There is unhappiness in the Indian Information Services, the media managers of the government, in the way the latest transfers and postings have been carried out by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry. The Indian Information Services Group A Officers' Association has shot off a letter to the I&B Ministry on Thursday criticising the order of transfers and postings of the senior officers issued by the ministry on November 24.
In the letter, they have expressed their concerns over sending senior officers to dysfunctional or non-existent Regional PIB centres and far flung areas. Some of these places are unfamiliar territory to the officers—they even don't know the local dialect—leaving them wondering how they will communicate effectively.
After all, the idea was to create a better information dissemination and communication channel for the government. But, the letter raises nine crucial points involving the difficulties that will be faced by the government's senior media managers which may not only ''waste the precious manpower resource of the ministry'', but also ''adversely affect the functioning of the media units''.
One of the main points raised by association president Anindya Sengupta in the letter is that “some of the officers have been posted to places like Agra, Moradabad and Varanasi where no such posts exist. In fact, in the first two places there is no office of the media unit of PIB from where these officers will draw their salary.” Even the department of field publicity offices to which these officers have been posted are not commensurate with their ranks, says the letter.
The IIS association has taken objection to the fact that deployment of senior officers are without adequate infrastructure in place which, it feels, will be a waste of manpower resources of the ministry. Moreover, it is pointed out that in the absence of an administrative structure and infrastructure, their performance maybe be affected. At some places, officers have been posted when there are already officers present with similar grade—like Jaipur, Chennai, Vijayawada—and there is no clarity on the division of work.
It wants the ministry to examine whether there is a need to have multiple officers at these places. The association has pointed out that some officers have been posted to completely unfamiliar locations where there will be language constraints which can act as an impediment to effective communication. At other places, some officers who were due for retirement within a year have been transferred out. For others, the order has come in the middle of an academic session.
The IIS association in its letter has reminded the ministry of the various judgements and DoPT circulars which say that officers who will retire within two years time should be allowed to have a “calm and peaceful retirement”.
The letter also raises alarm over media units like PIB, DAFB, DFP and DD (news) losing many senior officers due to the large scale transfers which can effect the overall performance of these units.
“While we are on the same page as the ministry on strengthening the regional centres, there is a need for officers in the National Capital to serve the needs of Central ministries and departments.” It goes on to say that PIB and DAVP are primary Delhi-based media units where most of the original work concerning communication is undertaken. It was felt that officers should be allowed to stay longer at a certain place to allow them to function effectively.
Incidentally, the idea to revamp the Press Information Bureau under the I&B ministry was given by the media officers themselves who felt that the regional presence of the PIB and other media units must be revamped. They maintained that the dissemination of information to the common citizen was a task that can be vastly reworked and improved and the idea was well appreciated by the government .
With the 2019 Lok Sabha polls just a year away, public outreach acting as a major factor in engaging with the common man was predictably a welcome step for the government. But the move seems to have virtually boomeranged on the IIS officers, who contend that the approach of the government lacks focus and thought.
The transfers and postings involving 24 officers, including those handling key divisions like home ministry, have taken place months after senior minister Smriti Irani took charge of the ministry. Most IIS officers handle various media units under I&B ministry such as DD News, Press Information Bureau, DAVP and so on. The IIS officers in PIB are posted with various central ministries as spokespersons and also get all-India postings.
