Now, civil servants told to go active on social media

Also, PM Narendra Modi's statements and announcements must be 'projected suitably' on the social media sites, the officials have been told

Like the ministers in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government at the Centre, senior civil servants, too, will have to be proactive about highlighting their departments’ achievements on social media.

Officers of the rank of joint secretary or above would be expected to highlight the achievements on social media accounts. This was decided on Monday at a meeting chaired by Devendra Chaudhary, secretary, department of administrative reforms & public grievances. This department is the nodal agency for administrative reforms at the Centre and is expected to set an example for the entire bureaucracy.

Now, every bureaucrat in the department will have to every Thursday, at 10 am, have a session to discuss social media issues, the minutes of Monday’s meeting suggest.

Director-rank officers have been mandated to provide relevant material everyday for placing them on social media websites.

An official said all central ministries and departments are in the process of institutionalising regular meetings and engagements on social media for civil servants, the key people responsible for actually executing policies.

Not leaving anything to chance, it has been decided that only a senior officer —joint secretary or additional secretary — would approve the material for social media account. Also, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speeches, statements and announcements must be “projected suitably” on the social media sites of the department, officials have been told.

The PM himself is a believer in the power of social media.

Very popular, his account on Twitter @narendramodi has 19.9 million followers and @pmo 11.2 million followers.

Recently, he told his ministers that they would be graded according to their activities on social media, triggering competition among his Cabinet colleagues on tweeting and retweeting.

However, civil servants, apart from a few exceptions, have hardly engaged in social media interactions.

Apart from social media issues, Swachch Bharat is also expected to keep the civil servants occupied. Activities relating to Swachch Bharat Abhiyan should be completed according to the calendar and necessary evidence must be documented properly.

Besides, panel discussions would be organised on the flagship programmes of the award winning districts, it has been decided.