Registration of newspapers to go online, will cut process to just a week: RNI

NEW DELHI: Registering newspaper publications with the Registrar of Newspapers in India (RNI) will soon be a fully digital exercise, bringing down the time taken to process applications from several months to just seven days, a top functionary in the information and broadcasting ministery said on Tuesday.
Work to take newspapers’ registration with RNI online has already been set in motion and is expected to be completed before March 31 next year.
The information and broadcasting ministry, the nodal department overseeing the exercise is understoood to be working on the initiative as a part of the state’s Digital India and ease of doing business initiatives.
In a separate exercise to clear up space in its offices and make them more modern and modular, the I&B ministry undertook a space audit of its buildings and cleared up nearly 11.5 lakh square feet across 20 cities. The additional space — most of it in prime locations — will not only serve to house affiliated government offices currently operating from outside government-owned buildings, but also lead to additional revenues from rental income.
Union information and broadcasting minister Anurag Thakur said the space audit and efficient management of buildings carried out as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan also led to earnings of about Rs 22 crore.
The space audit was started on September 29 when Thakur visited the Doordarshan Kendra in Ahmedabad. The exercise concluded in Bhopal on Monday.
In Mumbai alone, the I&B ministry said the space optimisation initiative freed up about 90,000 square feet space, which Thakur said can earn the government several crores in rental income.
Buildings and spaces owned by the I&B ministry are spread across Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kurnool, Chennai, Thrissur, Thiruvananthapuram, Jabalpur, Chandigarh, Lucknow, Coimbatore, Panaji, Amritsar, Sambalpur, Bhawanipatna, Puducherry, Mangaluru, Berhampur and Bhopal.
The ministry now plans to co-locate its various offices in the space vacated during the audit to bring about greater synergy among sister organisations and effective dissemination of information through integrated publicity plans, Thakur said.
PM Modi had also mentioned the space audit carried out by the ministry in his 'Mann ki Baat' programme on December 25.