Joshi okays Kejriwal as Nehru museum chief

NEW DELHI, MARCH 22: With Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Murli Manohar Joshi clearing the name of Prasar Bharati Acting Chief Executive Officer O P Kejriwal as director of the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library (NMML), the functioning of Doordarshan and All India Radio are likely to be entrusted to Engineering-in-Chiefs B K De and H M Joshi, with the remote control firmly in Information & Broadcasting Minister Pramod Mahajan’s hands.The HRD Ministry has prepared a note for the Appointments Committee of Cabinet (ACC), which has to give its final approval. Kejriwal’s name is understood to have been part of the three-member panel list sent by the NMML trust, the other two being that of former Jamia Millia Islamia vice-chancellor Mushir-ul Hassan (though he had quit the NMML society, the resignation wasn’t accepted) and Jawaharlal Nehru University Russian scholar Madhavan Palat.

Kejriwal’s name was strongly recommended by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry, which has been more than happy withhis pliant performance as acting CEO. If his name is cleared by the ACC, he will be the third NMML director, a hotly-contested position that fell vacant more than a year ago.With the position comes the power of forming the selection committee which will decide on awarding more than 30 prestigious Nehru fellowships.

He has been preceded by Nehru specialist B R Nanda and historian Ravindra Kumar, who was director for 17 years. NMML was set up in 1966 as a trust to collect books, newspapers, private papers and photographs relating to Jawaharlal Nehru and other leaders of modern India. Its library focuses on modern Indian history and social sciences. It gets an annual grant of Rs 5 crore from the Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD).

Sonia Gandhi is president of the trust and the committee which decided on the three names comprises chairman N D Tiwari, Abid Hussain (who is also a member of the Prasar Bharati board), H Y Sharada Prasad, A K Damodaran, Secretary (Culture) and the HRD Ministry FinancialAdviser.