It has a State hospitality wing which facilitates guests and dignitaries during their visit in the State. It organizes the State ceremonies as well as birth and death anniversaries of many notable persons.

The landing webpage of the State – “Egiye Bangla” is manned by Information Directorate which is also looking after the other official pages of the State Government on social media platform.

This Directorate has regularly published the mouthpiece of the State Government – “Paschimbanga’.

Name of the Offices under Information Directorate are :

• Kolkata Information Centre, Kolkata
• Information Centre at Delhi
• Information Centre at Siliguri
• District Information & Cultural Office, South 24 paraganas
• District Information & Cultural Office, North 24 paraganas
• District Information & Cultural Office, Howrah
• District Information & Cultural Office, Hooghly
• District Information & Cultural Office, Nadia
• District Information & Cultural Office, Birbhum
• District Information & Cultural Office, Murshidabad
• District Information & Cultural Office, Malda
• District Information & Cultural Office, Uttar Dinajpur
• District Information & Cultural Office, Dakshin Dinajpur
• District Information & Cultural Office, Darjeeling
• District Information & Cultural Office, Kalimpong
• District Information & Cultural Office, Jalpaiguri
• District Information & Cultural Office, Alipurduar
• District Information & Cultural Office, Cooch Behar
• District Information & Cultural Office, Purba Medinipur
• District Information & Cultural Office, Paschim Medinipur
• District Information & Cultural Office, Purba Bardhaman
• District Information & Cultural Office, Paschim Bardhaman
• District Information & Cultural Office, Bankura
• District Information & Cultural Office, Purulia
• Sub Divisional Information & Cultural Office in 63 Sub Divisions

The multifaceted activities of the Information Directorate can be categorized in the following manner:

1. Social Welfare Schemes -

a) Lok Prasar Prakalpa:

The State Government has launched ‘Lok Prasar Prakalpa’ (LPP) in the year of 2014 with a view to revitalizing the Folk Arts of Bengal as well as ensuring a steady means of livelihood for the State’s folk artistes. Their talent is utilized in a coherent campaign to spread the developmental initiatives of the Government across the State and improving the socio-economic condition of the folk artistes. More than 1 lakh 94 thousand folk artistes have so far been registered to receive financial assistance in the form of Retainer Fees, Pension and Performance Fees.

Every registered folk artiste within the age group of 18 to 60 years receives Rs. 1000/- per month as ‘Retainer Fees’, whereas ‘Pension’ of equal amount is granted to the folk artistes for those who have crossed the age of 60 years. Besides, ‘Performance Fees’ @ Rs. 1,000/- per day is also provided to each artiste when such performance is called for. Retainers fees and Pension is being disbursed directly to the bank accounts of the beneficiaries through Jai Bangla Portal. Performance fees is also paid directly to the bank accounts of the beneficiaries through Treasuries of different Districts.

The enlisted folk artistes propagate different flagship programmes of the State Government such as Kanyashree, Rupashree, Sabuj Sathi, Duare Sarkar, ParaySamadhan, Manobik Pension etc through their performances. Besides they also campaign for creating awareness among the people on various public awareness issues like prevention of vector borne disease, digital ration cards etc. This project has brought tremendous enthusiasm among the folk artistes of Bengal by beckoning them from the abyss of oblivion to the glory of self-reliance.

b) State Welfare Scheme for Purohit:

State Government has introduced State Welfare Scheme for Purohits in 2020 in order to provide financial assistance @Rs. 1,500/- per month, for their livelihood considering their importance in social, cultural and community functions, taking into consideration that most of them are now in financially distressed condition.

So far, more than 28,000 beneficiaries have been included under this scheme till introduction and the monthly financial assistance is being disbursed directly to the bank accounts of the beneficiaries through Jai Bangla Portal.

c) West Bengal Pension Scheme for the Journalists, 2018

has been introduced with effect from 1stApril, 2018 to provide a monthly financial assistance @ Rs. 2500/- for the journalists who have attained 60 years of age and are facing acute financial hardship. So far, more than 160 journalists have been endowed with this benefit

d) Swasthya Sathi Scheme for Cable Operators:

With a view to providing social security to the pervasive yet unorganized sector of Cable TV distribution network, in 2018-19, the benefit of the State-funded ‘Swasthya Sathi' Health Insurance Scheme has been extended to all Cable TV Operators, Sub-operators, their workers and families. So far more than 20,000 numbers of primary members have been provided with the Swastha Sathi Card with total number of members are 50,000 approx. The total number of persons to be covered under the scheme is around 1 lakh 80 thousand.

