Why the government does not launch a sustained media campaign to let the people take notice of its flagship and other socio-economic programmes? Information and Broadcasting minister Ambika Soni at the receiving end of the Congress Party repeatedly asking this question has tried to put the blame on the ministries issuing direct advertisements bypassing the DAVP (Directorate of Audio Visual Publicity).

Her ministry's budget is limited and hence it has asked the prime minister's office (PMO) and the finance ministry to force all ministries to give their budget for publicity into the DAVP's pool to mount an effective media blitz on electronic and print media to create awareness on government programmes.

She approached finance minister Pranab Mukherjee to issue instructions to the ministries while releasing funds for any major scheme that they have to contribute a certain portion to DAVP for effective publicity.

Her case is that the ministries and public sector undertakings (PSU) have been issuing advertisements directly for the past four-five years and that fails the kind of thrust that should be given in a concerted manner to government publicity.