On December 19, in response to a query in the Lok Sabha, Anurag Thakur, the Information and Broadcasting Minister, revealed that the Central Bureau of Communication, responsible for disseminating awareness/publicity campaigns through print media, incurred an expenditure of Rs 967.46 crore for the publicity of government schemes from the fiscal year 2019-20 to 2023-24.
Thakur also said that as of March 31, 2019, 1,19,995 periodicals which include newspapers, were registered with the Registrar of Newspapers for India (RNI). The number stood at 1,43,423 in 2020, 1,44,520 in 2021, 1,46,045 in 2022 and 1,48,363 in 2023, stated a media report.