Janasanyog Assam - Advertisement policy of State Govt.

Advertisement policy of State Government

GOVERNMENT OF ASSAM

ADVERTISEMENT POLICY, 2008

With Amendment on May-2010

Department of Information and Public Relations
Assam, Dispur, Guwahati-781006

GOVERNMENT OF ASSAM
INFORMATION & PUBLIC RELATIONS DEPARTMENT
*****

ORDERS BY THE GOVERNOR

NOTIFICATION

Dated Dispur, the 29th January, 2009

No.IPRD.50/2005/36:- The State Govt. in super-session of the Advertisement Policy published vide notification No. HMB.445/84/23, dated 21/8/1986, have adopted the Advertisement Policy, 2008 of the Govt. of Assam as detailed below:

The Advertisement Policy of Govt. of Assam 2008 will come into force from the date of notification.

ADVERTISEMENT POLICY OF THE GOVERNMENT OF ASSAM,2008

Clause 1

Definition:

‘Government’ means the Government of Assam.

‘Directorate’ means the Directorate of Information & Public Relations (DIPR), Government of Assam

'Advertisements' mean all advertisements issued by the Directorate to Newspapers, journals and other publications including advertisements relating
to the State Government Undertakings, Autonomous bodies, Registered Government Society etc. and also the advertisements issued through
Electronic Media.

'Daily' means all newspapers published daily.

‘Weekly' means Publication brought out in a week, twice in a week except the dailies and periodicals.

'Periodical' means publication brought out fortnightly, monthly and quarterly in a year.

'Classified advertisement’ means an advertisement to be published in a compact section of a newspaper under a usual specified head.

'Display advertisement' means an advertisement to be published as a conspicuous display of CONTENTS outside specified heads.

'List of approved papers' mean the list showing the newspapers, periodicals etc. approved by the Government.

''Competent Authority' 'is an authority notified by Government under this policy.

Clause 2

Classification of Newspapers /Periodicals:

The newspapers and periodicals for the purpose of issuing Government advertisement will be categorized as follows:

(i) Small	:	Minimum2,500 to 15,000 circulation per issue.
(ii) Medium	:	Between 15,000 & 50,000 circulation per issue.
(iii) Big	:	Above 50,000 circulation per issue

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Clause 3

Production Standard:

The newspapers/periodicals should have the following minimum print areas respectively to qualify for Government advertisement.

(i) Standard column	:	Standard column means a column of the minimum size 4 cm.
(ii) Daily	:	Six pages with minimum print area of 45 cm x 7 std. col. Or equivalent printed space of 1890 col. Cm
(iii) Weekly, Bi-weekly Fortnightly	:	Minimum 36x 4 std. col. Of six pages or equivalent 864 col. Cm.
(iv) Other periodicals	:	Minimum 32 pages of 1/8 double crown size or 1/8 demy size of40 pages.

Clause 4

Criteria for approval/eligibility for receiving Government Advertisement:

(i) Newspapers and periodicals will have to fulfill the following requirements to become eligible for receiving Govt. advertisements.

(a) Daily	:	Minimum paid circulation of 20,000 copies.
(b) Weekly	:	Minimum paid circulation of 6000 copies.
(c) Other periodicals	:	Minimum paid circulation of 3000 copies.

(ii) The respective newspapers and journals will have to submit to the Director of Information & Public Relations the minimum number of issues they have been able to print in the preceding year ending 28/29 February as specified below at the time of submission of Annual Return for receiving Government advertisements in a particular year.

(a) Daily	:	325 issues
(b) Weekly	:	45 issues
(c) Bi-weekly	:	90 issues
(d) Fortnightly	:	20 issues
(e) Monthly	:	10 issues
(f) Quarterly	:	4 issues

(iii) All Newspapers/Periodicals seeking approval for receiving Govt. Advertisements will have to comply withthe following:

They must have been uninterruptedly and regularly under Publication for a period of not less than 1 year.

They must submit minimum issues of Publication in a year as indicated at Clause- . 4 (ii)- (a-f).

The applicant shall furnish a copy of the certificate of Registration issued by the RNI in the name of Publisher/owner as the case may be

Newspapers/Periodical must devote atleast 60 percent printed space in every issue to news items

A certificate from the C.A. (in original) in the prescribed form must be submitted showing paid circulation relating to the preceding year.

Application for fresh publication for approval is to be submitted by the Publisher concerned in the Prescribed Proforma to DIPR affixing court fee
stamp of Rs. 8.25 along with required documents as indicated above (b, c & e).

After scrutiny, the DIPR will forward the genuine application along with all documents to the Govt. for approval .

