Editorial With Sujit Nair | Advertisements Over Education: What Are We Really Prioritising? | India

BJP’s Chhattisgarh government, led by CM Vishnu Deo Sai, spent ₹18.57 crore on TV advertisements in just three months. In July 2024, Maharashtra’s Mahayuti government spent ₹270 crore on a special publicity campaign ahead of the polls, while Assam’s Himanta Biswa Sarma government spent ₹370 crore on advertisements over the last four financial years. The central government, too, spent close to ₹1,000 crore on print advertisements between 2019 and 2024. While central and state governments spent massively on advertisements, the government admitted in the Rajya Sabha during the current Budget Session that 18,727 government schools were shut between 2020–21 and 2024–25, nearly 10 schools every day. During the same period, private unaided schools increased by 8,475 in just one year. In this episode of Editorial, HW News Managing Editor Mr Sujit Nair discusses the government’s priorities and questions why such enormous sums are being spent on advertisements when the same money could be used to improve government schools. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices