Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Minister of State for Divyangjan Empowerment and Backward Classes Welfare (Independent Charge) Narendra Kashyap chaired a meeting of the department’s publicity grant committee, calling for a much bigger push to get information about disability welfare schemes down to the block, tehsil, district and divisional level.
Kashyap said the department has decided to run a large-scale awareness campaign to spread the word about disability prevention, treatment, rehabilitation and welfare schemes across the state. Currently, only ₹35 lakh is budgeted for this publicity work in 2026-27 — a figure Kashyap wants raised sharply, to somewhere between ₹1 crore and ₹2 crore, and he’s asked officials to draft a formal proposal to that effect. The money, once increased, would go toward reaching people through puppet shows, street plays, radio and FM jingles, and Doordarshan broadcasts, among other channels.
On outdoor publicity, Kashyap asked for hoardings to go up not just in the state’s 350 tehsils but in an expanded list of 375, along with all 18 divisional headquarters and every district — with particular attention to seven “aspirational” districts: Bahraich, Balrampur, Chandauli, Fatehpur, Shravasti, Siddharthnagar and Sonbhadra. He also wants camps held at the division and district level at the end of every month.
The minister said NGOs should be brought in to help with outreach, and pointed to social media as an area with real untapped potential. With smartphones now in nearly everyone’s hands, he argued, platforms like Facebook, Instagram, X and YouTube could play a decisive role in reaching people — a far easier and more effective route than relying on traditional methods alone, and one that would help the government’s messaging land where it’s needed most.
Principal Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh, Joint Director Ranjeet Singh, and other senior departmental officials attended the meeting.