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Clause 5 Annual Return and Preparation of Approved List:
	The Directorate will prepare a list of newspapers/periodicals etc. approved by the Government for receiving Government advertisements within 30th April of each financial year.
	The publisher of any newspaper or periodical which figures in the list of the preceding year from 1st March will have to submit to the Director of Information & Public Relations the Annual Return by February 28/29 of the next year that is one month ahead of the financial year.
	A certificate from the Chartered Accountant (in original) in the prescribed form will have to be submitted along with Annual Return claiming paid circulation relating to the preceding calendar year from January to December.
	Annual certificate of printing in the prescribed form (in original) indicating average number of copies printed per issue month wise in the preceding calendar year to be obtained from the owner of the Press in which Press the paper is printed will also have to be submitted by the owner of the newspaper/periodical to the Director of Information & Public Relations along with the application. In case the Editor, publisher and printer happen to be the same person, a scrutiny of the certificate will be made by a competent authority of the Government if deemed necessary.
	The Newspapers/Periodicals which are approved by the Government will only be considered for release of advertisement for current year only on receipt of Annual Return along with all necessary documents for the preceding year.
Clause 6 Souvenir etc.
	Request for advertisement for any souvenir of the organizations of repute will be examined by the Director of Information & Public Relations on merit and may allow subject to availability of budget provision. However, rate of such advertisement will be limited to Rs5,000/- for general and Rs. 10,000/- for State level organizations like Asom Sahitya Sabha, Bodo Sahitya Sabha, Assam Science Society etc.
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Clause 7 General Policy for Release of Advertisement: (i) Government Advertisement shall not be construed as any measure or part thereof for financial assistance or grant-in-aid and also does not confer any right to claim Government Advertisement. The objective behind releasing Government advertisement (s) is to secure widest possible coverage keeping in view of the special needs of awareness in public interest. The general policy which governs the release of advertisement within the budget provision will be as follows:
	There must be widest possible coverage.
	Circulation number of the newspapers among the readers and viewers in the areas intended to be covered will be given preference.
A newspaper/periodical that does not adhere to journalistic ethics will not be considered for Government advertisement. Non-adherence to the ethics by newspaper/periodical will also be judged by any of the following conditions:
	Reports attributed to a person's statement he or she actually did not make.
	Baseless, motivated, malicious, scurrilous, obscene or derogatory reports.
	Newspapers/Periodicals which incite, provoke, preach violence or communal disharmony in form of news items, articles, comments, views and photography.
	Reports repugnant to socially accepted conventions of public decency and morals.
	Non-publication or publication in mutilated or tendentious manner of Government press notes, handouts, clarifications/contradictions and press communiques.
	Facing stricture/censure from the Press Council of India for publication of objectionable /defamatory reports etc.
(iii) Newspapers/Periodicals that have followed the Award/recommendation of the lawfully constituted committee may be considered to grant preference in getting advertisement. (iv) In addition to issue of advertisement in Print Media, the Director of Information & Public Relations may issue advertisement in Electronic Media namely Radio, TV, Internet and other media etc. for wide publicity and to meet immediate necessity. (v) Classified advertisement where time limit is required will not be issued to Weekly/Bi-weekly Newspaper except display advertisement relating to Govt.'s Plans, Policies and Programs. (vi) Preference will be given to only one Newspaper (in case of daily) of a Newspaper House, provided such House has more than one daily news paper of any language. (vii) Preference/Weightage shall be given to the regional vernacular newspapers published in the State in accordance with State language policy of the Govt.
Clause 8 Release of Advertisement and Payment:
	All classified and display advertisements shall be issued by only one agency i.e. Director of Information & Public Relations who has the necessary expertise. All Government Departments and public undertakings may send their both classified and display advertisements to the Director of Information & Public Relations and in no case Government Departments shall issue advertisement directly to Newspapers/Periodicals.
	In respect of Heads of Departments/Public undertakings who implement special programmes with separate budget provision, they will also issue advertisements through Director of Information & Public Relations but number of approved newspapers/periodicals for publication will not be restricted by the Director of Information & Public Relations in such case. However, bills of such advertisements will be paid by them after the scrutiny and certificate by Director of Information & Public Relations.
	Payment of advertisement bills will be made by the Director of Information & Public Relations. Necessary funds for the purpose are to be placed in the annual budget of the Director of Information & Public Relations.
	The advertising departments should not issue, more than two corrigendum relating to any particular advertisement.
	In case of wrong publication or printing mistake the newspaper will republish " the advertisement in the very next issue free of cost.
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Clause 9 Rates of Advertisement:
	Advertisement -rates fixed by Govt. with the proposal of DIPR and concurrence of the Finance Department will be followed in all cases.
	In fixing rates, newspaper/periodical with ABC/INS certificate on circulation and implementing lawfully constituted committee's/ commission's Award may be given preference.
	Rates will be fixed taking into consideration the circulation, the pulling power, size and area covered etc. by a committee of the Government and such rates may be revised as per direction of the Govt. (IPRD) as and when necessity arises for such revision.
	Appeal against the rates fixed may be preferred before the Secretary ofIPR Department within a period of one month from the date of communication of such rates. The decision of the Secretary will be final in this regard.
	The newspapers and periodicals may have their own rates of advertisement but Government may make use of only such newspapers and periodicals whose rates are acceptable keeping in view of the publicity requirements of the Government
	In case of newspaper/periodicals of outside the State or having Metropolitan editions DAVP Rates will be applicable. However, if conditions arise for payment of more rates, the same will be decided in consultation with the Government.
	It will be the responsibility of DIPR to issue Sanction /Administrative Approval before any advertisement is issued to any newspaper and to the extent possible both for display and classified advertisement.
	No order for any advertisement shall be issued before such order has been duly sanctioned by Competent Authority specifying the amount sanctioned.
Clause 10 Removal from Approval List: The newspaper/periodicals may be removed from the approved list at any time if
	It is irregular in publication.
	It does not maintain the production standard as out lined in Para (3).
	It does not observe journalistic ethics or indulges in any activity referred to in Clause 7 (ii)-(a-f).
	It is found to have fraudulently drawn or tried to draw advertisement bill by publishing advertisement (s). without sanction of the approved authority (DIPR) .
	Newspaper is liable to be removed from the approved list for advertisement if Annual Return is not received as required consecutively for two years.
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Clause 11

