Harish Khare, media advisor to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, resigned on Thursday after serving more than two years in the PMO. The resignation of Khare, 65, coincided with the appointment of television journalist Pankaj Pachauri as Communication Advisor in the PMO.
Khare, a former print journalist held the rank of secretary to the government of India while Pachauri will have the rank of additional secretary and report to principal secretary to the Prime Minister Pulok Chatterjee. There was no official word on why the PMO needed another media advisor, but the appointment of Pachauri, now managing editor of NDTV India, shows the UPA government?s desire to get wider publicity for its social sector programmes and policies.
An official press release from the PMO have described Pachauri?s duties as advising the government ?on communicating the government?s programmes, policies and achievements to the media and the public at large, particularly using the electronic, print and new and social media.? The stress on electronic and new or internet media is significant.
