Defence ministry debuts on Twitter today

NEW DELHI: After shying away for years, the Defence Ministry today debuted on Twitter and promised "authentic info and latest updates" in a bid to intensify its presence on social media.

The official twitter account was started by the Ministry's Director General (Media and Communications) Sitanshu Kar under the handle @spokespersonMoD.

The account had attracted 800 followers in less than an hour.

According to sources, a decision was taken to have an official twitter account for the ministry with the move to be eventually extended to the spokespersons of the three armed forces.

"This handle will disseminate authentic info and latest updates from the Indian Ministry of Defence," Kar said in his first tweet.

MoD is one of the last ministries to come on Twitter. Sources said that the ministry was in touch with Twitter for authentication.