NEW DELHI: The protests over the farm laws refuse to end even as the government has spent nearly Rs 8 crore in the ‘myth-busting’ campaign on the three legislations. The amount was spent by different government departments between September 2020 and January 2021. The Centre has left no stone unturned in clearing the ‘myths’ surrounding the three farm laws amid the ongoing agitation.
Apart from press conferences and information dissemination by ministers and government functionaries, a substantial amount has been spent on advertisements through different media platforms in the last four-five months. The maximum amount of over Rs 7.25 crore was spent on advertisements by the Bureau of Outreach and Communication (BOC), I&B Ministry, according to a written reply by Union agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar in Parliament on Friday.
Print advertisements have been published through BOC in Hindi, English and regional language newspapers for clarifications related to the farm laws for creating awareness among the farmers and other stakeholders, the government said. The Department of Agriculture Cooperation and Farmers Welfare has incurred an amount of nearly Rs 68 lakh on production of three promotional and two educational films on farm laws for publicity through electronic and social media and webinars.
“Besides, miscellaneous expenditure of Rs 1,50,568 was incurred on development of creatives for print advertisement,” the reply said. The MEA’s expenditure on ‘myth busting’ was nil but India’s missions abroad shared the latest developments, the government’s stand and useful information on the laws in their outreach to the diaspora.