The Financial Liability created on account of advertisement in a Financial Year will be restricted strictly within the budget provision for that year.

Government's Prerogative:

Notwithstanding anything contained in these "Policy Guide Lines", the State Government may at any time call for records in any matter relating to issue of Government advertisement and issue such orders as the Government may deem fit and proper. The Government's decision in this regard shall be final.

Sd/

(P.K Barthakur, IAS).

Commissioner & Secretary to the Govt. of Assam, Information & Public Relations Department

Memo No.IPRD.50/2005/36-A Dated Dispur, the 29th January, 2009

Copy to:

1. The P.P.S. to the Hon'ble Chief Minister, Assam

2. The P.S. to the Hon'ble Minister, I & P.R.Department.

3. The P. S. to the Chief Secretary, Assam.

4. The P.S. to the Principal Secretary, I & P.R. Department.

5. All Administrative Departments.

6. All DC/SDO.

7. The Director of Information & Public Relations, Assam, Guwahati-6.

8. All DIPRO/SDIPRO/DDIPR/RO.

9. The Publisher, Assam Gazette for Publication of the notification in the Assam Gazette.

By orders etc.

     Deputy Secretary to the Govt. of Assam,
Information & Public Relations Department

GOVERNMENT OF ASSAM
INFORMATION & PUBLIC RELATIONS DEPARTMENT
*****

ORDERS BY THE GOVERNOR

NOTIFICATION

Dated Dispur, the 25th May, 2010

NO.IPRD.50/2005/49 :- The Governor of Assam, after careful consideration of all facts and circumstances regarding issuance of State Govt’s advertisement is pleased to amend the clause 7(v) of advertisement policy of 2008 of the Govt. of Assam issued vide Notification NO.IPRD.50/2005/36, dtd 29/1/2009.

Short title and commencement   :- This amendment shall be called the Advertisement Policy of the Govt.of Assam Amendment Policy 2010.

This policy shall come into force on the date of their publication in the official gazette.

Amendment :-    In the Advertisement Policy of the Govt. of Assam 2008 the existing clause of 7(v) shall be substituted by the following:

7( v) Classified advertisement will not normally be issued to news papers with periodicity of more than a week.

   Sd/- S.C. Das

Principal Secy. to the Govt.of Assam

                                                                                                            I & P.R. Deptt.

Memo NO.IPRD.50/2005/49-A.    Dtd.Dispur the 25th May/2010

Copy to:-

1. The P.P.S. to Hon’ble Chief Minister. Assam.

2. The P.S. to Hon'ble Minister. I & P.R. Deptt.

3. The P.S. to Chief Secretary, Assam.

4. The P.S. to Principal Secretary, I & P.R. Deptt.

5. All Administrative Department.

6. All D.C./S.D.O.

7. The Director of Information of Public Relations, Assam,Dispur,

    Ghy-6 with reference to his letter NO.AP.13/07/26.dt.23/11/09.

8. All DDIPR/DIPRO/SDIPRO.

9. The Supdt., Assam Govt. Press for publication of this notification.

By order etc.

Joint Secy. to the Govt. of Assam

I & P R Deptt.


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