The Union government on Tuesday told the Parliament that it spent Rs 1,698.89 crore on advertisements in the print and electronic media between 2018 and 2021.

“The amount committed for advertisements by the Government through print and electronic media during the period 2018-19 to 2020-21 is Rs. 1698.98 Crore,” Minister of Information and Broadcasting Anurag Thakur was responding to a question from AIUDF MP Badruddin Ajmal.

“The primary objective of the Government advertising is to create awareness of Government policies and schemes among the intended beneficiaries including the population living in far-flung and remote areas, through Print, Electronic & Outdoor Media,” Thakur said.

The data shared by the Union government showed that the it spent a total of ₹826.5 crore on advertisements in newspapers while the government spent a total of ₹193.52 crore for advertisements in electronic media.

Critics have often pointed out that the Narendra Modi government spent a substantial amount of taxpayer’s money to publish advertisements that built the Prime Minister’s personal brand.

Last year, the Narendra Modi government spent around Rs 713.20 crore of taxpayers’ money to promote itself through advertisements in newspapers, electronic media and hoardings, according to an RTI report.

In June 2019, in response to another RTI query by Mumbai-based Anil Galgali, the ministry had said that it had spent Rs 3,767.2651 crore of taxpayers’ money on print, electronic, outdoor media and printed publicity.

In May 2018, yet another RTI reply to Galgali by the Ministry had revealed that the Modi government splurged Rs 4,343.26 crore on advertisement and publicity in media since the BJP government took over the reins in June 2014.