MEETING OF GROUP OF MINISTERS ON PRASAR BHARATI

Morning news bulletins of All India Radio 26/06/2010
Prasar Bharati will set up a separate recruitment board and frame a new recruitment rules by the end of next month. The decision was taken at a meeting of the Group of Ministers, GOM, on Prasar Bharati. Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambica Soni told reporters yesterday in New Delhi that the recruitment rules should get the approval of the Prasar Bharti Board by 31st of July and place them before the finance ministry by the 31st of August. The GoM also decided to amend the Prasar Bharati Act.
प्रसार भारती, अगले महीने के अंत तक कर्मचारियों की भर्ती के लिए एक अलग बोर्ड और नए भर्ती नियम बनाएगा। यह फैसला प्रसार भारती से संबंधित मंत्रिसमूह की बैठक में किया गया। सूचना और प्रसारण मंत्री अंबिका सोनी ने नई दिल्ली में पत्रकारों को बताया कि मंत्रिसमूह ने प्रसार भारती और सूचना और प्रसारण मंत्रालय के कर्मचारियों के वेतनमानों में विसंगतियाँ दूर करने के लिए चार सदस्यों की समिति बनाने का भी फैसला कियाहै।                                                                              
ADASA
The Group of Ministers on Prasar Bharati have met yesterday under the headship of the Finance Minister. The I&B Minister Smt Ambika Soni, Mr Jaipal Reddy, Mr Prithviraj Chavhan, Mr Salman Khursheed and Namo narayan Meena were present in the meeting. After discussion on the issues of Pay Anomalies in Prasar Bharati and amendment to the PB Act 1990, it was decided to setup seperate committees to look into the issues. One committee will make a comprehensive study of the amendments needed in the Prasar Bharati Act 1990, while the other will go into anomalies of salaries amongst different categories of employees of the public broadcaster. Details of the committees will be decided later after preliminary papers are prepared by Prasar Bharati. The committee on employees anomalies is likely to be headed by a joint secretary in the ministry. The employees of AIR & DD who were not granted Higher Scales are in a hope that GOM will settle the issue of Pay Parity among different cadres. The decision of setting up of committee made them upset as it may take some more time(?). Any how it is a progress of the employees as the government stepped ahead on Pay anomaly and noted as an issue..

ARTEE

Second meeting of the Hon’ble GoM on Prasar Bharati was held on 17/6/2010, under the chairmanship of Sh. P.Chidambaram, Hon’ble Minister for Home Affairs. Hon’ble Ministers; Smt.Ambika Soni, Sh.S.Jaipal Reddy, Sh. M.Veerappa Moily, Sh. Salman Khurshid, Sh.Prithvi Raj Chouhan & Sh.Namo Narain Meena attended the meeting.

It is learnt that the Hon’ble GoM took the following decisions:

Recruitment Regulations and Service Conditions for all categories of employees and proposal for constitution of the Recruitment Boards will be finalized and placed for the consideration of the Prasar Bharati Board latest by July 31,2010. The Prasar Bharati Board will take a decision on these proposals by August 31,2010.

Prasar Bharati would submit a proposal for filling up essential categories of posts to the Department of Expenditure giving full justification by 9th July 2010. The Department of Expenditure would then process the case in accordance with the decision of the GoM by 23rd July 2010. – it may be noted that Hon’ble GoM, in the meeting held on 16/4/2010, decided that such recruitment will be based on the report of the National Productivity Council (which proposed a very drastic cut on the existing employees)

A committee of four Joint Secretaries (one each from Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Personal, Ministry of I&B and Ministry of Law & Justice) will look into the issues relating to the disparity in pay scales and other related issues for categories of employees that are exclusive to the Ministry of I&B/ Prasar Bharati, arising out of the upgraded pay scales granted to eleven categories of employees of Prasar Bharati as per the decision taken in 1999.

The issues relating to disparities in pay scales of common administrative categories of employees like LDCs, UDCs and other ministerial cadres will not be considered by the committee, as this would have wide ranging implications.

Regarding the Parliamentary Committee on PB and the Broadcasting Council etc the GoM decided that since no substantive amendments have been made in PB Act, Ministry of I&B should have a comprehensive look at the provisions of the PB Act and recommend such amendments as are required to be made in the Act in the developments of last twenty years, subsequent to Shunusen Committee report. These proposals would be finalized by the Ministry of I&B by 30th September 2010 and placed before the GoM.

It is understood that a Cabinet note will be prepared by the Ministry of I&B on the recommendations of the GOM including the timelines as stipulated for action.

