I&B Ministry
Media can transform rural poor’s life by providing info on central scheme: Rathore
NEW DELHI: Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Rathore has said that media can transform the lives of the people living in rural areas by providing information about welfare schemes.
He said that the emergence of internet and social media has brought about an information revolution in the country. He underlined that there is need to build capacities of rural journalists for establishing better reach to the people in rural areas.
He stated this in a message read out at the opening of a one-day Regional Media Conference organized by the Press Information Bureau (PIB) on strengthening information dissemination on Government policies and programmes in rural areas at Jobner near Jaipur this week.
About 70 regional journalists including stringers of newspapers and news channels participated in the one-day conference.
One of the major objectives of the conference was receiving feedback from journalists working in rural areas on their information needs. During the interactive sessions, the participants wanted more interactions of this kind in the future and wanted a mechanism for enhanced information flow from PIB on central government schemes to rural journalists.
In his keynote address, senior journalist Yashwant Vyas said that rural journalists have a major role in highlighting issues of local importance on which they should report fearlessly. Senior journalists Rajendra Boda, Pratap Rao, Ashok Chaturvedi and Shakti Singh addressed journalists on issues including role of different media in effective information flow in rural areas. A session on the role of media in disaster management was conducted by Bijendra Singh, who is officer on Special Duty of the State Disaster Management Department of Rajasthan.
The participants were also given orientation on the role of new/social media in information dissemination.
I&B Ministry
Press Sewa Portal digitises 1.5 lakh records, streamlines periodical registrations: MIB
Online system spans 780 districts; Rs 5.6 crore penalties, 88,315 titles cancelled
NEW DELHI: India’s print media registry has quietly moved from dusty files to digital dashboards. The government has digitised more than 1.5 lakh historical records of newspapers and periodicals and shifted registrations fully online through the Press Sewa Portal.
Introduced under the Press and Registration of Periodicals (PRP) Act, 2023, the portal now handles all applications for registering periodicals, replacing the earlier paper-heavy system created under the Press and Registration of Books Act, 1867, which has since been repealed.
The digital shift brings a wide range of services onto a single platform. Publishers can now register new periodicals, revise registrations, transfer ownership, file annual statements, pay penalties online and apply for circulation verification without navigating government offices.
As part of the rollout, specified authorities in 780 districts across India have been onboarded onto the platform. Since 1 March 2024, the portal has processed 11,081 applications and issued certificates across different categories.
The transition has also brought stronger compliance. According to government data, Rs 5.63 crore in penalties has been collected through the portal so far. States such as Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh account for some of the largest penalty collections.
At the same time, the authorities have carried out a major clean-up of inactive or non-compliant publications. A total of 88,315 periodicals have been cancelled nationwide, with Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi among the states reporting the highest number of cancellations.
The government says the system will continue to evolve based on feedback from users. The Press Registrar General of India (PRGI) regularly reviews suggestions to improve services and make compliance easier for publishers.
The full list of registered newspapers and periodicals is available on the PRGI website under the Registered Titles section.
The information was shared in a written reply in the Lok Sabha by minister of state for information and broadcasting and parliamentary affairs L Murugan, responding to a question from Damodar Agrawal.
