As part of ongoing austerity measures and green initiatives, the Union government has directed all Ministries/Public Sector Undertakings (PSU) to not print calendars, coffee table books, diaries etc., and instead adopt eco-friendly measures by going digital.
In a note on instructions relating to printing activities issued on Wednesday, the Ministry of Finance said that the government of India had decided that there would be no further activities towards printing wall calendars, desktop calendars, diaries, festival greeting cards and similar materials by all Ministries/ Departments/ autonomous bodies and other organs of the Union government. All such materials that were earlier printed in physical format for internal use or distribution to other stakeholders shall be done digitally online.
The move comes a couple of days after the nation’s economy saw its worst contraction with Gross Domestic Product shrinking by a record 23.9 % in the April-June quarter this year. The Ministries, Departments and autonomous bodies spend a few crores of rupees in printing propaganda materials like booklets, pamphlets, brochures, diaries and calendars.
The decision was made in the backdrop of a world increasingly moving towards adopting digital force multipliers for productivity, and also the use of technological innovations for planning, scheduling and forecasting known to be economical, efficient and effective.
“The printing of coffee table books is also banned and appropriate use of E-books is encouraged. Therefore, all concerned are directed to make efforts to adopt innovative means to use digital or online methods for the above activities,” the note said.
It is customary for Ministries/ PSUs/ autonomous bodies of the government of India to print wall/ table-top calendars and diaries for distribution to customers, advertisers and others as a public relations exercise on the occasion of the New Year.