Fri, Jun 25 07:35 GoM on Prasar Bharti meets 
New Delhi, Jun 25 (PTI) 
Public broadcaster Prasar Bharati will set up a separate recruitment board and form new recruitment rules by the end of next month. 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. 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.
Soni said that the Ministry has cleared 100 channels for telecast in the DD 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.
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," Soni said.
On the issue of paid news, she said, she has asked for a report from the Press Council which is yet to be received. PTI SPC.
Hindustan Times
Friday, June 18, 2010, 00:42 IST
GoM, Prasar Bharti
New Delhi: The Group of Ministers on Prasar Bharti met here today and discussed issues relating to recruitment and status of officers on duty in the organisation.
The GoM is headed by Union Home Minister P Chidamabaram. Urban Development Minister Jaipal Reddy, Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni and Law Minister Veerappa Moily are the other members.
The Group of Ministers was reconstituted in February this year after the previous GoM had ceased to exist at the end of the tenure of UPA-I.
It met for the first time in April 13 when it cleared the long-pending issue of financial restructuring of the public broadcaster.
The GoM had been constituted to deal with issues of recruitment and status of officers on deputation in the Prasar Bharti.  Fiftyone television news correspondents were appointed on contract by Doordarshan in 1988. Their promotion was, however, opposed by IIS officers. The Central Administrative Tribunal in 2000 directed that they be provided all benefits of the service but this order has been challenged in the Andhra Pradesh High Court. The matter is sub-judice.
Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni has said that the ministry was trying to resolve the issue before the end of current fiscal.
The primary purpose of the separate GoM for Prasar Bharati had arisen about a decade ago to work as a watchdog on the financial aspects of the public broadcaster, which at that time was totally dependent on government funding.
The GoM has also made several recommendations over the years with regard to streamlining the procedure for selection of programmes and ensuring greater transparency in the functioning of the public broadcaster.
Recently, Soni had reiterated that Prasar Bharati should ensure transparency in its dealings, particularly as far as evaluation committees for programmes are concerned.
Apart from the GoM, the functioning of Prasar Bharati is also overseen by the standing committee of MPs on Information Technology and the consultative committee of MPs attached to the ministry.
Govt rules out repeal of Prasar Bharati Act
Indiantelevision
(25 June 2010 8:55 pm)
NEW DELHI: The provisions for setting up a 22-member Committee of Members of Parliament and the Broadcasting Council envisaged in the Prasar Bharati (Broadcasting Corporation of India) Act 1990 are to be repealed as they are deemed unnecessary in view of the Standing Committee of Members of Parliament and the Group of Ministers on Prasar Bharati.
This was one of the recommendations of the Group of Ministers on Prasar Bharati which met here on 17 June and decided to set up a Committee to recommend these and other amendments in the 1990 Act which was promulgated only in 1997.
Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni said today that it was felt that the Committee and the Council had not been set up till date and had in any case been overtaken by other changes including the Standing Committee of MPs.
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.
She 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, she 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.
She had also expressed the hope to Mrinal Pande, the chairperson of Prasar Bharati, that the pubcaster would encourage telecast of award-winning and documentary films.
Govt to set up panels to look into Prasar Bharati issues
17 June 2010 9:30 pm,India television
NEW DELHI: The Group of Ministers (GoM), headed by Home Minister P Chidambaram, have decided to set up two committees to look into the issues related to Prasar Bharati.
One committee will make a comprehensive study of the amendments needed in the Prasar Bharati (Broadcasting Corporation of India) Act 1990, while the other will go into anomalies of salaries amongst different categories of employees of the pubcaster.
Details of the composition of the committees will be decided later after preliminary papers are prepared by Prasar Bharati.
However, Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry sources told indiantelevision.com that the committee on employees anomalies was likely to be headed by a joint secretary in the ministry.
Others present at the two-hour meeting included I&B Minister Ambika Soni, former I&B and presently Urban Development Minister S Jaipal Reddy, Minister of State in the PMO Prithviraj Chauhan, Minister of State for Corporate Affairs Salman Khursheed, and Minister of State for Finance Namo Narayan Meena.Prasar Bharati CEO BS Lalli and Doordarshan director general Aruna Sharma were among the officers present at the meeting.
Press Trust Of India
New Delhi, June 18, 2010
The Group of Ministers on Prasar Bharti met in New Delhi on Friday and discussed issues relating to recruitment and status of officers on duty in the organisation.
The GoM is headed by Union Home Minister P Chidamabaram. Urban Development Minister Jaipal Reddy, Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni and Law Minister Veerappa Moily are the other members.
The Group of Ministers was reconstituted in February this year after the previous GoM had ceased to exist at the end of the tenure of UPA-I.
It met for the first time on April 13 when it cleared the long-pending issue of financial restructuring of the public broadcaster.
The GoM had been constituted to deal with issues of recruitment and status of officers on deputation in the Prasar Bharti.
Fifty one television news correspondents were appointed on contract by Doordarshan in 1988. Their promotion was, however, opposed by IIS officers. The Central Administrative Tribunal in 2000 directed that they be provided all benefits of the service but this order has been challenged in the Andhra Pradesh High Court. The matter is sub-judice.
Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni has said that the ministry was trying to resolve the issue before the end of current fiscal.
The primary purpose of the separate GoM for Prasar Bharati had arisen about a decade ago to work as a watchdog on the financial aspects of the public broadcaster, which at that time was totally dependent on government funding.
The GoM has also made several recommendations over the years with regard to streamlining the procedure for selection of programmes and ensuring greater transparency in the functioning of the public broadcaster.
Recently, Soni had reiterated that Prasar Bharati should ensure transparency in its dealings, particularly as far as evaluation committees for programmes are concerned.
Apart from the GoM, the functioning of Prasar Bharati is also overseen by the standing committee of MPs on Information Technology and the consultative committee of MPs attached to the ministry.
Saturday, June 26, 2010 12:23:55 AM by IANS
New Delhi, June 26 (IANS) The government has cleared the incorporation of up to 100 channels in DD Direct Plus by March 31 next year and 200 channels by December 2011, Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni Friday said.
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, she told media persons at an interaction.
Soni also said her ministry is likely to seek an amendment to the Prasar Bharti Act to remove a provision which called for setting up a committee of parliamentarians to oversee the functioning of the Prasar Bharti Board.
The minister said that there was a feeling that there was no need of another committee since a standing committee already existed.
She said that that group of ministers on Prasar Bharti was looking at the recruitment rules and was likely to give its report by July 31.
On the Broadcasting Services Regulation Bill, she said a task force under the secretary of the information and broadcasting ministry had consulted various stakeholders and would soon finalise its results.
The minister also said that International Film Festival of India
(IFFI) will have a restructured two-tier jury.
Prasar Bharati on staffing issue
(10 March 2010 6:05 pm)
NEW DELHI: Prasar Bharati has been reprimanded for its lethargy in not finalizing recruitment rules and failing to make recruitment in the Indian Broadcasting (Programme) Service started in 1990 to train a separate cadre of employees for All India Radio and Doordarshan.
A Parliamentary Committee in a strongly-worded Action Taken Report has said it is "extremely unhappy with the callous approach of Prasar Bharati" and added that "after having a recruitment holiday of about 20 years, the organisation cannot afford to sink into further lethargy in finalizing recruitment rules."
The Committee viewed the delay seriously and reiterated that the recruitment process should not be delayed any further. All pre-requisites to initiate the process should be completed on a war footing, it added.
The remarks have been made by the Committee on Empowerment of Women which had exactly a year earlier given its report on ‘Working Conditions of women in Prasar Bharati’ and has now expressed regret that action has not been taken on many of the recommendations.
Asking for ‘utmost importance’ to be given to the recommendations, the Action Taken Report says the Government should inform the Committee wherever it finds it difficult to implement any recommendation ‘in letter and spirit, with reasons for non-implementation.
The Committee has refused to accept the view of the Government that there is no need to make a mandatory provision for ensuring presence of more women in the Prasar Bharati Board.
Committee on Empowerment of Women
Rapping Prasar Bharati for the dwindling number of women employees in lower categories, a Parliamentary panel has asked it to take appropriate measures to create more job opportunities for the fairer sex.
The committee also observed that the status of employees of Prasar Bharati was in a state of limbo.
The report — Working Conditions of Women in Prasar Bharati — was tabled in Lok Sabha by the Committee on Empowerment of Women yesterday.
The committee noted that though it is comparatively satisfied with the representation of women in higher posts in both AIR and Doordarshan, they are "quite unhappy" to see their dwindling numbers in lower categories.
"The committee believes there is a strong connection between women in media and the issue empowerment of women. Moreover, it is an accepted fact that women are better communicators than men," the report said.
The panel asked Prasar Bharati to take appropriate measures to create more job opportunities for women and enhance their representation in workforce.
The committee also observed that separate rest rooms for ladies were not available at many AIR and Doordarshan stations and asked Prasar Bharti to promptly address it.
In its reply, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting said recruitment is done in accordance with the policy framed by the Department of Personnel and Training which does not specify a quota for women.
Noting that since inception of Prasar Bharati in 1997, the status of its employees was in a state of limbo, the panel said it could not absolve the government of the delay in taking a final decision on the matter.
The panel said the kind of autonomy which ought to be there was not present in Prasar Bharati and hoped the government and the public broadcaster would move ahead from this point and work in harmony to strengthen the institution.
The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting said it is in the process of making necessary legislation for the implementation of the decision of the GoM on the employees issue.
It said Prasar Bharati has constituted a Task Force for finalization and implementation of the Recruitment Rules already notified by or yet to be notified.
The committee also found that one complaint in AIR and six in Doordarshan were made by women to the Women's Cell and recommended that complaints pertaining to sexual harassment be addressed with "greater sensitivity" and settled without delay without giving any chance to the employees to lose faith in the system.