# Press Information Bureau

The Press Information Bureau, commonly abbreviated as PIB, is a nodal agency of the Government of India under Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. Based in National Media Centre, New Delhi, Press Information Bureau disseminates information to print, electronic and web media on government plans, policies, programme initiatives and achievements. It is available in 14 Indian official languages, which are Dogri, Punjabi, Bengali, Odia, Gujarati, Marathi, Meitei (Manipuri), Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, Malayalam, Konkani and Urdu, in addition to Hindi and English, out of the 22 official languages of the Indian Republic.
The head of PIB is also the Official Spokesperson of the Government of India and holds the rank of Principal Director General (Special Secretary equivalent). The post is currently headed by Rajesh Malhotra.

## History

The Press Information Bureau was established in June 1919 as a small cell under Home Ministry under the British government. Its main task was to prepare a report on India to be placed before the British Parliament. It was then located in Shimla.
The first head of the publicity cell was Dr. L.F. Rushbrook Williams of Allahabad University who was designated as Officer on Special Duty. Prof. Williams had earlier worked with Sir Stanley Reed on the Central Publicity Board.
In 1941, J. Natrajan became the first Indian to be head the bureau as Principal Information Officer.
The organisation's name was changed to the Press Information Bureau in 1946.
The bureau has been reconstituted many times since independence of India in 1947.

## Structure and function

Administratively, the Press Information Bureau is one of the media units working under the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Government of India. It is the nodal agency for public communication and media relations for the entire Union Government of India (though some organizations have their own outfits to look after their specialized media and publicity functions, e.g. Ministry of External Affairs and the armed forces).
With headquarters in New Delhi, it now has a nation-wide network of eight regional offices and 34 branch offices. Over 60 information officers are presently in position in the bureau. The bureau has information officers attached to different ministries, constitutional bodies and autonomous organizations of the government of India. They are responsible for information dissemination and unpaid publicity for those organizations.
The bureau issues press releases, features, photographs, infographics and videos for giving information to electronic, print and web media on the following matters:
* Government planning
* Government policies
* Programme initiatives
* Achievements of the government
The bureau has a Press Facilitation unit for press accreditation and facilitation during press conferences and events that are open for the media. At present, about 2500 editors, correspondents, camerapersons and technicians from print, radio, television and web media are accredited.
Its website contains archives of press releases issued by it since 1947. It has also launched the mobile version of its website and a mobile app.
In November 2019, the PIB set up a fact-checking unit to check government related news.

## Heads/government spokespersons

| No. | Principal information officers | From | To |
| 1. | Mr. J. Hennessy | April 1938 | December 1941 |
| 2. | Shri J. Natrajan | January 1942 | July 1945 |
| 3. | Mr. Pothan Joseph | July 1945 | December 1946 |
| 4. | Shri A. S. Iyenger | October 1946 | December 1948 |
| 5. | Shri B. L. Sharma | February 1949 | March 1954 |
| 6. | Shri M. L. Bhardwaj | March 1954 | October 1955 |
| 7. | Shri T. R. V. Chari | October 1955 | July 1961 |
| 8. | Shri M. L. Bhardwaj | July 1961 | May 1963 |
| 9. | Shri L. R. Nair | May 1963 | January 1966 |
| 10. | Shri M. L. Bhardwaj | January 1966 | July 1971 |
| 11. | Shri H. J. D'Penha | July 1971 | June 1974 |
| 12. | Dr. A. R. Baji | December 1974 | August 1976 |
| 13. | Shri L. Dayal | August 1976 | September 1977 |
| 14. | Shri G. S. Bhargava | June 1978 | April 1980 |
| 15. | Shri Wilfred Lazarus | April 1980 | April 1982 |
| 16. | Shri U. C. Tiwari | April 1982 | May 1985 |
| 17. | Shri Inna Rammohan Rao | June 1985 | January 1992 |
| 18. | Shri S. Narendra | February 1992 | December 1998 |
| 19. | Smt N. J. Krishna | December 1998 | October 2002 |
| 20. | Shri Sahab Singh | November 2002 | February 2004 |
| 21. | Dr. Shakuntala Mahawal | March 2004 | July 2005 |
| 22. | Smt Deepak Sandhu | August 2005 | January 2006 |
| No. | Principal Directors General (Media & Communication) | From | To |
| 1. | Smt Deepak Sandhu | February 2006 | December 2008 |
| 2. | Dr. Umakant Mishra | December 2008 | March 2009 |
| 3. | Smt Neelam Kapur | April 2009 | August 2014 |
| 4. | Shri Frank Noronha | August 2014 | April 2018 |
| 5. | Shri Sitanshu Kar | May 2018 | September 2019 |
| 6. | Shri K. S. Dhatwalia | October 2019 | February 2021 |
| 7. | Shri Jaideep Bhatnagar | March 2021 | July 2022 |
| 8. | Shri Satyendra Prakash | August 2022 | 28 February 2023 |
| 9. | Shri Rajesh Malhotra | March 2023 | August 2023 |
| 10. | Shri Manish Desai | September 2023 | March 2024 |
| 11. | Smt Sheyphali B. Sharan | April 2024 | June 2024 |
| 12. | Dhirendra K. Ojha | July 2024 | Incumbent |