2) State Ceremonies, other ceremonies and observance of Birth & Death anniversaries:

a) Republic Day Celebration & Observance of Independence Day:

Republic Day and Independence Day was observed solemnly at Red Road, Kolkata along with District and Sub-Divisions.

b) International Mother Language Day:

International Mother Language Day was observed at Deshopriyo Park, Kolkata and different districts of the State on 21st February 2023. Eminent Artistes and general public participated in these programmes spontaneously.

c) Martyr's Day was observed on 30thJanuary,

2023 to pay tribute to Mahatma Gandhi on his death anniversary in solemn manner in all districts and sub-divisions of the state. The State Level programme was organised at Gandhi Ghat, Barrackpore. Floral tributes were also paid at the Statue of Mahatma Gandhi at Mayo Road, Kolkata.

d) Observance of 125th birth anniversary of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose:

To commemorate the 125th Birth Anniversary of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, Government of West Bengal has constituted a committee under the chairmanship of Hon’ble Chief Minister, West Bengal. Eminent economists & Noble awardee Shri Amartya Sen and Shri Abhijit Binayak Bandyopadhyay along with other eminent personalities from various sectors have been included in the committee and most of the decisions of the committee have already been implemented and rests are under different phases of implementation.

e) Observance of Birth Anniversary of Kabi Bhanu Bhakt:

The Govt. of West Bengal observed the birth anniversary of great Nepali poet Bhanu Bhakt at Darjeeling and the same was observed also at West Bengal Legislative Assembly, Kolkata.

f) Celebrating their birth anniversaries :

The State Govt. has continued to remember as well as honour the contribution of the distinguished personalities by celebrating their birth anniversaries. The Department has observed the birth anniversaries of Swami Vivekananda, Kazi Nazrul Islam, Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar, Sister Nivedita, Nellie Sengupta, Shyamal Mitra, Michael Madhusudan Dutta, Binod Bihari Mukhopadhyay, Subhash Mukhopadhyay, Jibanananda Das, Jatindra Mohon Sengupta, Girish Ghosh, Surya Sen, Leslie Claudius, Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Suchitra Sen, Pt. Ravishankar, Prafulla Chandra Sen, Jamini Roy, Dr. B R Ambedkar, Satin Sen, Henry Louis Vivian Derozio, Manna Dey, Satyajit Ray, Soumitra Chattopadhyay, Supriya Devi, Pankaj Mullick, Gurusaday Dutta, Upendra Kishore Roy Chowdhury, Manik Bandopadhyay, Raja Rammohun Roy, Ramkinkar Bej, Rash Behari Bose, Hemanta Mukhopadhyay, Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, R.D. Burman, Asutosh Mukhopadhyay, Dr. Prasanta Chandra Mahalanabis, Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy, Dr. Shyamaprasad Mukhopadhyay, Satya Ranjan Bakshi, Dwijendralal Ray, Tarasankar Bandopadhyay, Rajanikanta Sen, Acharya P.C. Roy, Kishore Kumar, Birendra Krishna Bhadra, Abanindra Nath Tagore, Rishi Aurobinda, Sukanta Bhattacharya, Rajiv Gandhi, Jyotirindra Nandy, Gostha Pal, Debabrata Biswas, Sambhu Mitra, Mother Teresa, Rituparno Ghosh, Sailen Manna, Uttam Kumar, Dr. S. Radhakrishnan, Premendra Mitra, Sarat Chandra Bose, Sunil Gangopadhyay, BibhutiBhushan Bandyopadhyay, Sarat Ch. Chattopadhyay, GourKhyapa, Gaganendra Nath Tagore, Suchitra Mitra, Rani Rasmoni, Dr. Nilaratan Sarkar, Sachin Dev Burman, Mahatma Gandhi, Leela Roy, Hemanta Bose, Dr. Meghnad Saha, Chhabi Bandyopadhyay, Begum Akhtar, Jaiparakash Narayan, Atul Prasad Sen, Sukumar Roy, Ritwik Ghatak, C.R. Das, Haradhan Bandyopadhyay, Abul Kalam Azad, Jawaharlal Nehru, Birsha Munda, Indira Gandhi, Salil Chowdhury, Debaki Kumar Basu, Jagadish Ch. Basu, Khudiram Basu, Uday Shankar, Keshab Chandra Nag , Prafulla Chaki, Pretilata Waddedar, Kalpana Dutta, Martyr Jatindra Nath Mukherjee, Beena Das, Dwijen Mukhopadhyay, Pranab Mukherjee and Jatileshwar Mukhopadhyay. Besides, janmatithi of Sri Sri Ramakrishna and Maa Sarada are also observed at Nabanna, the State Secretariat.

