SOCIO-ECONOMIC BACKGROUND OF INDIA

 India is located in south-central Asia

 India’s population = 1.37 billion as of 2019 based on recent UN Data
 India’s capital is New Delhi and currency is Indian Rupee
 According to the IMF, on a per capita income basis, India ranked 142nd by
GDP (nominal) and 119th by GDP (PPP) per capita in 2018.
 India is characterized as a developing market economy
 India climbed one spot to rank at 130 out of 189 countries in the latest
Human Development Index (HDI) rankings released by UN Development
Programme
 The country’s HDI value for 2017 moved to 0.640, up from 0.640, up from
0.624 in 2016.
 India performs better than its neighbours Bangladesh and Pakistan,
ranking 127 out 160 countries on the Gender Inequality Index
 Real GDP or Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at constant (2011-12) prices
in the year 2018-19 is estimated at ₹140.78 lakh crore showing a growth
rate of 6.81 percent over First Revised Estimates of GDP for the year
2017-18 of ₹131.80 lakh crore. Nominal GDP or GDP at current prices in
the year 2018-19 is estimated at Rs. 190.10 lakh crore, with growth rate of
11.20 percent against 170.95 lakh crore for 2017-18 in Indian rupee.
 At constant prices GVA (Gross Value Added), GNI (Gross National
Income) and NNI (Net National Income) of India are estimated at ₹129.07
lakh crore, ₹139.32 lakh crore, and ₹ 123.30 lakh crore, respectively. At
current prices, these figures are ₹172.00 lakh crore, ₹188.17 lakh crore,
and ₹168.37 lakh crore.
 According to IMF World Economic Outlook (April-2019), GDP (nominal) of
India in 2019 at current prices is projected at $2,972 billion. India
contributes 3.36% of total world's GDP in exchange rate basis. India
shares 17.5 percent of the total world population and 2.4 percent of the
 world surface area. This projection would make India as 5th largest
economy of the world.
 India is at 3rd position after China and Japan among Asian Countries.
India shares around of 9% of total Asia's GDP (nominal).
 On the basis of PPP, economy of India in 2019 is projected at 11,468
billion international dollar, 3rd largest economy of the world after United
States and China. India contributes 7.98% of total world's gdp (ppp). India
shares over 16 percent of total Asia's GDP (PPP). Gross domestic product
(GDP) of India at purchasing power parity (PPP) is 3.86 times more than
GDP at nominal.
 Indian economy has crossed $1 billion mark in 2007 and $2 billion mark in
2014 in nominal terms. In PPP methods, India has crossed one billion
mark in 1990. Estimates by world bank are available since 1960 when
country's gdp was 37 mn USD. 2002-18 is the best period of Indian
economy. In this period of 16 years, Economy of India has expanded by
425%.
 The overall literacy rate in India is 69.1 per cent. The number includes the
literacy rate in both rural and urban India. The number pertains to 2014.

 The overall literacy rate in Rural India is 64.7 per cent. In rural India, the
literacy rate among females is 56.8 per cent and among males is 72.3 per
cent.

 The overall literacy rate in Urban India is 79.5 per cent. In Urban India,
74.8 per cent females are literate and 83.7 per cent males are literate.

 There is wider disparity in literacy rates of males and females in rural India
than in urban India. In Urban India, the difference in literacy rate between
the two genders is 8.9 per cent whereas for rural India, it is 15.5 per cent.

 As per the government data, in the year 2016-17, 19,283,075 persons

(both male and female included) were enrolled in 'Sakshar Bharat
Abhiyaan', which is a centrally sponsored scheme to improve literacy rates
 among adults in India. More women are enrolled in the programme than
men.

 According to the Pew Research Center, a significant majority of Indians

consider the lack of employment opportunities as a "very big problem" in
their country. "About 18.6 million Indians were jobless and another 393.7
million work in poor-quality jobs vulnerable to displacement"

 The Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) of the National Sample Survey
Office (NSSO) released on Friday showed the unemployment rate in the
country in FY18 was at 5.3% in rural India and 7.8% in urban India,
resulting in overall unemployment rate of 6.1%.
 India is the 78 least corrupt nation out of 175 countries, according to the
2018 Corruption Perceptions Index reported by Transparency
International. Corruption Rank in India averaged 75.67 from 1995 until
2018, reaching an all time high of 95 in 2011 and a record low of 35 in
1995.
 India’s Crime Index ranked in 65th with 42.48
 Corruption Perceptions Index 2018 of India ranked in 78 over 180 and
scored 41 over 100

India’s Caste System:

The system which divides Hindus into rigid hierarchical groups based on their
karma (work) and dharma
 Brahmins (priests and teachers) - believed to have come from Brahma's
head
 Kshatriyas (warriors and rules) - supposedly from his arms
 Vaishyas (farmers, traders, and merchants) - who were created from his
thighs
 Shudras (labourers) - who came from Brahma's feet and did all the menial
jobs.
 Dalits/Outcastes/Untouchables (street sweepers, latrine cleaners)
India’s Industries:
 The Indian textiles industry is estimated at $150 billion and contributes 7%
of industrial output and 2% of India's GDP while employs over 45 million
people directly.
 The Indian IT industry is a major exporter of IT services with $180 billion in
revenue and employs over four million people.
 India's telecommunication industry is the world's second largest by
number of mobile phone, smartphone, and internet users.
 It is the world's tenth-largest oil producer and the third-largest oil
consumer.
 Indian automobile industry is the world's fourth largest by
production.[62][63] It has $672 billion worth of retail market which
contributes over 10% of India's GDP and has one of world's fastest
growing e-commerce markets.
 India has the world's fourth-largest natural resources, with mining
sector contributes 11% of the country's industrial GDP and 2.5% of total
GDP.
 It is also the world's second-largest coal producer, the second-largeststeel
producer and the third-largest electricity producer.

