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Sushma rules out retrenchment in I&B ministry

Swaraj spoke of 'revamping, redeploying and redefining responsibilities and re-energising' the I&B Ministry, which is one of the six ministries for which the Expenditure Reforms Commission has recommended downsizing.

The minister told reporters that the Commission, which had suggested drastic pruning of the staff in the ministry and Prasar Bharati, has made the recommendations by considering the whole ministry as 'one unit'.

She said she had already held consultations with the heads of various media units in her ministry on the issue.

Asked whether she would follow the Finance Minister who had reduced four secretary level posts in his ministry following the recommendations of the Commission, she replied in the negative saying hers was a 'small' ministry having one secretary and three joint secretaries unlike the Finance Ministry, which has 36 joint secretaries.

When told that Zee and Sony TV managed with less than 1000 employees as against 35,000 of Prasar Bharati, she said, "Zee and Sony are mere channels while Doordarshan and All India Radio have a network of hundreds of transmitters and several stations."

Besides, she said the social objective of Prasar Bharati 'cannot be overlooked while looking at other success stories. We cannot look only at the profit motive'.

Replying to another question, she said her ministry had not taken any decision on the Shunu Sen Committee report, which had also suggested downsizing Prasar Bharati.

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Union Budget 2001-02

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