Prasar Bharati
| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | 23 Nov 1997 |
| Jurisdiction | Republic of India |
| Headquarters | New Delhi |
| Agency executives |
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| Child agencies | |
| Website | www |
Prasar Bharati (Hindi: प्रसार भारती); is India's largest public broadcasting agency. It is an autonomous body set up by an Act of Parliament and comprises Doordarshan Television Network and All India Radio which were earlier media units of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
The Parliament of India passed an Act to grant this autonomy in 1990, but it was not enacted until 15 September 1997.[1]
Dr A Surya Prakash[2] is the current chairperson of Prasar Bharati and Jawhar Sircar is the CEO.[3]
Contents
Prasar Bharati Act
The Prasar Bharati Act provides for establishment of a Broadcasting Corporation, to be known as Prasar Bharati, to define its composition, functions and powers.[4] The Act grants autonomy to All India Radio and Doordarshan, which were previously under government control.[4] The Act received assent of President of India on 12 September 1990[1] after being unanimously passed by Parliament. It was finally implemented in November 1997. By the Prasar Bharati Act, all the property, assets, debts, liabilities, payments of money due, all suits and legal proceedings involving Akashvani (All India Radio) and Doordarshan were transferred to Prasar Bharati.
Prasar Bharati Board
Prasar Bharati Act stipulates general superintendence, direction and management of affairs of the Corporation vests in Prasar Bharati Board which may exercise all such powers and do all such acts and things as may be exercised or done by the Corporation.[4]
Prasar Bharati Board consists of:
- Chairman
- One Executive Member
- One Member (Finance)
- One Member (Personnel)
- Six Part-time Members
- Director-General (Akashvani), ex officio
- Director-General (Doordarshan), ex officio
- One representative of the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (India), to be nominated by that Ministry and
- Two representatives of the employees of the Corporation, of whom one shall be elected by the engineering staff from amongst themselves and one shall be elected by the other employee from amongst themselves.
The President of India appoints Chairman and the other Members, except the ex officio members, nominated member and the elected members.
The Board shall meet not be less than six meetings every year but three months shall not intervene between one meeting and the next meeting.
Functions and Objectives
The primary duty of the Corporation is to organise and conduct public broadcasting services to inform, educate and entertain the public and to ensure a balanced development of broadcasting on radio and television.[4]
The Corporation shall, in the discharge of its functions, be guided by the following objectives, namely:
- Upholding the unity and integrity of the country and the values enshrined in the Constitution.
- Safeguarding the citizen’s right to be informed freely, truthfully and objectively on all matters of public interest, national or international, and presenting a fair and balanced flow of information including contrasting views without advocating any opinion or ideology of its own.
- Paying special attention to the fields of education and spread of literacy, agriculture, rural development, environment, health and family welfare and science and technology.
- Providing adequate coverage to the diverse cultures and languages of the various regions of the country by broadcasting appropriate programmes.
- Providing adequate coverage to sports and games so as to encourage healthy competition and the spirit of sportsmanship.
- Providing appropriate programmes keeping in view the special needs of the youth.
- Informing and stimulating the national consciousness in regard to the status and problems of women and paying special attention to the upliftment of women.
- Promoting social justice and combating exploitation, inequality and such evils as untouchability and advancing the welfare of the weaker sections of the society.
- Safeguarding the rights of the working classes and advancing their welfare.
- Serving the rural and weaker sections of the people and those residing in border regions, backward or remote areas.
- Providing suitable programmes keeping in view the special needs of the minorities and tribal communities.
- Taking special steps to protect the interests of children, the blind, the aged, the handicapped and other vulnerable sections of the people.
- Promoting national integration by broadcasting in a manner that facilitates communication in the languages in India; and facilitating the distribution of regional broadcasting services in every State in the languages of that State.
- Providing comprehensive broadcast coverage through the choice of appropriate technology and the best utilisation of the broadcast frequencies available and ensuring high quality reception.
- Promoting research and development activities in order to ensure that radio broadcast and television broadcast technology are constantly updated.
Expansion plans
Digitisation of AIR & DD is going on full phase, as some of DDK's (Doordarshan Kendra's) & AIR Stations are already getting digitised. All the new establishments are digital and there are plans to modify the existing ones. New transmitters are being ordered and plans for purchase of digital transmitters are being implemented in phases.
Controversy over Candidate selection
In 2010, as many as 24 candidates out of the 30 selected for the posts of journalists in Doordarshan News were alleged to be selected on the basis of political considerations.[5] For example, one of the successful candidates was closely related to a former Congress minister of state for information and broadcasting and another successful candidate was the daughter of a sitting Congress Union minister. Another one was a close relative of Union Commerce Minister Anand Sharma.[6][7]
The number of applicants called for interview was increased from 25 to 35 to accommodate the daughter of a Congress politician, who held the 33rd rank, and would have otherwise been eliminated at the cut-off stage. Another successful candidate, Anika Kalra Kalha, was not even called for an audition and reporting skills test, and the remark in the relevant columns read “Did not qualify for this stage”. Similarly weightage given to interview was arbitrarily increased 2 days before interviews.[6]
References
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