POLITICAL COMMUNICATION OF INDIA:

 In the early years of Indian Independence political communication was

considered to be addressing peaceful rallies and dropping election
pamphlets from a plane to persuade the Indian Voter.
 The post liberalization has already seen three paradigm shifts, Firstly the
Nehruvian Socialism in the 1960’s, then the hard lined discipline of Indira
Gandhi and economic freedom in the 1990’s. the liberalization of the
Indian economy has changed the way of communication ranging from
 cable television to telecommunication and then bringing on to the online
platform.
 Earlier the communication during elections used to take place in rallies
and depended a lot on politicians interpersonal skills. But the political
parties are soon realizing the importance of this Digital Era to connect with
the youth of the country. The Political parties know that the youth are
going in the transformation from Digital Migrants to Digital Natives. They
are present with their true identities on the Digital platform.
 This requires the political parties of India to adopt methods which have
been never adopted before. In the recently hard fought Lok Sabha
Elections of 2009, all major political parties of India had hired Ad and
Media Agencies to manage their Brand Image.

 Social media is playing a considerable new role in Indian democracy. With

the changing politics of India political parties and politicians have found a
new ways of reaching out to a younger and aspiration population.

 social media has also transformed politics in India and globally. Its effect
has impacted the way candidate campaign for their election. Social media
allows politicians and political parties a method to connect directly with
people across the country at a reduced cost and greater reach than
traditional media.
 Social media was a popular word in Indian parliament election 2014.
Political parties use social media because traditional mass
media communication medium are highly regulated by election
commission of India. For over a decade politicians have taken the web in
an attempt to better reach voters in our new media society.
 At first it was the use of static webpage to promote campaign goals,
promises and information. However, as social media or the social
networking sites (SNS) began to rise in popularity in the mid-2000,
 campaigns began in earnest attempting to harness their power to reach
more voters.
 The use of social media by Indians was first highlighted during the 2008
Mumbai attacks when information shared through Twitter and Flickr
between Indians and the outside
 “The second mass use of social media in India was the May 2009 national
elections, when, for the first time, online voter registration and
transparency campaigns started” where first time political parties tried to
reach out to voters through social networking websites
 Among major political parties in India, BJP has the biggest charisma in
social media. BJP started using the social media even before 2009
general election, which it lost.
 Several senior leaders like Sushma Swaraj, Rajnath Singh, Arun Jaitley,
Narendra Modi and many are on social networking sites. Narendra Modi
as the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate for the 2014 general election has
his own team for his social media management
 Social media has also credited with helping the new Aam Aadmi Party and
its candidate, Arvind Kejriwal, won a surprise victory in Delhi against major
political parties.
 In the recent assembly election in Gujarat, the chief minister Narendra
Modi effectively used the social media to connect with online citizens.
Besides being active on Twitter and Facebook, Modi also went for a live
chat on Google plus with netizens.
 By going online for live chat, he became the first Indian politician to do so.
Through his social media campaign, he was able to capture the first time
voters, the youth, who certainly are more attuned to digital culture.
 It cannot be argued that the proactive presence on social media helped
Modi win the assembly election. But it is evident that despite being a
controversial figure, Modi has been projected as more forward-looking
politician. He has also been able to connect with the youth because of his
style of political campaigning and his social media skills.
  Anna Hazare, in his agitation over the issue of the Jan Lokpal Bill,
effectively used the social media to mobilize the youth and the middle
classes. The effective use of social media not only brought the issue into
cyber space and made it more global, but also garnered huge support for
the anti-corruption campaign.
 Social media, no doubt, is more democratic since anyone with access to
the Internet can raise an issue in the public arena.
 In a recent study conducted by the IRIS Knowledge Foundation and the
Internet and Mobile Association of India, claimed that results in over 150
parliamentary constituencies in the next general election could be decided
by ‘Facebook users, making them the newest vote-bank with the power to
shape Indian politics.’
 All political parties now have their presence on social media, and maintain
their party website detailing the activities and programs of the parties.
Majority of politicians have their Twitter account or Facebook pages. We
have seen that during major events such as budget sessions or
parliamentary debates, politicians break the news by posting a message
on Twitter.
 Prime Minister Manmohan Singh opened his Twitter account last year to
provide up-to-date information as well as to present the achievements of
his government to the people.

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https://www.ukessays.com/essays/media/examiing-the-political-communication-
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