Differences between the public broadcaster Prasar Bharati and I & B Ministry seem to continue, with Prasar Bharati CEO Jawhar Sircar saying that he was not consulted on the issue of ‘sacking’ of 100 casual Radio Jockeys (RJ) above 35 years old from two All India Radio stations in Kolkata, earlier this month. This was following a communique from the AIR Director General.
Sircar pointed out that policies framed by the Prasar Bharati are “old and incorrect” and need to be reviewed. He was referring to the issue of Jockeys working at FM Rainbow and FM Gold stations in Kolkata.
He said that he was not consulted on this issue and that the notice should not have been served in the first place. “We are looking into the matter and the policy is under review,” he said even as he clarified that nobody has been sacked.
Nonetheless, the RJ’s would have to clear the voice modulation test as suggested by the Prasar Bharati panel. This is in accordance to a statement from the Prasar Bharati which states, “As a gesture of goodwill of the services of the casual announcers, RJs and anchors, its review panel has decided to subject the RJs — both casual and those aspiring to join the ranks, to a skill test.”
However, the fact is the RJs were recruited over the last two decades after written and voice tests. Sircar stressed that every profession needs skill. “Windows are open and age is never a criteria”. Incidentally, Sircar, soon after the ‘sacked’ RJs’ held a press conference in this connection, had tweeted: “We told the DG not to sack. (This is) some mischief! Policy is under review.”
Earlier, Sircar had written to I & B Ministry hinting towards Government interference in the functioning of the public broadcaster. He even claimed that top executives at Prasar Bharati are not consulted before transferring key officials.
In his letter he wrote, “I hope you will consider this proposal (to keep his agency in the loop) favourably as we do not want to land up in issues, such as the deliberately-edited interview of Shri Modi on the 27th of April, which created such controversy,” I&B Minister Prakash Javadekar, soon after taking over, had assured that Prasar Bharati would be revamped . He had recently told Parliament that it had been asked to apprise the Ministry about the outcome of reports. In his reply, the Minister had further said that the report included recommendation of a study of independent sources of finances of Prasar Bharati.