In what would be a first in the existence of Prasar Bharati as an autonomous public broadcaster, its day-to-day functioning will now be run by five distinct committees. Also, these committees will report to the Prasar Bharati board and work under the direct supervision of its chairperson Mrinal Pande and the government nominee Rajiv Takru. Takru is additional secretary in the information and broadcasting ministry.
Resolutions to this effect were adopted by the Prasar Bharati Board at its 99th meeting on Monday. The meeting was necessitated by the suspension of its CEO BS Lalli last month by an order of the President of India.

According to sources, the Prasar Bharati board adopted six resolutions, five of them towards the constitution of the five respective committees and the sixth dissolving the three-member committee set up at the behest of a court order last year to oversee its functioning. This three-member committee was headed by the now suspended chief executive BS Lalli.

Sources said the five committees would be dealing with various aspects of the Prasar Bharati including finance and audit, personnel, project monitoring implementation, production and content, and strategy & vision. The members of these committees have been drawn from within Prasar Bharati, including officials from Doordarshan and the All India Radio.

Sources said the finance and audit committee has been entrusted with the task of undertaking a financial assessment of the assets and liabilities of Prasar Bharati and to identify areas of concern, among other mandates.

The personnel committee’s work will include examining all pending court cases related to personnel matters in particular and Prasar Bharati in general. Also, the personnel committee will expedite creation of recruitment boards, and recruitment rules for all cadres.

The committee on project monitoring implementation will have to devise suitable marketing and promotional strategies for Prasar Bharati. Also, it will review and ensure timely implementation of projects undertaken with plan and non-plan funds provided by the government.

The mandate of the production and content committees will be to overhaul the technical capabilities of Doordarshan and All India Radio with specific focus on its programming aired and the technology used in broadcasting among other related issues.

Finally, the role of the strategy and vision committees will be to assess the current position of Prasar Bharati vis-à-vis the external environment. This committee will also formulate a short-term, medium term and long term view/strategy for Prasar Bharati.

 

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