Understanding the Significance of National PR Day 21st April

Friends, Thank you very much for taking out time from your busy schedule to read my blog(s). Sharing knowledge with you has become my passion now. I feel encouraged after reading your feedback in the comments column.  Today I’m very happy to present 104th BlogUnderstanding the Significance of National PR Day 21st April”.

On 21st April PR Code of Ethics were adopted by PRSI in its first All India Public Relations Conference held in Delhi in 1968.

 

On 21st April 1986 Late Dr. C. V. Narasimha Reddi, then President of PRSI gave a call to all the PROS of INDIA to observe 21st April as National PR Day to re-dedicate themselves to the cause of public relations and organizational excellence.

 

Friends, since then 21st April is being observed as National PR Day every year. National PR Day presents opportunities for public relations practitioners across INDIA to unite and stake a claim for the practice. The main idea behind celebrating 21st April as National PR Day is to attract the attention of people towards importance and need of public relations in professional and personal lives, its functions and to remind the PROS about their role and responsibility towards this profession.

 

Friends, Public Relations, despite being 120 years old across the world its application to the Indian scene became noticeable only in the early fifties. PR was confined to the multinational organizations, which realized the importance of building up opinion in their favour under the new political setup. After the independence, the public opinion was unfavorable to foreign multinational companies operating in India. The Indian public viewed them as an extension of the foreign rule in the area of trade, industry and commerce. Therefore both, the Govt. and the business organizations had to adopt conscious and deliberate policies and programmes of public relations.

It is from this period of 1950’s that the PR practice in the modern sense began in India, but the PR as profession got recognition when a group of PROS formed the Public Relations Society of India (PRSI) in 1958 in Bombay under the leadership of Mr. Kali H. Mody, who led PRSI till 1960. Later, one Mr. F. S. Mulla became the President of PRSI and during his tenure as President PRSI was registered under the Indian Societies Act XXVI of 1961, in the year 1966, and Mr. F. S. Mulla became the founder President of Public Relations Society of India (Regd.).

Friends, first ever All India Public Relations Conference was organized in Delhi on April 21, 1968 under the aegis of PRSI.  PR Code of Ethics which was based on Code of Athens adopted by Council of IPRA at its meeting in Athens in 1965 and constitutes IPRA’s moral charter was also adopted during the first AIPR conference. The IPRA Code of Athens became the PRSI Code of Ethics with few amendments.

 

Friends, while PR is widely accepted, it is barely understood, due to a reductive view of its scope of functions. As PR Guru, I strongly believe that PR should be seen as a strategic aspect and a key component of every business and governance, very useful in building relationships, preventing crises, achieving business objectives; pushing national and international interests, and preventing the kind of confusion that could ruin image, and reputation of an individual, business, corporate or even nation.

Happy National PR Day – 21st April.

Thank you for reading the blog.

 

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