hon'ble Chairman of Legislative Council, Hon'ble Ministers, Chief Secretary, Principal Secretaries, Secretaries and other VVIPs.

Apart from this the department has its own satellite communication center (control room),

Which is installed in the Officer Bhawan located in the Secretariat, from which satellite news channels are broadcasted through cable networking. For this, cable networking work has been done in Raj Bhawan, Chief Minister's residence, Yojana Bhawan, Shastri Bhawan, Bapu Bhawan, Vidhan Bhawan, Naveen Bhawan, Officer Bhawan, Multi-storey Bhawan, Secretary Bhawan.

Apart from this, recording of news from various satellite news channels is done through DVD recorder, which is presented for viewing by the Hon'ble Chief Minister and senior officials. Necessary action is taken by making senior officials aware of the response of the electronic media channel. Also, a copy of these is kept in the library for future use as per requirement.

18. Uttar Pradesh State Information Centre, New Delhi

Uttar Pradesh State Information Centre, New Delhi is responsible for coverage and publicity of development works, priorities, schemes and programmes of the state government including public relations. State Information Centre, while working for providing information about the state for easy reference, coverage of important press releases, meetings, publicity of visit programmes of VIPs, plays an active role in implementation of instructions received from Information Directorate. State Information Centre is working for wide publicity through various newspapers/magazines, electronic media to reach the schemes and achievements of the state government to the people and to get them covered at national level. Press releases related to various programmes of the state are made available to national newspapers/magazines of Delhi, language newspapers, Akashvani, Doordarshan and various popular channels for broadcast and publication, so that the activities of the government can get prominent place in newspapers/magazines published at national/international level.

Arrangements are made for wide-scale publicity including coverage of seminars/meetings/functions organised on programmes of national importance in New Delhi, live telecast of press conferences organised during the visit of Hon'ble Chief Minister to Delhi etc. Apart from this, proper and smooth arrangements are made for large-scale coverage of important schemes/programmes of the state and the programmes of the Chief Minister near Delhi. In the morning session, press clippings of attention-grabbing news related to Uttar Pradesh published in newspapers published in New Delhi, Lucknow and at the regional level are sent to Hon'ble Chief Minister, Resident Commissioner and senior administrative officers for attention/perusal. Daily press releases issued from the Lucknow-based headquarters and information complex are easily made available to the press establishments in Delhi through fax/internet. Apart from this, wide coverage is also provided of the visit of Hon'ble Chief Minister to Delhi and the programmes organised in the districts adjoining Delhi.

Coverage of places related to historical, cultural, tourism and industrial heritage of the state is done through press tours. Researchers/information seekers in the state are provided with updated useful reference material. Newspapers and magazines published from New Delhi are purchased at the Information Centre. These are made available for readers to read from 11:00 am to 2:00 pm. Arrangements are made for teams of electronic media and print media to visit the site for coverage of Hon'ble Chief Minister's programmes and development programmes in Western Uttar Pradesh. Along with this, extensive coverage of districts and cities of cultural, historical and industrial importance of the state is also done at the national level by arranging site visits.

19. Media Centre

An air-conditioned media centre is located on the ground floor of Lal Bahadur Shastri Bhawan, Secretariat, Uttar Pradesh, Lucknow. This media centre works as a coordinator and facilitator between the government and the media.

The work of providing information about important public programmes of Hon'ble Chief Minister, Hon'ble Ministers and senior officials of the Government to the media for promotion and dissemination is done by the Media Centre.

The media center also has a well-equipped press conference hall, where press conferences are held. Media representatives also have access to newspapers, magazines, fax and telephone facilities in the media center. The computer room set up for newspaper representatives also has computers with internet. There is also a library facility for media personnel here.

Providing information about various government schemes and policies to media representatives and coordinating in providing supporting and basic material related to it is also included in the functions of the Media Centre.

20. Administration Division

The division handles the work related to establishment of 164 gazetted officers and 549 non-gazetted employees working at the headquarters and work allocation, transfer, leave, appointment and all service related works of officers/employees, payment of medical reimbursement, acceptance of permanent/temporary advance from General Provident Fund. Apart from this, the work of encashment of GPF leave after retirement/death of departmental officers/employees, payment of claims related to group insurance scheme, payment of insurance linked to GPF etc. is also done.
 
Apart from this, the work of accepting building construction and building repair advance, motorcycle, scooter, computer advance to all officers/employees working under the headquarters and regional publicity organization is also done.

The work of installation of telephone in the office/residence of the officers working at the headquarters and its payment is also done by this division.

