Showing the door

Now that the government has decided to retire Hindi writer Rajendra Yadav and ancient India historian Romila Thapar from the Prasar Bharati board, the curtain has finally come down on a long and bitter struggle between the board and the BJP-led government, in its two avatars. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting believes it has paved the way for a restructuring of Prasar Bharati along professional lines but Yadav and Thapar8217;s supporters are of the view that this is part of the BJP8217;s hidden agenda whereby the party will capture all culturally significant institutions. Either way, now the task at hand for the Minister for Information and Broadcasting Arun Jaitley should be to fully constitute the board, which would be just the beginning for the organisation8217;s autonomous functioning. Though the Prasar Bharati Act was notified in November 1997, that too with an ordinance by S. Jaipal Reddy, which altered both the age and the two-term provisions, it has never really been allowed to function.

First thechairman Nikhil Chakravartty fell grievously ill and then Surrindar Singh Gill, the CEO, didn8217;t quite get along with Reddy8217;s successor Sushma Swaraj. Then A. Padmanabha quit to become governor. Then Reddy8217;s ordinance lapsed and Gill was ousted, not without a fight. That left Sushma Swaraj to issue yet another ordinance, in another blaze of publicity, as she couldn8217;t get the Prasar Bharati Act passed in the Rajya Sabha. With such a chequered history, it would have been fitting for the board to have at least acquired a duly appointed CEO, especially since a committee for his/her selection has been in existence for over a year, and comprises Vice-President Krishna Kant, Press Council Chairman Justice retd P.B. Sawant and senior journalist T. V. R. Shenoy. But no. This is the second ad hoc CEO after Gill O.P. Kejriwal, who acted as CEO for less than a year, has since gone on to become director of the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, his place taken by Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Information andBroadcasting Rajeeva Ratna Shah.

Having questioned the qualifications, professionalism and contribution of these two board members, the minister plans to use this opportunity as a 8220;cleansing exercise8221;. How he will go about professionalising and restructuring Prasar Bharati will be closely watched. He has aired thoughts about appointing a three-member committee of television professionals and advertising consultants to make DD and AIR market leaders. He also has good ideas on how the terrestrial monopoly of DD does not mean anything if DD is not seen for more than a few hours in most areas. He has already talked at length of the growth of cable television. When Thapar and Yadav want to know about the process by which they were retired, perhaps he will not feel the need to reply, his argument being that one set of political appointees cannot be considered palatable just because their ideology is the right colour. But much will depend now on who the government appoints in their place. And what it does withthem. For, on that will depend the future of national radio and television, which given the number of private tenders for FM and the growth in ad revenue of private TV networks, does not appear excessively bright.