Recent updates(Full text of the discussion in Rajysabha on 08-12-2011 about Prasar Bharati amendment bill 2010 )
joseph martin
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Text of the discussion in Rajysabha on 08-12-2011 about Prasar Bharati amendment bill 2010 |
The Prasar Bharati (Broadcasting Corporation of India) Amendment Bill, 2010
THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF INFORMATION AND BROADCASTING (SHRI CHOUDHURY MOHAN JATUA) : Sir, I move:
"That the Bill further to amend the Prasar Bharati (Broadcasting Corporation of India) Act, 1990, be taken into consideration."
SHRI TARUN VIJAY: The Prasar Bharati (Broadcasting Corporation of India) Amendment Bill, 2010 deals with a very important subject. The numbers of employees in the Prasar Bharati is 38,000 and there are 20 employees associations in it and 12,000 posts are vacant over there. The employees associations are not satisfied with the functioning of the Prasar Bharati and they are demanding its dissolution. The instances of irregularities and corruptions owing to the autonomous functioning of the Prasar Bharati have been reported by the Central Vigilance Commission. It has brought down the credibility of the Prasar Bharati in the country. It has become such government machinery whose most of the programmes are focused on the cities only.
The Doordarshan had the complete telecast right of the T-20 World Cup Matches. But it did not telecast the matches which caused losses worth of crores of rupees to the Doordarshan. The persons who are appointed in the Doordarshan should be neutral, independent and autonomous and they should not act at the behest of any political party or political ideology. I am very said to say that no special plan or programmes about the tribal areas or eastern areas and the areas like Ladakh are being conceptualised in the Prasar Bharati.
I would like to give some suggestions regarding the Prasar Bharati. The steps should be taken in the direction of making Prasar Bharati a fully autonomous body on the lines of the Election Commission of India. The employees should be allowed to determine the programmes independently. They should not be affiliated to any political ideology. It should act like an institution which expresses the sentiments of masses. If it limits itself with only some sections of people or some regions, it would violate its very objective and becomes a redundant institution. The programmes of Prasar Bharati should have quality and they should also express discontentment and disagreements of Indian people. It is being run from the revenue collected from the people and it should be answerable to them only, not to any political party or any special government institution. It should express the sentiments of entire region without any ideological bias or apartheid.
You should, at least, follow the views of Pandit Nehru and accord actual independence and autonomy to Prasar Bharti. You will have to answer the future generations as to what kind of institutes you have constituted. The colleagues of treasury benches talk about the controlled democracy. That controlled democracy reflects in Prasar Bharti. On the one hand you say that we will make Prasar Bharti an autonomous, democratic, independent, secular organization and on the other hand, you try to pressurize the persons having different ideology. If we will make Prasar Bharti a strict and controlled organization, its main purpose will be defeated. It is beyond party politics. Prasar Bharti should be an institute giving voice to every person of India. Besides, a self-mechanism should be prepared so as to make it unblemished. Only then, Prasar Bharti would be able to discharge its duties in real terms.
SHRI SHANTARAM NAIK: I support the Prasar Bharti (Broadcasting Corporation of India) Amendment Bill, 2010 because at present there is no other alternative than to make certain amendments and somehow bring the Prasar Bharti on track. The law enacted during that time was a good law but in the implementation of that legislation somehow we could not pull on. Therefore, today we are experiencing a very handicapped, ineffective Prasar Bharti.
Goa did not have a full-fledged studio for many years in spite of the fact that it was a laid down policy of the Government of India that in every state capital there shall be a Doordarshan Studio. Till this date we do not have a news bulletin. I had put a question in the House as to what is the status of the news bulletin? Prasar Bharti is different and Ministry is different. A reply came from Prasar Bharti which was read out by the Minister. It said that there is no proposal before the Ministry to have a news bulletin.
Presently, the Ministry has no other option than to amend a law to bring in the employees on some sort of stable set up. For twenty years employees have suffered. Their status was not known, whether they are employees of Prasar Bharti or whether they are employees of Doordarshan or AIR? The employees had to go to court. Lakhs of rupees were spent for fifteen years in the courts. Therefore, you have done the right thing to bring some sort of amendment to bring stability in this present scenario.
If today there is any channel which you can rely on, it is Doordarshan. What is happening in the country is shown only by the Doordarshan. There is a feeling that we have no control over what has to be telecast. But, there is a concrete law in this country that lays down the programme code and the advertisement code. Section 16 of the main Act lays down punishment up to two years if any provision of Programme Code or Advertisement Code or any other provision of law is violated. Therefore, appropriate prosecution can be launched if printing material or any electronic material is defamatory or otherwise. Of course, we do not have that much of control over international media like Facebook or Twitter. Today, internet readership is increasing very fast. Therefore, something has to be done in this regard. Ultimately, I agree that you have to wind up Prasar Bharati and take the reins.
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FoPB
JOSEPH MARTIN CJ
http://friendsofprasarbharati.org/