The work of payment of mobile phones allotted to the officers working at the headquarters is done by the division, preparation of counter affidavits in the cases filed by the departmental officers/employees in the honourable High Court and Public Service Commission and filing them in the honourable courts and their effective advocacy. Apart from this, the work of redressal of complaints received from honourable MPs, MLAs and other sources etc. is done. The work of assigning duty to the officers during the session of Vidhan Sabha and Vidhan Parishad is also done by the division.

21. Accounts Division

For implementation of departmental schemes, the Accounts Division arranges funds through non-planned/planned income-expenditure and prepares bills for withdrawal of funds on the proposals of the divisions, prepares salary bills of all departmental officers/employees and their service benefits and withdraws the same along with submitting information of monthly expenditure statement to the Government and maintains Provident Fund accounts and calculates interest etc. and keeps the deposited amount updated and recovers the advances taken etc. along with marking/maintaining the service books of all employees as per their service.

22. Withdrawal branch

The clearance branch receives the mail coming from outside and sends it to the concerned officers/divisions. The work of sending mail going out of the department is done.

23. Pension Cell

The proceedings related to fixation of pension for retired officers/employees are completed by the Pension Cell.

24. Audit Cell

The audit cell audits the records of the district offices of the department. The irregularities found during the audit are brought to the notice of the Director, Administration and Finance and Internal Audit Directorate and are regularly sent to them, which is reviewed every quarter by the Finance and Internal Audit Directorate.

Apart from the above, the compliance report of the paragraphs of objections raised on the departmental grant accounts every year by the Principal Accountant General (Audit) Office and the audit work of overdue payments for more than a year are sent.
 
25. T.V. Branch

In Directorate of Information, earlier only VIP TV unit used to work under Community Doordarshan Scheme TV branch. But due to change in time and technological changes, currently the following three units are working under this branch.

(1) V.I.P. TV Unit
(2) Satellite Communication Centre & Cable Network Unit
(3) Electronic Media News Recording Unit

(1) VIP TV Unit

Under the VIP TV Unit running in Directorate, Information and Public Relations Department, Uttar Pradesh, Lucknow, work of installation and maintenance of Government TV sets, LCD, LED, TV sets is done at the residences of His Excellency Governor, Hon'ble Chief Minister, Hon'ble Minister, Hon'ble Chief Secretary, Principal Secretaries, Secretaries, Officers of Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council, Leaders of Opposition, Advocate General and other VVIPs and VIPs.

(2) Satellite Communication Centre and Cable Network Unit

In the modern era, under electronic media, satellite communication and cable system have become the most important medium of information revolution. In this system, after installing many big dish antennas and DTH on the roof, the signal is received directly from the satellite in the control room and then that signal is modified in the control room itself, after which the signal is transmitted to various places through optical fiber. Through this, news is received and sent from one corner of the world to another in seconds. The Information Department has installed this latest system in room number 1, 2 and 3 of Officer Bhawan located in the Secretariat. At present, this network has been spread across all the buildings of the Secretariat, Yojana Bhawan, Shastri Bhawan, Raj Bhawan, Bapu Bhawan, Adhikari Bhawan, Bahukhandi Bhawan, Secretary Bhawan, Vidhan Bhawan, Hon'ble Chief Minister's residence 5 Kalidas Marg and Suchna Bhawan Park Road through this Satellite Communication Center and Cable Network. At present, 90 satellite news channels and other channels are being broadcasted from this center through optical fiber lines.

The work of upgradation in the control room is continuously going on. Along with this, efforts are also being made to digitize it. The recording and monitoring of satellite news channels is done in the Electronic Media News Recording Unit in the Annexe building through the optical fiber lines of this Satellite Communication Center and Cable Network Unit. The channels are broadcasted 24 hours a day. In future, there is a proposal to extend it to Janpath Bhawan.

(3) Electronic Media News Recording Unit

Earlier, the recording of news of electronic media was done manually on VCR. Now it has been computerized. In which many news channels are automatically recorded on hard disk simultaneously. After that, DVDs are made after editing them. DVDs are sent daily for viewing by Hon'ble Chief Minister and other VVIPs. After viewing them, the government immediately takes necessary action. Almost all satellite news channels are also monitored for Hon'ble Chief Minister in Shastri Bhawan by this unit. Since the above arrangement of recording and feedback of news of electronic media is used in the law and order of the government, keeping in view the need of its analysis, storage, recording, date and time, news data collection etc. and the problem of signal breakdown, this setup has been computerized. Which is working successfully. Besides this, a video library of DVD and hard disk has also been established in which all the news of electronic media is recorded on DVD and hard disk and kept safely in the library.