Autonomy by quotas

It is a tragedy that the most lasting legacy of the I. K. Gujral Government will be the Prasar Bharati Board. With a median age of 73, this group, comprising a chairman, an executive member and six part-time members, will continue in place for six years. While the Prasar Bharati Act thankfully prevents them from being re-nominated, it is ludicrous that by the time the board retires, its median age will be 79. This, when broadcasting is meant to be a young person8217;s medium, when we are on the brink of a new century and when technology is travelling faster than Bill Gates8217; mind. A media empire with assets amounting to Rs 66,000 crore has been turned into a pensioners8217; paradise and professional expertise has been sacrificed at the altar of personal friendships. But perhaps it was only to be expected. A coalition of 14 parties can do little except cobble together an autonomy by quotas. There is the veteran8217;s quota in Nikhil Chakravartty, who is certainly eminent but perhaps not the best choice for running a business as messy as the electronic media. There is the regulation regional quota filled by Hindi writer Rajendra Yadav and space scientist U. R. Rao. Romila Thapar manages to fill two quotas 8212; woman and Left 8212; while Abid Hussain and A Padmanabhan keep the bureaucracy8217;s hopes of retirement benefits alive. B. G. Verghese and S. S. Gill are the only members who deserve to be on a board that will run an enterprise controlling 1,000 television transmitters and 120 radio stations. But doesn8217;t the audience 300 million homes in the case of Doordarshan and 99 per cent of the population in the case of Akashvani 8212; deserve any better?

In fact, Information and Broadcasting Minister S. Jaipal Reddy8217;s parting kick to Mandi House and Akashvani Bhavan inhabitants makes one wonder why there is an attempt to keep foreign players out of the broadcasting business, or at least to check them firmly. Nothing would delight Rupert Murdoch and Ted Turner more than the powerful terrestrial network being given away to a group of people who believe 8220;public service broadcasting is not intended to make profits.8221; Even the British Broadcasting Corporation the Minister8217;s inspiration for Prasar Bharati 8212; runs a commercially viable and increasingly visible international news network. And it makes no apologies for it. But with the mindset these eight honourable men and women are likely to bring to their work, we can expect private players to have a field day once terrestrial transmission is laid open for them. Then, even the complacency of being the first and the largest will dissipate.

Broadcasting demands modern managers with evolving visions, men and women who are willing and able to take on market-savvy rivals flush with cash and blessed with political manoeuvrability. What we don8217;t need is a board whose members, though committed and people of integrity, don8217;t necessarily qualify to compete in a game where rules are being made by the Murdochs and Turners and their carpetbagger executives. Instead of trying to keep pace with his own wayward deadlines, if the Minister had devoted more time and thought to a board that will govern the nation8217;s largest network till 2003, autonomy would not have become synonymous with senior citizenry.