Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s push towards internet for all and emphasis on using social media to reach out to more people has resulted in the first post budget interviews of the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu to be hosted on the video sharing website YouTube.
The Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry has begun using a combination of social media platforms like YouTube, Twitter and Facebook to hold Talkathons, which it plans to utilise for the post budget interviews of Finance Minister Jaitley and Railway Minister Prabhu.
It is learnt that while the post budget interviews will be conducted by the national broadcaster Doordarshan, questions invited from public will be put to the ministers.
“The ministry had first held Talkathons at the International Film Festival of India last year, where interviews of eminent people were streamed live online on ‘YouTube’ as questions were posed to them by people in real time on Twitter and Facebook,” a senior official said.
After the Narendra Modi-led government stormed to power at the Centre, the I&B ministry has increasingly focused on using social media to reach out to the people.
In a step towards the government’s efforts to embrace technology, Cabinet secretary Ajit Seth has also called upon all secretaries to use video conferencing facilities regularly.