Prasar Bharati Act to give autonomy to AIR, DD notified

The central government on Tuesday notified the Prasar Bharati Act, seven years after it was passed by Parliament. The Act provides autonomy to the government-run electronic media, All India Radio and Doordarshan.

Information and Broadcasting Minister S Jaipal Reddy said the Act would be effective from September 15. He said the government needed six weeks to take preparatory steps for the Act's implementation, including setting up a selection committee to appoint the chairman and other members of the Prasar Bharati Board.

While the vice-president and the Press Council of India chairman are ex-officio members of the three-member selection committee, one more member is to be named by the President, Reddy said.

The minister made the surprise announcement about the Act's notification while addressing the Indian Language Newspapers Association.

Reddy said though there were demands for changes in the Prasar Bharati Act, there was no need to keep it in cold storage. It had become necessary to ''emancipate'' Doordarshan and All India Radio from government control as these organisations, despite their excellent work, enjoyed little credibility, he said.

Doordarshan had the largest terrestrial network in the world and now the television network and AIR would enjoy the credibility of any other public broadcaster in the world, the minister added.

The present government, Reddy added, believed in the freedom of media and would do nothing to put fetters on it.

The Prasar Bharati Act was introduced in the Lok Sabha on June 29, 1989 by then information and broadcasting minister P Upendra. It was passed by Parliament in July 1990 and received Presidential assent in September 1990. However, it was not notified as the Congress government, which assumed power soon after, felt the Act needed urgent changes in view of the emergence of satellite television channels in the country.

Sources in the information and broadcasting ministry said the Act was being notified at this stage so as to give time to the Prasar Bharati Corporation to stabilise before the proposed Broadcasting Bill comes into being.

The Broadcasting Bill, which proposes the setting up of an autonomous regulatory authority for all Indian and foreign-owned private electronic media operating in the country, is at present before a parliamentary committee chaired by Sharad Pawar.