The Indian public broadcasting agency Prasar Bharati, also responsible for the Doordarshan and All India Radio (AIR), is in a relentless fight with the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (I&B) over the autonomy granted to it by Parliament. Any scope of pacification doesn’t appear soon as it is unlikely to give up in its fight.
Prasar Bharati chairman A. Surya Prakash criticized the Ministry and held the bureaucrats responsible for the issue. Also, he told The Hindu, “In my view, the bureaucrats in the Ministry have passed several orders which indicate that they have utter contempt for the Prasar Bharati Act. In fact, they behave as if the Act did not exist at all.”
What led to the fight?
The interview came as a first after the crisis erupted between the Ministry and the autonomous body. Issues ranged from the hiring of expensive journalists to the termination of contractual appointments.
The ministry took to act with its new move and withheld the salaries of Prasar Bharati employees and staff. Without naming I&B Minister Smriti Irani, Mr Prakash held that some degree of tension between a government department and an autonomous institute is a sign of vibrant democracy. On February 15, the Prasar Bharati Board, headed by Mr Prakash, had rejected several directives of the Ministry.