A 55-year-old senior official (who did not wish to be named) with All India Radio joined its headquarters in New Delhi in 1991 as programme executive. In 2016, his designation changed to assistant director of programmes at the policy division of AIR. But this was an ad hoc promotion. He now has more work to do, but without the additional employee benefits that go with the position. When he retires, he will do so in his original capacity, which is that of a programme executive. "There are people in the organisation who are working on an ad hoc promotion basis for the last 19 years. They should be given regular promotion, and the programme posts should be filled by the relevant programme people. This is what we are demanding," says the officer. People helming Prasar Bharati, the national broadcasting agency, which comprises AIR and Doordarshan Television Network as its media units, are not professionals or trained broadcasters, he says.
He attempts to illustrate the impediments he faces at the smallest level on a day-to-day basis. For example, he says, the sports wing of AIR and Doordarshan TV is managed by a person from the central civil services. "Sometime back, we had a hard time trying to explain to him that both Doordarshan and AIR demand different types of commentary," he rues. "We are public service broadcasters of the country, but people who are planning the programmes are non-professionals," he stresses. This is affecting the standard of programmes and revenue generation is going down, he points out.
The officer is one of the 10,000 programme personnel of All India Radio and Doordarshan who have launched a nationwide peaceful agitation to protest against discriminatory recruitment and promotion practices of Prasar Bharati. They say that senior programme posts in AIR, Doordarshan and the Prasar Bharati Secretariat have been filled since 2012 with people from departments like the Indian Postal Service, Indian Defence Accounts Service, Indian Telecom Service, Central Secretariat Service, Retired Air Force Officers etc. These officers, the protesters say, have been installed "on deputation", even though the Indian Broadcasting Programme Service rules do not provide for “deputation” as a mode of recruitment. The appointments have allegedly been made without following the "prescribed norms of government of India for deputation to senior level posts, which provide for a mandatory consultation with the UPSC", a press note issued by one of the agitating employees says. Gate meetings have been held in various AIR and Doordarshan Kendras across the country, including Delhi where the meeting was held in front of Prasar Bharati headquarters in Copernicus Marg.
Nearly 1,050 posts in the IBPS are currently lying vacant, but officers from the regular programme cadre, who have logged 32 to 35 years of service, are languishing without proper promotions.
Jawhar Sircar, CEO of Prasar Bharati from 2012 to 2016, says the Union ministry of information and broadcasting has been unwilling to delegate its authority to promote, and has been largely incapable of handling such a large number of employees. "During my entire tenure, I had ongoing fight with the I&B. They are unable to manage such a large number. They are the ones who need to promote and they are the ones who need to suspend. Even when Prasar Bharati was formed, I&B did not give this power to them. In 2012-13, we took an initiative with the board, that we shall promote and I&B will ratify...We pleaded, we begged, we did everything on our part to get them promoted, but it just didn't happen, except in ones and twos. There is a legal mandate to create a Prasar Bharati recruitment board. Till today, I&B has killed that proposal," says Sircar.