g) Observing death anniversaries:

Death anniversaries of Masterda Surya Sen, Rash Behari Bose, Mahatma Gandhi, Bhabani Bhattacharya, Dr. Meghnad Saha, Hemanta Bose, Sarat Chandra Bose, Bhagat Singh, Satin Sen, PrafullaChaki, AsutoshMukhopadhyay, C.R. Das, Anil Kumar Das, Dr. Shyamaprasad Mukhopadhyay, Michael Madhusudan Dutta, Asit Ranjan Bhattacharya, J.M. Sengupta, Uttam Kumar, Kanailal Bhattacharya, Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy, Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar, Rabindra Nath Tagore , Khudiram Basu, KaziNazrul Islam, Ustad Allauddin Khan, Baghajatin, Jatin Das, Pritilata Waddedar, Raja Ram Mohun Roy, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, Martyr Matangini Hazra, Henry Louis Vivian Derozio, Leela Roy, Hemchandra Ghosh were also observed by I&CA Department.

(h) I & CA Department also observed Binay-Badal-Dinesh Day,

Hool Divas, International Mother Language Day, National Maritime Day, Sahid Dibas, David Hare Day, Baleswar Day, Martyr’s Day, INA Day with reverence.

3) Hospitality:

Department of Information & Cultural Affairs also plays a pivotal role in extending State Hospitality and perform Protocol responsibilities during the visit of dignitaries from all over the country and abroad. Around 650 dignitaries have visited the State during 2022-23 who have been declared as State Guests.

4) Advertisements:

Advertisements of all the Government Departments are centrally released to print and electronic media by I&CA Department. The process of releasing advertisements and tender notices is being carried out round the year. Social media interfaces like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other digital platforms are adopted as new channels for paramount percolation of Government advertisements. Besides, Govt. messages and achievements are displayed through various LED walls in Kolkata and in the districts.

5) LED Tableaux:

In order to disseminate the various developmental messages in the remote areas of the district through audio visual mode, LED mount tableau were displayed which has attracted attention of people and has become very popular.

6) Publications:

Paschimbanga Magazine: During last Financial Year one special edition of Paschimbanga was released in English & Bengali. The publication of Santhali & Hindi editions is in progress.

7) Exhibitions:

Information and Cultural Affairs Department organizes exhibitions at national, state and district levels throughout the year. Central Exhibitions and Poster Exhibitions are arranged in various Fairs and Festivals to cater the messages on different flagship programmes of the Government throughout the State.

The exhibitions were organized on the occasion of different State Level Ptrogrammes like Sangeet Mela, Little Magazine Fair etc. Tableau in the Republic Day Parade, Independence Day Parade at Kolkata and Fairs at Delhi are special programme of this Exhibition wing.

8) Information Networking and Media Management:

The Information & Cultural Affairs Department is entrusted with dissemination of various administrative news, notifications; circulars etc. of the Government to the media and to arrange press conferences, issue Press Accreditation Cards etc. to the journalists throughout the State. This Department oversees the media management during different official functions of the Government.

E-mail, SMS and Social media applications have been introduced for easier, faster and better communication with the media houses and journalists. Recently, various govt. advertisements are being released in various social media like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram along with the empanelled websites. As a result of such maneuver, the reach of the Government messages has increased manifolds. Official Tweeter handles are used by all the District and Sub Divisional level officers in a most effective manner.

9) Official Portal of the Government of West Bengal:

The official Portal of the Government of West Bengal ‘egiyebangla.gov.in’, is designed, developed and hosted by the Information & Cultural Affairs Department. The objective of the portal is to provide a single window access to the information and services provided by the different Departments of the Government of West Bengal. The ‘Egiye Bangla’ website has been re-designed to make it more attractive and user friendly and presently having around 60,000 viewers per day on an average.