Ibobi functions from behind iron curtain without a press secretary
Source: Hueiyen News Service

Imphal, April 04 2015 : Chief Minister Okram Ibobi does not have any press secretary whose duty is to inform the people through press about various policies and programmes the government takes from time to time.

The crippling system is that if a newspaper has no access to some ministers, important government news cannot be published.

In a democracy the Chief Minister and other ministers should approach the newspapers to have their developmental and other issues published.

But in the context of Manipur the reporters have to run from pillar to post to get some government news.

Naturally, the complete news is hard to come by.

In sharp contrast there are press secretaries of almost all Chief Ministers in the country whose duty is to keep the people informed and galvanise the damage control measures as and when necessary.

Chief Minister Okram Ibobi :: Pix - TSE

The Manipur Chief Minister had a press secretary during the regime under RK Dorendra.

However for unexplained reasons this cabinet approved post was abolished.

The Chief Minister's office does not have any official for effective media control and management.

Perhaps, Ibobi feels that it is not needed since he has no political detractor who rocks his boat.

But the communication gap is not in the interest of the rapprochement between the government and the people.

The government spokes- person who is a cabinet minister holding several portfolios has many urgent and important works and briefing the reporters on the cabinet decision from time to time is an additional duty for him.

The discrimination of some newspapers in making cabinet news available tantamount to driving a wedge among the press and in the long run it will be counter productive.

In a state like Nagaland, all government news including the cabinet decisions are made known to the press and public as well every evening.

The secrecy and denial of government news seen in Manipur are anathema to democratic norms.

Ibobi had made some attempts to revamp the information management in Manipur.

He had written two times to the Chief Secretary to appoint a DIPR director who is from this information profession.

On both occasions he was vetoed and it is a shame.

In sharp contrast to what is happening in all other states the service of the DIPR here is much below the mark.

At the most some scanned copies of press releases in Bengali script are emailed to some local newspapers.

The correspondents and other dialect papers are excluded from this favour.

In any case most of them do not understand the language.

In view of the changed political climate the days of iron clad rule by Ibobi are gone and there are many ifs and buts on whether the Congress shall come back to power in the coming elections.

What is urgently called for now is an energetic press secretary whose duty should not be confined to the local media alone and should be able to handle correspondents even coming from other states from time to time.

The DIPR should also be revamped immediately.

It is a shame that ministers on tour or holding some press conferences do not depend on the DIPR but their ministerial staff arrange by themselves.

It is a sorry commentary.