Source: SmartInvastors.in | Manu Balachandran
New Delhi 27 Feb 14
In the last week of January, a committee headed by Sam Pitroda, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's advisor on public information, submitted its report on restructuring the operations of Prasar Bharati, India's public broadcaster. The mandate given to Pitroda almost a year ago was to suggest measures to make the broadcaster profitable and streamline its operations. (Every year, Prasar Bharati's revenues fall short of its expenses by about Rs 500 crore; the shortfall is made good by the government.) However, according to Prasar Bharati officers, the submission of the report was deliberately delayed by more than two months, despite it being ready, so that the current government will not have to implement any of its recommendations because the Election Commission's model code of conduct for the general elections will soon kick in. The general view is that the government doesn't want to give up the captive medium, especially when it needs all possible help for the upcoming elections.
The need to free the broadcaster from the clutches of the government has been felt for long. But the Union information & broadcasting ministry has resisted any such attempt. It even questioned an attempt by Prasar Bharati to convert four Hindi channels of Doordarshan - Lucknow, Jaipur, Patna and Bhopal - into 24-hour channels in order to generate additional revenue. This prompted Prasar Bharati CEO Jawahar Sircar to write to Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari last year. "Is there any serious displeasure in the ministry that Prasar Bharati is reviving these four moribund kendras in the Hindi belt after decades of de facto inactivity and continuous drainage of the public exchequer," wrote an irate Sircar. "[Thus] attempting sincerely to bridge the huge gap or annual loss of Rs 66 crore, trying to optimise utilisation of properties of 56,000 square metre valued at approximately Rs 418 crore, utilising 1,163 employees in these four stations when two studios each were telecasting for 2-3 hours a day?"
It was only recently that Tewari and Sircar patched up.
Read more at http://smartinvestor.business-standard.com/market/Compnews-228983-Compnewsdet-Prasar_Bharati_will_have_to_wait_for_autonomy.htm#.UxAO6uOSyAk
New Delhi 27 Feb 14
In the last week of January, a committee headed by Sam Pitroda, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's advisor on public information, submitted its report on restructuring the operations of Prasar Bharati, India's public broadcaster. The mandate given to Pitroda almost a year ago was to suggest measures to make the broadcaster profitable and streamline its operations. (Every year, Prasar Bharati's revenues fall short of its expenses by about Rs 500 crore; the shortfall is made good by the government.) However, according to Prasar Bharati officers, the submission of the report was deliberately delayed by more than two months, despite it being ready, so that the current government will not have to implement any of its recommendations because the Election Commission's model code of conduct for the general elections will soon kick in. The general view is that the government doesn't want to give up the captive medium, especially when it needs all possible help for the upcoming elections.
The need to free the broadcaster from the clutches of the government has been felt for long. But the Union information & broadcasting ministry has resisted any such attempt. It even questioned an attempt by Prasar Bharati to convert four Hindi channels of Doordarshan - Lucknow, Jaipur, Patna and Bhopal - into 24-hour channels in order to generate additional revenue. This prompted Prasar Bharati CEO Jawahar Sircar to write to Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari last year. "Is there any serious displeasure in the ministry that Prasar Bharati is reviving these four moribund kendras in the Hindi belt after decades of de facto inactivity and continuous drainage of the public exchequer," wrote an irate Sircar. "[Thus] attempting sincerely to bridge the huge gap or annual loss of Rs 66 crore, trying to optimise utilisation of properties of 56,000 square metre valued at approximately Rs 418 crore, utilising 1,163 employees in these four stations when two studios each were telecasting for 2-3 hours a day?"
It was only recently that Tewari and Sircar patched up.
Read more at http://smartinvestor.business-standard.com/market/Compnews-228983-Compnewsdet-Prasar_Bharati_will_have_to_wait_for_autonomy.htm#.UxAO6uOSyAk
No comments:
Post a Comment