Public broadcaster Prasar Bharati will set up a separate recruitment
board and form new recruitment rules by the end of next month
(July).The
decision was taken at the meeting of the Group of Ministers on Prasar
Bharati held on June 15.
The recruitment rules would have to get the approval of Prasar
Bharati Board by July 31 and would have to be placed before the Finance
Ministry by August 31, according to the GoM decision.
The GoM has also decided on the formation of a joint-secretary level
four-member committee with members from various ministries to address the
disparities in pay scales.
"This (the committee) will only look into the employees of I
& B and Prasar Bharati," Information and
Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni told reporters here today(New
Delhi, Jun 25.)
Apart from this, the GoM has also decided on the amendment of the Prasar
Bharati Act that provides for the setting up of the Parliamentary committee
to deal with issues relating to the public broadcaster. Since the inception
of Prasar Bharati 15 years ago, no Parliamentary committee has been set up.
So the amendment will do away with the provision, Soni said.
She said that the Ministry has also been empowered to suggest any other
amendment to the Act it thinks suitable. This process should be completed by
September 15, the GoM decided.
Minister
said that the Ministry has cleared 100 channels for telecast in the DD
Direct Plus
bouquet by the end of this financial year and it is expected that the number
will be increased to 200 by December 31, 2011. At present, there are 53
channels in the DD bouquet. DD Direct Plus, a direct-to-home service that
provides television and audio programming, was free to air and the
government intended to keep it that way, minister told media persons
.
Favouring a broadcasting authority, she said, there was no need for a
council only for Prasar Bharati. "We have formed a task force, including
stakeholders from the industry, and they have discussed a tentative proposal
which has to be discussed in a final meeting after which it will be
submitted to the minister," Minister said.
The Minister categorically ruled out repealing of the Prasar Bharati Act and
said there was a definite need for a public service broadcaster in the
country, as long as it functioned truly as a public service broadcaster.
Minister said the GoM also said the note on the amendments will be prepared
by 30 September so that it can be placed before the Cabinet after scrutiny
by other Ministries. She said the GoM Headed by Home Minister P Chidambaram
also said Prasar Bharati should expedite setting of recruitment boards since
the rules for various cadres of employees had been drawn up. The GoM felt
that this should be done by 31 July this year and sent to the Finance
Ministry by 31 August.
She said that the first meeting of the GoM a few months earlier that
deliberated on financial restructuring of the pubcaster, while the second
meeting this month had also decided to set up a Committee of joint
secretaries of different ministries to examine anomalies in salaries amongst
different cadres of Prasar Bharati.
The GoM,
she said, had also decided that the Finance Ministry should be sent a list
of the present staff position and the staff required by the pubcaster. (The
Government had in December told Parliament that the Act and the Pension
Rules were being amended to give effect to the recommendation of the GoM to
treat government employees in service of Prasar Bharati as on October 5,
2007 as civil servants.)
Meanwhile, minister said that she had personally taken up with the
Director Generals of Doordarshan and particularly All India Radio the
question of regularising casual employees who had been working in that
capacity for more than 25 years.
