New Delhi, Mar 10 (PTI) Aam Aadmi Party Rajinder Gupta on Tuesday in Rajya Sabha made a case for a clear social media policy for government officials amid several instances of senior executives using personal handles to publicise their official duties.
Raising the issue in the Rajya Sabha, he noted that public office cannot become a platform for personal publicity.
“A very disturbing trend is being witnessed. Some senior bureaucrats, including IAS and IPS officers and even functionaries connected to the university, are increasingly using personal social media platforms to publicise their official duties,” Gupta said in the Upper House.
Transparency in governance is important, but public office cannot become a platform for personal publicity, he noted.
“Today, we see officers posting dramatic videos of raids, inspections and enforcement drives on their personal handles, often with semitic music and carefully staged visuals that project them as individual heroes.
“Even more worrying is that in several instances information about official action appears first on personal social media accounts sometime before formal government communication,” Gupta said.
Issues become even more sensitive when it concerns judicial officers and court related functionaries, he said.
The All India service conduct rule 1968 and central civil services conduct rule 1964 were framed at the time when social media did not exist, he stated.
“Today, the digital landscape has changed, and our regulatory framework has not kept the pace. Therefore, I urge the government to bring a clear social media media policy for public officials that separate official communication from personal publicity, restricting disclosures of sensitive and submission matter and establish accountability when public office is used for personal branding,” Gupta said. PTI MSS DRR
Category: Breaking News
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