I&B Ministry
Print ads get largest chunk from govt’s ad spends of Rs 842.8 crore till 29 February
New Delhi: A total of Rs 842.8 crore was spent by the Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity during 2015-16 for release of government advertisements on behalf of various central government ministries/departments, attached and subordinate Offices. Information and Broadcasting Minister Arun Jaitley, while informing that these figures were up to 29 February, added that the largest chunk of Rs 402.79 crore went into print media and the lowest chunk of 7.83 crore went into exhibitions.
In a reply in the Rajya Sabha, Jaitley said today that a sum of Rs 353.31 crore went into the electronic media which includes private cable and satellite TV channels, FM radio, digital cinema, SMS, and internet. A sum of Rs 66.83 crore went into outdoor publicity, and Rs 12.13 crore was spent on print publicity.
Breaking up spends on the print media further, Jaitley said, Rs 864,622,488 went into finance, Rs 313,042,627 in health and family welfare, Rs 650,186,569 into information and broadcasting, Rs 236,255,392 into social justice and empowerment, Rs 153,758,926 into consumer affairs and food and public distribution, and Rs 109,740,171 into home affairs.
In electronic media, the largest chunk went into publicizing drinking water supply (Rs 888,196,956), followed by Rs 518,201,180 on department of family welfare, tourism (Rs 438,717,736), income tax (Rs 27,504,845) and Rs 238,051,652 on information and broadcasting.
I&B Ministry
Government sets up AI governance group to steer policy
AIGEG to align ministries, assess jobs impact, guide AI deployment.
MUMBAI: If artificial intelligence is the engine, the government is now building the dashboard and making sure everyone reads from the same screen. The Centre has constituted a new inter-ministerial body to coordinate India’s approach to AI, formalising a key recommendation from its governance framework and the Economic Survey. The AI Governance and Economic Group (AIGEG), set up by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, will act as the central platform to align AI-related policy across ministries, regulators and departments, an attempt to bring coherence to what has so far been a fragmented and fast-evolving landscape.
The group will be chaired by union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, with minister of state Jitin Prasada as vice chairperson. Its composition reflects both technological and economic priorities, bringing together the principal scientific adviser, the chief economic adviser, and the CEO of NITI Aayog, alongside key secretaries from telecommunications, economic affairs and science and technology. A representative from the National Security Council Secretariat is also part of the group, while the MeitY secretary will serve as member convenor.
At its core, AIGEG is designed to do two things: coordinate and anticipate. On the policy front, it will review existing regulatory mechanisms, issue guidance across sectors and ensure companies remain compliant with evolving legal frameworks. Beyond that, it will oversee national initiatives on AI governance, with a focus on enabling responsible innovation rather than merely regulating it.
The economic dimension is equally central. The group has been tasked with assessing how AI-driven automation could reshape jobs identifying which roles are most at risk, where those impacts may be geographically concentrated, and whether technology will augment or replace human labour. Based on these assessments, it will develop mitigation strategies and transition plans, signalling a more proactive stance on workforce disruption.
In parallel, AIGEG will work with industry stakeholders to chart a long-term roadmap for AI adoption, categorising use cases into “deploy”, “pilot” or “defer” buckets depending on readiness factors such as data availability, skill levels and regulatory clarity. The aim is to move from broad ambition to structured execution deciding not just what can be built, but what should be built now.
The group will function as the apex layer in India’s AI governance architecture, supported by a Technology and Policy Expert Committee that will track global developments, emerging risks and regulatory priorities. Together, the two bodies are expected to shape both the pace and direction of AI adoption in the country.
In a landscape where technology often outruns policy, the creation of AIGEG signals an attempt to close that gap ensuring that India’s AI journey is not just rapid, but also coordinated, accountable and economically grounded.
