When the air is heavy with talk of early general elections, it is hardly surprising to see the government doling out incentives and benefits to ramp up the feel good factor.

So, if on Monday it was the government employees who were given a good bonus, on Tuesday it was the turn of the print media, particularly newspapers published in languages spoken by small communities, as the Information & Broadcasting Ministry announced its new DAVP policy on giving advertisement revenue.

Loud and clear
That the government wanted the message to go out loud and clear was apparent from the carefully chosen day for the announcement — Gandhi Jayanti, when there is no other government activity.

Information and Broadcasting Minister P R Dasmunsi, while announcing the new policy aimed at benefiting small and medium newspapers, particularly stressed that it would help increase support to newspapers published in Eight Schedule language like Bodo, Dogri, Kashmiri, Khasi, Konkani, Maithili, Manipuri, Nepali, Santhali, Sindhi and tribal language papers in Jammu & Kashmir, Andaman & Nicobar Islands and the North East.

While the government has increased the advertisement allocation to small and medium newspapers by five per cent each, there is a cut of 10 per cent in the advertisement budget for big newspapers. The minimum circulation criteria required to get the government-sponsored advertisements for small language group newspapers has also been relaxed. For big papers, allocation from the DAVP’s advertisement budget would be 50 per cent, down from 60 per cent, while for medium-size papers it would be 35 per cent and for small papers 15 per cent, both getting a five per cent raise each.

The revised draft has been put up on the official website for further suggestions till October 31 and would be finalised by November 30, Dasmunsi said, adding that the government would take more steps to help small and medium newspapers if required.