Government launches Bharat Nirman portal, free news SMS service for AIR

With the forthcoming general elections in mind, the government has launched a fresh “Bharat Nirman” portal on the web as well as a free SMS news service tied in with All India Radio. The programmes were flagged off by Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari on Monday.

The Bharat Nirman website has been launched as a platform for the government to showcase all its schemes regarding public welfare in a centralised location. The website, in its phase II, is available in English and Hindi with creatives available in 11 regional languages. Speaking about the launch, Tewari said that the portal’s aim was to ensure that the “I&B ministry has an institutionalised presence.”

New portal by the I&B Ministry

The campaign, launched by the UPA government, tries to be a report card of the schemes and programmes put into action by it. There are advertisements in print, radio and television formats available on the website regarding the Bharat Nirman campaign. The website is socially well connected and will direct you to pages on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other social networking websites. The focus is on the 2014 general elections that will be held across the country. The website, therefore, speaks about schemes like Aadhar, Direct Benefit Transfer, Food Security Bill, Land Acquisition Bill and more.

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Tewari also kicked-off a free SMS news service powered by the All India Radio. The service was originally introduced as a pilot project six months ago and turned into a successful venture after it gathered over two lakh subscribers. The programme is now being made available to the general public and aims to gather around five lakh subscribers by the end of the month.

You can subscribe to the AIR messaging service by sending “AIRNEWS ‘Your Name’” to 08082080820. You can even give a missed call onto the number to subscribe. Once done, you will start receiving news updates and public utility messages by AIR on your phones.

In case you’re wondering how the government intends to recover costs of sending free SMS, it does have a simple way out. AIR will be charging ministries and departments who wish to send across their utility messages along with news updates. “The resource generated through such public utility schemes will enable the News Services Division of AIR to bear the cost incurred towards generating such SMSes," read an official statement.