April 21 is India’s National Public Relations Day.

The first All India Public Relations Conference was organised in Delhi on April 21, 1968 by the Public Relations Society of India. The theme of the conference was ‘Professional Approach’ intending to give a new meaning to the definition of the PR profession in India. Earlier, terms such as publicity, press a gentry, information, etc. were synonymous with PR.

A Code of Ethics for the PR profession was adopted and it was the beginning of professional Public Relations in India.

The objective behind designating April 21 as National Public Relations Day is to focus attention on the Public Relations function and Public Relations professionals in India who have an increasingly important role in the development of the country.

This year, PRSI will organise the 29th all India PR Conference at Chennai and the theme will be ‘Achieving Excellence in Public Relations through Information Technology Intervention’. According to Dr. Ajit Pathank, National President, PRSI, ‘The theme is very much relevant to the need of Public Relations today. In today’s world, it is difficult for any professional to ignore the use of IT. It is more so in the case of PR because if PR professionals have to give results in this era of fierce competition, they will have to give their best in terms of speed, accuracy and quality and IT support to PR will undoubtedly make a significant contribution in this direction. PR professionals who are not friendly with e-media will have problems in days ahead. They should acquire computer knowledge as early as possible. We should be able to shift from conventional communication to e-communication. This will also help us in networking with PR professionals across the world.’

Update: PR Code of Ethics (Courtesy: PR India Post)