Panel favours compact Prasar Bharati

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, MAY 20. An expert committee, set up by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry, has suggested downsizing of Prasar Bharati and the Board that runs it.

The committee, set up last November to review the working of Prasar Bharati, in its report submitted today to the Information and Broadcasting Minister, Mr. Arun Jaitley, has recommended that the present jumbo-size Board be replaced with a slimmer and more compact body with only the Chief Executive as a permanent member. The directors-general of AIR and Doordarshan need no longer be on the Board, and instead be given a place on the proposed Management Council which would be responsible for day-to-day working of Prasar Bharati, the committee has suggested.

The committee chairman, Mr. Shunu Sen, who released a skimpy summary of the 80-odd page report to the media here, came out strongly against the practice of senior I&B Ministry officials doubling as CEOs. He agreed that this negated the very notion of an autonomous Prasar Bharati, and wanted the practice scrapped.

If the report is accepted, the Board would have a part-time chairman and six part-time members in addition to a senior representative from the I&B Ministry. In a departure from the existing practice, no full-time employee of Prasar Bharat, except the Chief Executive, would be on the Board.

``The committee strongly believes that having other executives of Prasar Bharati on the Board would undermine the authority of the Chief Executive'', the report says. In the proposed scheme of things, the Ministry's representation on the Board would also be reduced.

While the Board would address only overall policy matters, a Management Council, comprising key senior executives from Prasar Bharati, would be responsible for ``all operational and management matters.''

On downsizing of Prasar Bharati staff, the committee has suggested ``urgent'' action on ``cadre review, staff size, re- deployment (and) promotions...'' Mr. Sen said the organisation, with nearly 45,000 employees, was clearly overstaffed. The committee has also called for ``autonomy, decentralisation and devolution of power within Prasar Bharati'' and while emphasising the autonomous nature of Prasar Bharati it has cautioned against a confrontationist approach towards the Government saying the relationship between them should be one of ``partnership and cooperation.''

Prasar Bharati's accountability to Parliament has also been emphasised though it is not clear if the committee favours the setting up of a 22-member parliamentary panel to oversee Prasar Bharati's functioning. Successive I&B ministers in the Vajpayee Government have spoken up for those who favour such a panel.

Among other things, the committee has stressed (1) the need for a change in the system of working so that ``creativity is released''; (2) freeing Prasar Bharati from too much dependence on Government-funding; (3) more viewer-friendly programming; and (4) creation of a ``New Media'' division to exploit new technology.

Apart from Mr. Sen, the committee comprised Mr. Kiran Karnik, CEO Discovery Channel, Mr. N. R. Narayanamurthy, Infosys Chief, and Mr. R. C. Mishra, additional secretary in I&B Ministry.

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Section  : National
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