NEW DELHI: Employees of All India Radio and Doordarshan have resumed their agitation for repeal of the Prasar Bharati (Broadcasting Corporation of India) Act 1990 on the ground that the experiment has proved financially unviable and the decision to treat employees in service (as on 5 October 2007) as deemed government employees will create different cadres.
To press for their demand, the National Federation of Akashvani and Doordarshan Employees (NFADE) - an umbrella body of 21 associations representing about 38,000 employees – commenced the sixth phase of their agitation with a three-day relay hunger strike on 2 February at Akashvani Bhavan on Parliament Street in the capital.
Addressing the gathering at the lunch hour gate meeting on the occasion, leaders of NFADE including chairman Anilkumar S said the fate of AIR and DD during the last 12 years showed it had become extremely difficult for the employees to work and deliver professional standards. It was emphasised that the objective of Prasar Bharati stated in early 1990s, when there were no broadcasting channels, had become irrelevant today.
At the same time, in a memorandum to Information and Broadcasting minister Ambika Soni, the NFADE has said the aim of the agitation was to retain the national and public service broadcaster with the government.
The memorandum says the decision of 26 September 2008 relating to treating employees working as on 5 October 2007 as on deputation from the government and entitled to all benefits applicable to civil servants would create different cadres which would not be healthy for the organization. It is pointed out that former Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi had promised to bring all employees into the ambit of the government, but this had not been done by the Group of Ministers. Section 11 of the Prasar Bharati Act 1990 is clear that an option would be given to the employees to opt to remain with the broadcaster or go back to the Government.
It is pointed out in the memorandum that there are 454 TV channels including 248 Radio channels (with another 320 waiting for license) in the private network and the public has many options.
The NFADE has said AIR and Doordarshan are unique organizations endowed with the dual role of National as well as Public Service Broadcasters and thereby it is the responsibility of the Government as well as the democracy of this country to ensure their existence. But �Members of the Prasar Bharati Board are least bothered about the divine role of this august organization and they are busy with infighting amongst themselves, thereby created a complete chaos in the organization for the last six to eight months. The tug of war between members of the Prasar Bharati Board has reached such a level that it is affecting the day-to-day functioning of AIR and DD.'
Apart from other things, the NFADE had a day-long hunger strike on 19 January, and plans on 23 February to march to Parliament from Doordarshan Bhawan, Mandi House, New Delhi, and Raj Bhavan March at State Capitals with Lunch Hour Gate meetings at all AIR and DD stations followed by mass Casual Leave on 17 March with Day Long Dharna at all Stations/Kendras
Anil kumar told radioandmusic.com that faced with a large number of private broadcasters, the country needs a national broadcaster under the government and not an autonomous public broadcaster, particular since any public broadcaster cannot survive without the support of the government.
The Act was passed by Parliament in 1990, but notified only from September 1997 after the Supreme Court in February 1995 ruled that airwaves were public property and could not be monopolised.
The judgment as a result of a petition by the Cricket Association of Bengal against the public broadcaster came at a time when Doordarshan and All India Radio were the most dominant broadcasters in the country.
The Supreme Court had directed the Government and Prasar Bharati to take a decision about the fate of the 40,000-odd employees by August 2007 but later allowed more time till October. Following the order of the apex Court, a Committee of Officers had been set up to go into the issue, and has since presented its report to the Group of Ministers attached to Prasar Bharati.