DIRECTORATE OF FIELD PUBLICITY
The Directorate of
Field Publicity is one of the Media Units of the Ministry of Information and
Broadcasting and is engaged in the task of publicising various programmes and
policies of the Government with its network of 207 Field Publicity Units and 22 Regional Offices.
Initially DFP started in 1953 with 32 Field Units and
four Regional Offices as mobile units
to execute their work. The set-up was then created under the
integrated publicity programme and named "Five Year Plan
Publicity
Organisation". The Ministry directly exercised administrative
control over the Units and Regional Offices.
Later a full-fledged Directorate was constituted in 1959 to supervise
and control the activities of the Field Units and it came to be called as
"Directorate of Field Publicity".
After the Sino-India war in
1962 and the Indo-Pak War in 1965 some radical changes in the approach and
working of DFP became necessary in view of the urgent need for boosting the
nation’s morale and for mentally preparing the people to meet any external
threat. Accordingly 34 more units
were added to the Directorate in 1963
and another 33 in 1965 for publicity exclusively
in the border areas.
Presently, out of the present strength of 207 Field Units, 61 are Border Units.
ROLE OF THE DFP AND ITS AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
The Directorate of Field
Publicity, by virtue of being a field-oriented organisation, has been playing a
pivotal role since its inception in
1953 to build up a strong and prosperous
India with the active involvement of
people belonging to all strata of society.
This is sought to be done by seeking the people's participation in
various developmental schemes and activities formulated by the Government for
the benefit of different sections of
society, particularly
the weak and the down-trodden, and by bringing about a change in their
attitudes.
Equipped with men and material
suitable for the job, which are taken virtually to the doorsteps of the people,
DFP's units endeavour to expose
them to the diverse
socio-economic and cultural milieu of our country and inspire them to unitedly
move ahead as citizens of the largest
democracy in the world for bettering the lot of the Indian people.
The challenges before the
organisation have of late acquired a
new dimension in
the face of
tremendous technological
advancements which necessitate reinterpretation of the role
of DFP as a publicity set-up.
With the expansion of the electronic
media during the last two decades or so
it is generally, though erroneously, believed that the role of DFP has diminished. This is, however, not so. In a
country like ours the importance of inter-personal
communication will always remain
paramount because there are still many parts of the country where the T.V. is yet to reach.
With millions of people below the poverty line, it is not
known how many of them could
afford the luxury of purchasing TV
sets. Even if it is assumed that
all of them have TV sets there is still
no guarantee that they would watch informative/educative programmes telecast by
Doordarshan. Normally people prefer
to watch entertaining programmes. Many of the informative/educative films telecast are as
such likely to be missed. The television
is a one-way communication channel and there is no way by which the
reactions to the programes telecast can
be instantly assessed as is
being done in DFP. The units of
the Directorate meet the people face to
face with their equipments and material
and expose the public to various themes
through films specially chosen
to suit the requirements of
publicity in relation to
regional conditions. They
have a captive audience and
are in a position to watch how
the films are being received and
responded to. They also play a very
important role in
backward/ tribal interior areas
where no other media except Field Publicity has been able to
reach so far.
Aims & Objectives
Broadly,
the aims and objectives of
the Directorate are:-
(1) To
project the policies and
programmes of the Government by bringing its men and material
face to face with the people and to
inform them about the plans
and schemes formulated
for their benefit.
(2) To educate people about the fundamental
national values like democracy,
socialism and secularism and to reinforce their faith in them
through constant personal
contacts.
(3) To
establish rapport with the people at the grass root level for their active participation
in the
developmental activities as
also to mobilise
public opinion in
favour of implementation of welfare and
developmental programmes.
(4) To
gather people's reactions to the
programmes and policies of
the Government and
their implementation down to the
village level and to report them
back for appropriate action
and corrective by the Government. The Directorate thus works as two-way channel of communication between the Government and the people.
ORGANISATIONAL
STRUCTURE
The Directorate of Field
Publicity has a
broad pyramidal structure beginning
with the Director General
of Field Publicity supervising
the functioning from the Headquarters in New Delhi of the Regional and
Field Offices operating throughout the length and breadth of the
country with 22 Regions and 207 Units.
The Directorate
functions at three
levels -- Headquarters in New Delhi, Regional Offices in State capitals and important cities/towns and Field Publicity Units at
State capitals, District headquarters and important centrally-located towns.
