11 study groups to examine Prasar Bharati functioning

"The working groups would submit a white paper on eleven subjects within 30 to 60 days," Piroda told reporters here after the first meeting of the expert committee on Prasar Bharati.

A website will be created where people can also make suggestions, he added.

Among the groups that the committee has constituted, one would work on aspects related to the Prasar Bharati-government relationship.

There have been instances in the past where various quarters, including I&B Minister Manish Tewari, have raised the need to re-examine the relationship between the government and the national broadcaster.

The second working group that has been set up today would look into matters related to technology. Officials said it had been felt that the national broadcaster had often been unable to keep pace with latest developments.

Three other groups constituted would look into matters related to finance, business development and organisation and human resource issues. The sixth group would examine programming and content-related issues.

Experts in one of the working group would brainstorm on the policy related to archives of Doordarshan and All India Radio. Officials said Prasar Bharati is sitting on a goldmine of archival material and there was a need to bring an archival management of international-level.

The eighth working group would try to come up with a plan to ensure global presence of Doordarshan while other working groups would focus on presence on social media, creation of a regulatory mechanism and competitive analysis. (More)