GoM set up to project govt policies in media

New Delhi, May 11 In the backdrop of adverse media over the last few months, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has set up a seven-member Group of Ministers to project the government's point of view effectively on various events on daily basis. The Group, headed by Home Minister P Chidambaram, includes Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, I and B Minister Ambika Soni, HRD Minister Kapil Sibal, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal, Water Resources Minister Salman Khursheed and MoS in PMO V Narayanasamy. "The Group of Ministers will meet every day at a fixed hour, analyse the events of the day and issue suitable directions to the nodal officer to prepare appropriate material for briefing the media," an order issued by the Cabinet Secretariat said. One of the ministers of the group or in certain cases, the minister concerned with the matter, if he is not a member of the group, will brief the media every day, it said. Along with the oral briefing, a written brief will also be released, the order said. The GoM will be serviced by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting which will ensure that agenda papers or minutes of the meeting are expeditiously forwarded to the Prime Minister's Office and the Cabinet Secretariat, it said. The decision comes in the backdrop of adverse media faced by the government in the last few months on various issues, particularly corruption and the Anna Hazare-led agitation by the civil society activists. There has been a feeling in the government that its point of view had not been effectively projected on various measures it has been taking.