Government of India’s ‘Viksit Bharat’ campaign on LED-mounted vans across 5 NER states a monumental achievement

Even as India sets sights on becoming the third largest economy with a GDP of US$7 billion by the year 2030, Government of India under Prime Minister Narendra Modi unfurled a massive mission called ‘Viksit Bharat at 1947: Voice of Youth’ in December 2023 to place the country in the league of the developed world by the year 2047 – when India will celebrate 100 years of Independence. Further, to take the development campaign to the far reaches of the country, and to mobilise every individual’s participation in the process, Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra (VBSY) was launched.

In the North-East region (NER), the mandate for running the VBSY campaign in the outdoor was awarded to Guwahati-headquartered Priya Communication, whereby the OOH firm was called upon to take the campaign to the remotest corners of five states --  Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Tripura. Cognizant of the daunting challenges in executing the VBSY campaign in these states where the geographical terrain is undulating, marked by steep gradient, inadequate roads infrastructure and poor connectivity, the Bureau of Communications Outreach, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Government of India empowered Priya Communication to judiciously employ the most appropriate mobile media vehicles to cover the five states.

The importance of this campaign in the NER was underscored by Prime Minister Modi’s stated vision of transforming the region through industrialisation, improved physical infrastructure and connectivity with the south-east Asian region through the ‘Act East Policy’.

While Priya Communication has down the years managed many a challenging OOH campaign, managing the operations of 115 LED-mounted vans and taking them to a vast number of urban and rural villages was no mean task. In building the campaign outreach to connect with 10+ million people, the OOH firm ran into steepling issues while navigating the movement of the vans, many of which often got stuck on slushy roads or required enormous effort to climb steep roads. For effective movement of the vehicles, Priya Communication employed mid-size vehicles that were more suited to the terrain, which the larger LED-mounted vehicles could not adapt to.

Priya Communication led the vans to cross rivers and streams, mountains and hills, sand and rocks to reach every nook and corner of the NER. Difficult and narrow hilly terrains, remote geographical locations and cold winter season of the north-eastern region posed significant challenges for the teams managing the vans. 

As there was paucity of equipment required for this campaign in NER, Priya Communication had to airlift hardware like LED boards and power generators from far-off places like Delhi and Panipat. Besides, the manpower employed for the operations had to be provided with facilities that were not ordinarily available in the local areas, and that caused the costs to spiral. Management of spares, and deployment of rescue vans to retrieve vehicles stuck in poor road conditions were among several steepling challenges that the OOH agency encountered while moving ahead with the campaign. However, the company avowedly stuck with the plan, while imbued by the spirt of spreading the message of development that enshrines PM Modi’s vision of a Viksit Bharat. 

The campaign covered 80%-85% of the target population across the five states, as illustrated in the table cited below:

The communications relayed from the LED-mounted vans exhorted the people to make a promise that "Whatever I do should be for a developed India", which entailed participation in the realms of social progress, environmental sustainability, economic growth and good governance, as envisioned by PM Modi.

Also, VBSY aimed to spread knowledge about the Government of India’s welfare schemes tailored for various sections of society across the country, triggering a transformative journey to make India 'Viksit' (developed) by 2047.

Prime Minister Modi himself interacted via Live video conferencing with various beneficiaries through the LED vans which were equipped with LED screens and video conferencing capabilities on regular basis in places like Seppa in Arunachal Pradesh, and Wokha in Nagaland.

Speaking about the campaign that was executed during January and February this year, Anoop Khanna, Founder & Managing Director of Priya Communication, told Media4Growth: “In its two-month's odyssey, VBSY traversed thousands of villages, capturing millions of hearts. The success in the North-eastern states owes itself to the meticulous monitoring and guidance of CBC officials and on-ground nodal officers who orchestrated day-to-day activities in the remote villages. Residents of these deep rural villages were not just happy, they were awestruck witnessing the vans navigating through the challenges to reach their doorsteps.”

Today, as Indian OOH steps up the efforts to expand its business, management of campaigns of this nature add new dimensions to the industry. Priya Communication’s successful handling of the VBSY campaign in the remote NER states is a testament to the new vigour of Indian OOH.