Sh. Fayyaz Sheheryar has taken over the charge of Director General, All India Radio. Sh. Sheheryar is an officer of Indian Broadcasting (Programme) Service having served people of India in diverse ethno-linguistic zones through Akashvani and Doordarshan since 1981 in different consequential capacities that call for a fertile brain, agile mind and, above all, creative skills and yearnings. He competed successfully for the second time through Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) in 1991 when he was inducted into IB(P)S directly in the Senior Time Scale (STS). A topper of UPSC on both the occasions i.e., when selected as Programme Executive and later on getting inducted into the organized service known as Indian Broadcasting Service.

A dyed-in-the-wool professional, he conceived, designed and produced innumerable programmes in varied genres for disparate regions of the country, both at the regional level and the national level and won plaudits as well as prizes. His creative work was often acclaimed as an apotheosis of excellence and won him national and international acclaim, both from the State and the NGOs. He used changing technology in the dissemination of message right from phone-in-programming to live streaming, analog to digital, studio to field and field to skies, using tools and software for optimum use like smoke, flame and pixel graphics much ahead of his peers in other parts of South Asia. The Officer, with his penchant for perfection and pursuit of excellence, did successful experiments with ideas and genres, devised ways and the modus operandi of presentation endemic to his style and exclusive skills resulting in programmes that adorned shelves of international repositories of software in ABU, AIBD, DW, Rupavahini etc. His documentaries done in India and dubbed in different non-Indian languages including English on “Why do beggars seek alms: a Psycho-economic Perspective”, “Demise of language and emergence of tongue: in aspect and retrospect”, “religion as a cementing force rather than a schism”, democracy-India’s gift to South Asia and a largesse to the word are among the innumerable inspiring works that won him accolades and applause.

Sh. Sheheryar single-handedly launched Doordarshan’s Urdu channel in 2006, as if it was a sleight of hand, when there was neither manpower nor infrastructure provided to him for the task. His professional skill, perseverance, love of the language and dogged pursuit of a goal enabled him to translate a commitment to the Parliament into reality. It is he who created a software bank, when none was available. He is one of the very few Indian programme professionals at a significantly senior level who knows both the mechanics and the aesthetics of the medium of television and is also at home with the nuances of sound-broadcasting. His exposure to domestic and foreign training programmes helped him in honing his skills and in serving Prasar Bharati and his country at large, in the wake of upheavals on the country’s audio-visual landscape.

Sh. Sheheryar, after qualifying UPSC’s test for appointment as Station Director in 1991 was given Headship and control of Radio Kashmir Jammu and in that period of extreme militant unrest in J&K, controlled almost all electronic media activities of J&K which included a stiff challenge of countering Pak’s fierce indoctrination through their overt and covert radio signals. It was suicidal to even think of such counterpropaganda as would defeat the nefarious designs of the foolhardy enemy. The officer countered the mischievous and tendentious distortions indulged in by the propaganda apparatus across the border and intrepidly over Jammu and Srinagar. The Government of India gave an additional assignment of launching a local radio station (LRS) in Poonchh, exactly on the borders of India with PoK. The officer, though posted at Jammu, was given Headship and control of Poonchh which worked effectively to promote security interests of India. The sheer ingenuity of the counterpropaganda launched in Potohari, Gojri, Urdu etc. over Poonchh lay in initiating psyops for national security and defeating disruptive machinations of Pakistan’s ISI through teachings of Quran itself. That was a sagacious and subtle strategy to reach and win over subversive elements through their own faith. It was conceived and often written by the officer himself. The strategy had had a discernible impact in tangible terms.

After serving in Jammu for six years, Sh. Sheheryar was given another challenging assignment as Station Director of Jalandhar (AIR) when Punjab was asphyxiated by the smouldering remains of militancy. After serving Jalandhar where he was the Zonal Head, he was moved to Radio Kashmir Srinagar as its Director in 1999 when militancy was at its peak. Ran Radio there, created a sense of fraternity and bonhomie especially among youth, neutralized the Pak venom with the nectar of India’s philosophy of democratic polity and doctrine of secularism. More youth began to participate not only in programming but in the flag hoisting done by the officer on Independence and the Republic days, from the premises of Radio Kashmir in which, until then, even the staff were feeling jittery in making their presence felt. Sh. Sheheryar has also served Doordarshan, Jammu as its Director between 10.10.2001 and 25.04.2003 and DDK, Jalandhar between 29.04.2003 and 09.05.2005 before he was brought to Delhi, Doordarshan’s Headquarters. The officer was cleared by UPSC and ACC for Senior Administrative Grade in 03.05.2010 and ever since he has been functioning as the Additional Director General and was posted at the AIR Headquarters.
 

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