For administrative convenience
the areas of some Union territories
and small states have been
grouped together to form one
region in some cases while the
areas of larger and highly-populated states have been
bifurcated for the
functioning of two regions.
The Director General is
the head of
the Department who
exercises overall control
and supervision of the Regional Offices and Field Publicity Units.
The Director General is
assisted by two Directors, two Deputy
Directors and other supporting officers and staff on programme, administrative and technical side.
In addition to
Administration, Budget and Accounts, the Directorate deals with all matters concerning personnel, annual and prospective
plan of the Directorate to
creation, demarcation and
splitting of units/zones, Parliament
Questions, follow-up action on
meetings taken by Secretary; Public complaints; Campaigns,
Inter Media Co-ordination Committee; liaison with
other sister media units of the Ministry of
I&B; liaison with
Indian Institute of Mass
Communication;
experimental publicity project and feed back in social change; follow
up action on Regional Officers'
Conferences; previews, purchase and distribution of films and other
software; talking points; data
collection and compilation of reports for the Ministry of I&B.
The Directorate has also an
in-built system of
inspection and evaluation
of the performance of the Field
Units. The Director General,
Regional Director and Joint Directors undertake tours of Regional offices and
attend programmes of Field Publicity Units on a sample basis to assess
the quality of publicity programmes in
the field and issue guidelines
from time to time.
Teams of officers drawn from
programme, evaluation, administration and technical sections also undertake tours to inspect Regional
Offices and Field Publicity Units on
programme, administrative and technical matters. Instructions and guidelines to Regional Offices and Field units
are issued by the Directorate on the
basis of reports submitted by these inspecting officers.
Regional Offices
The Directors (Regions) are the controlling officers of the field units within the region. They exercise administrative and financial control over all the units
under them. As leader of his team of FPOs the Director guides them by
arranging model programmes and participates in
the important programmes
arranged in his
region. He also undertakes tours every month and
visits all the units under his
jurisdiction on a rotation basis and sends to headquarters tour and inspection
reports containing all relevant details about the programme performance, maintenance of
equipment and administrative matters.
Directors
are assisted by
Administrative Officers and
supporting staff. One
Technical Assistant has been allotted to every two regions for servicing
and assisting in the
maintenance of technical equipment. After the decentralisation of budgeting
and accounts the responsibilities of the
Directors in exercising financial and administrative control have increased
and these are shared by Administrative
Officers.
Field Publicity
Units
At the
third level are the Field Publicity
Officers who plan and hold
publicity programmes according
to the directives from
the Directorate/Regional Offices
in coordination with the
local official and
non-official agencies. The
Field Publicity Officer is assisted by a Field Publicity Assistant and other
supporting staff.
The Field Publicity Officer exercises administrative control over
the staff in his unit as the
representative of Directorate and
Regional Office.
FIELD PUBLICITY
UNITS - THEIR TASKS AND OBJECTIVES
The 207 Field Units form the
wide base on which stands the pyramidal structure of the Directorate. Operating at the grassroots level, the burden of putting across the
messages through deployment
of appropriate media, of course
with the exclusive advantage of
using it as two-way channel, rests on their shoulders. The challenges inherent in handling of the job are faced by them with vigour, tact and
perseverance. In fact, they are
an important link between the people and the Government.
While broadly
they take up almost all the national
themes, their role assumes
tremendous significance in border areas
where they do their best to counter
the propaganda inimical to
India and endeavour to create the
spirit of patriotism
and defence preparedness coupled
with a sense of oneness with the people of the entire
country.
Field Offices stationed in the tribal belts have
a special responsibility to endear
themselves to the tribal population. They strive to build up an atmosphere of trust
and respect for their culture and values.
The success of Field Officers
lies in their having a clear conception
of objectives, programme planning and effective implementation with constant assessment
and rectification.
Know the area &
people - preparation of district diaries
The first requisite for the successful performance in their respective areas is to know the area and the
people thoroughly -
their complexions and contours,
languages and dialects, socio-economic
conditions, geographical and cultural
get-up and traditional
influences. In fact, preparation of a complete
dossier of the area which is called 'District Diary' should be
undertaken at the first
instance. This helps not
only in planning the programme
activities but also
in identifying the
field staff with
the people and
in establishing meaningful
rapport with them.
