SAARC is dead, at least for Prasar Bharati

NEW DELHI, APRIL 4: If there was any doubt that the politics of the South Asian region is dead it will be buried when Indian Information Service (IIS) official and current Joint Director, DD News, Akshay Rout, moves all the way to Singapore to report on Dhaka for Doordarshan and All India Radio. With the Islamabad post having been "temporarily transferred" to Brussels (Additional Director General, News, Shakuntala Mahawal is already ensconced there) and the man earmarked for Colombo, Mohan Chandok, yet to join duty (although the order was issued on December 23), it leaves only R S Shukla holding the fort for SAARC in Kathmandu.

The Singapore post was scrapped after Bibekanand Ray returned to Delhi two months ago. It was relocated to Hong Kong apparently to enable better reporting on China. But the man posted to Hong Kong, P John Churchill, Joint Director, DD News, is yet to be relieved of his newsroom duties in New Delhi. The restoration of the Singapore post, apparently to facilitate better news gathering from Australia and New Zealand, has been sanctioned by no less than the Prasar Bharati CEO Rajeeva Ratna Shah and is awaiting the approval of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry.

The absence of reportage from Dhaka does not seem to trouble the newsroom given that Islamabad post, where AIR and DD clearly most need a representative, has been vacant since 1995. While Bibekanand Ray was appointed that year after the return of Suresh Chopra, the Pakistan Government did not grant him a visa because he is a former editor of Sainik Samachar. The same fate awaited Churchill who has served in the Army. The closest reportage one gets from that region now is Dubai, where Ramji Tripathi has been posted.