Panel on Prasar Bharati rejig mulls BBC model

Setting up broadcasting service similar to BBC

A committee, headed by Sam Pitroda, on Friday suggested public broadcaster Prasar Bharati will have to monetise its assets, including its real estate, and involve the private sector in monetising some of its existing infrastructure to generate revenue. The Pitroda committee was set up last year to chart a future for Prasar Bharati.

The committee also recommended setting up of a global broadcaster on the lines of the British Broadcasting Corporation to tap the international broadcasting market. It also said some of its recommendations could be implemented immediately.

“We want Prasar Bharati to become a public broadcaster as compared to a government broadcaster. We need to strike a balance as far as government funding and airing content is concerned,” Pitroda said.

Pitroda gave the report to Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari on Friday. The committee also recommended giving power to Prasar Bharati to frame rules and regulations and hire manpower without going to the government for approval. The broadcaster will now undertake a manpower audit to map its workforce for future.

“The government does need a vehicle to promote its views and we have to take care of that. We can't take funding, have our autonomy and not have a separate independent mechanism for government to promote its own messages and welfare measures,” Pitroda said.

The committee also pointed out that it needed younger staff in the engineering department to keep up with the changing times.

“We have a lot of people and there are a lot of people who are in the 50-55 age groups. There is natural attrition since more than 1,200 people retire very year. We need younger people,” Jawahar Sircar, CEO of Prasar Bharati, said.

Last month, a parliamentary standing committee had said the I&B ministry was not doing much on its advice to review the institutional framework of the public broadcaster in collaboration with the Sam Pitroda committee.

The public broadcaster currently receives a plan fund of Rs 3,500 crore which is routed through the ministry and relations have soured between the ministry and the broadcaster in recent times over issues of interference.

Last year, Prasar Bharati Chairman Jawhar Sircar had shot off a letter to the I&B ministry, seeking lesser interference after the ministry questioned the broadcaster’s plan to start four new channels.

Prasar Bharati currently has offices in more than 2,000 locations in India and the government had last year approved a waiver of Prasar Bharati’s Rs 1,300-crore debt burden.

The committee has also recommended a review of all existing channels and content of Doordarshan and All India radio and has asked for phasing out programs where there is sub-optimal utilization of resources.