Pitroda panel favours autonomy to transform Prasar Bharati

The report suggests steps that can be taken to transform Prasar Bharati into a world-class public broadcasting service, on a par with the best in the world and addresses the need for financial and administrative accountability

BestMediaInfo Bureau | Delhi | January 27, 2014

The Expert Committee headed by Sam Pitroda and set up by the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting to review the functioning of Prasar Bharati, has submitted its report after ten months of deliberations. The report has suggested steps that can be taken to transform Prasar Bharati into a world-class public broadcasting service, on a par with the best in the world.

To revitalise Prasar Bharati, the committee has submitted 26 recommendations in the critical areas of Governance and Organisation; Funding; Human Resources; Content; Technology; Archiving; Social Media; and Global Outreach. The committee is of the opinion that transformation of Prasar Bharati must be approached from three primary  levels – the environment it functions in, its internal structure and resources, and a refocus on its primary task, that of providing content of value to citizens.

The recommendations address issues of ?nancial and administrative autonomy of Prasar Bharati to ensure that it is appropriately positioned to execute its role as a genuine public broadcaster; new models of funding to ensure autonomy with due ?nancial accountability; human resource management to ensure efficiency and adequate talent and skill infusion; content creation and management to bring Prasar Bharati at par with global benchmarks; technology interventions in the digital and cable TV operations; archiving DD and AIR's rich content repository, with an eye on monetising; creating social media platforms as well as a global outreach.

Collectively, implementation of these ideas will have a significant impact on the organisation and ensure that is poised to emerge among the best in the field, the panel has said..

The Expert Committee was tasked with reviewing the institutional framework of Prasar Bharati, including its relationship with the government, its continuing role as a public broadcaster and measures needed to ensure technical upgrading of the organisation. To this end, the committee undertook extensive consultations and co-opted a wide range of domain experts by constituting 11 Expert Groups to focus a on a variety of issues related to the public broadcaster. The ?nal recommendations presented in this report are the outcome of these comprehensive deliberations.

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