Secretary I&B reviews working of PIB Research Wing; inaugurates Capacity Building Workshop

Shri Apurva Chandra, Secretary, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and Shri Satyendra Prakash, Principal Director General, Press Information Bureau (PIB) today reviewed the working of the Research Wing of PIB on the completion of its first year. The Research Wing was set up to address the long-felt need for government communication to be supported by research material of referral value in order to give a complete perspective of the decisions and policies of the government to the media.

The Research Wing, which began its journey in October 2021, produces fact-based, well researched content on Government initiatives to strengthen the information dissemination through PIB and other official channels to the media and the people. The Wing has created nearly 450 documents in the form of explainers, factsheets, FAQs, features etc. since its inception which have found very good traction across different media platforms.

Shri Chandra also inaugurated the one-day Capacity Building Workshop organized by the Research Wing for its members. Speaking on the occasion, the Secretary emphasized the need for creating content for communication in Hindi as well as regional languages for better outreach to the masses and generating greater awareness about government programmes and policies. He congratulated the team on its contributions across various projects with visible outcomes and gave valuable inputs to help further enrich its work in the near future. The Inaugural Session of the workshop was also attended by Shri Vikram Sahay- Joint Secretary, Ministry of I&B and other senior Officers of the Indian Information Service.

The Secretary noted that the formation of the Research Wing has been one of the most significant new initiatives of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in the past year and has successfully carved out a niche for itself in the domain of Government communication.

Speaking on the occasion, Shri Satyendra Prakash highlighted the importance of research to back government communication so as to give a holistic perspective on issues of national importance to the media and public at large. Throwing light upon the roles and expectations from the Wing, he stressed on the need to make the PIB platform content-rich, precise, attractive and engaging for the readers. Government communicators should never lose sight of the final consumer of their product, he added.

Shri Ashish Goyal, Additional Director General, Research Wing, presented an overview of the Research Wing. He traced the progress of the Wing from its early days to the present date, highlighting the diverse nature of work done over the past year and the course envisioned for the days ahead.

The two afternoon sessions of the workshop were focused on building the capabilities of the Research Wing team by introducing them to new tools and concepts that can add greater value to their content. Dr. Anubhuti Yadav, Professor at the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC), addressed a session on ‘Visual Communication: Tools and Skills’, where she introduced the participants to a diverse range of tools that can enhance the visual appeal of research documents and make them increasingly engaging for the target audience. Participants were also taken through a session on ‘Communication Research: Methodology and Tools’ where Dr. Shashwati Goswami, Professor, IIMC and Ms. Ananya Roy, Research Officer, IIMC, guided them through the nuances of communication research. BCS Bureau