MUMBAI: Advertisements released by ministries/ departments/ offices and enterprises in English/ regional Languages shall be released compulsorily in Hindi.

Replying to a question in the Parliament, the minister of information and broadcasting Smriti Zubin Irani said it was the view of the government of India, ministry of home affairs, department of official languages OM No. 20012/1/2017- dated 30.6.2017 which conveys the order of the president of India about the advertisements.

She was replying to B. Vinod Kumar as to whether the government has asked all ministries and departments to have a Hindi version of every advertisement that they release.

An earlier separate report stated that a video contest for consumer awareness of the ‘Jaago Grahak Jaago’ multimedia campaign has been announced by the department of consumer affairs to create awareness amongst consumers about their rights and redressal mechanisms available to them as well as their duties. The participants are required to upload video clips of not more than two minutes duration on the theme “Consumer Awareness.” The language of the video clip would be either Hindi or English.

Also, another unrelated report stated that the rate of ten-second advertisements on All India Radio for the prime minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Mann ki Baat’ was Rs 2,00,000, the Parliament has been told. This rate is for advertisement booking of AIR consisting of 200 primary channels/local radio stations, 41 Vividh Bharati stations and 30 FM Rainbow and gold channels.