COMMENTARY
INTERVIEWS
SPECIALS
CHAT
ARCHIVES

Minister rules out government role in Prasar Bharati board postings

The government will have no control over the selection of the chairman or other members of the Prasar Bharati board since this is being handled by an independent panel of three eminent personalities, according to information and broadcasting minister Sushma Swaraj.

The minister also justified the issuance of the ordinance seeking to restore the Prasar Bharati Act of 1990 on the ground that the fate of over 40,000 employees and the assets worth Rs 800 billion hung in the balance.

Speaking at a seminar in New Delhi on Sunday, Swaraj said the ordinance had to be brought forward since the last ordinance brought in by the then information and broadcasting minister S Jaipal Reddy in October last year had sought to change the basic structure of the original act through six major changes. Furthermore, she said that the ordinance which was never ratified by Parliament had amended an act which had been passed by both Houses of Parliament and also received Presidential assent.

Referring to allegations levelled at her in the media and by various quarters that the ordinance was only aimed at removing a certain individual, the minister said that it ''appears that the individual had been chosen before the ordinance was promulgated by Reddy removing the maximum age limit for the member (executive).''

She also said the restoration of the 22-member committee of members of Parliament through the ordinance promulgated by her last month meant restoration of ''autonomy with accountability'', while bringing back the Broadcasting Council was necessary as it was a complaints redressal body which could make the people feel that Prasar Bharati was their medium. Similarly, it was important for Prasar Bharati to have permanent member (finance) and member (personnel).

The minister also denied the charge that she had tried to bypass the Rajya Sabha where the ruling alliance is in a minority. She alleged that the passing of the Prasar Bharati (Amendment) Bill -- introduced as early as July 21 -- was delayed because ''Jaipal Reddy's people'' in the Business Advisory Committee wanted the bill to be sent to the standing committee as they did not want to discuss it.

Ultimately, the bill was passed in the Lok Sabha late on July 30 and there was not enough time to send it to the other House. On the allegation that she deliberately ignored the Opposition's demand in the Rajya Sabha that they could sit for extra days to discuss the bill, the minister retorted that the government had the prerogative over government business and she was not obliged to heed an Opposition which first scuttled the bill in the Lok Sabha and then offered to sit extra days in the Rajya Sabha.

Swaraj did not think the facility granted to Indian satellite television channels with a maximum of 20 per cent foreign equity would affect Doordarshan which already had a much larger coverage.

She said in response to other speakers that the aim was ultimately to turn ''broadcasting'' to ''narrowcasting'' so that the local aspirations can also be reflected in the programmes of All India Radio and Doordarshan.

UNI