“There has been negativity around environment clearances given by ministry for developmental projects. In reality, ministry has done everything to ensure protection of environment. This step is to just put our point of view more emphatically,” said an environment ministry official who asked not to be identified.

The ministry has put out a tender seeking a social network management agency that will coordinate all its media activities and amplify its efforts towards sustainable development, growth and environment protection, development without destruction, poverty eradication and green growth. The agency, according to the tender, will also be responsible for uploading of audio and video content on social media.

The tender said that the agency would “ensure that significant posts made by the public on all the ministry’s social networking sites are monitored on a real time basis and is brought to the notice of the designated ministry’s official on daily basis”.

“(It will) ensure that the response to these posts is provided on the social networking site under the supervision of the designated ministry official,” the document added.

Interestingly, this is not the first time that the environment ministry has turned to outside experts. Last year, in the run-up to the Paris climate change conference, the ministry hired a private firm for such a campaign in India and Paris.

The ministry official said the contract could be worth a few million rupees but added that it is necessary.

The agency will also have to generate buzz about the ministry’s activities and engage citizens over its initiatives and manage response on social accounts through a standard response management process, provide detailed analytics about social media activities, track social media sentiments and generate an e-newsletter twice a month.