PM Narendra Modi takes ‘avid interest’ in DD, AIR, but both still headless

The new government that took charge in May 2014 was expected to expedite the process but it hasn’t obliged so far. The two organisations, in the meantime, are being run by their respective senior most officials, one of whom is, incidentally, due for retirement this month-end. The senior most Additional Director General (ADG) in AIR Fayyaz Sheheryar has been holding the fort since February 2013 while ADG Vijayalaxmi Chabbra has been officiating as the DG at DD since July. Chabbra is set to retire this month-end and there is no clarity yet about who will succeed her.

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Within DD, DD News, the most influential and controversial of all media units under Prasar Bharati, is also being headed by an interim appointee, while the DG’s post remains vacant. Even on the technical front, the engineer-in-chief of AIR, considered to be the backbone of the broadcast service, is an ad-hoc appointee.

Senior officials at Prasar Bharati said that this is the first time in the history of the organisation that the board is so flimsy and its media units have been run by ad hoc appointees for so long. The officials said the government has been scouting for individuals of its choice to fill these posts but has not been able to zero in on non-controversial names.

It may be recalled that the appointment of A Surya Prakash as the chairman of the board in October last year had created a stir given his association with New Delhi-based think-tank Vivekananda International Foundation, which has close links with the RSS.

“The Modi government has been taking an extraordinary interest in the running of AIR and DD. It, obviously, wants individuals who would not see this so-called interest as violation of the two organisations’ autonomy. The process of identifying such individuals has led to the delay in final appointments,” said a senior official involved in the process of hiring.

Meanwhile, the Prasar Bharati board itself has more than half-a-dozen vacant posts with only the chairman, the CEO and an I&B Ministry representative in position. The posts of member personnel and member finance have been vacant since February last year and only two of the six part-time members are currently on board. Four part-time members had quit immediately after Modi government took charge last year. “Part time members are usually picked by the government. But this government doesn’t seem to have made its mind yet on who it wants on board,” said a senior official.

Surya Prakash said: “All I would like to say is I am very keen to have a fully functional board soon.”