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indiantelevision.com Team
NEW DELHI: The Sam Pitroda Committee set up to review the working of Prasar Bharati on Tuesday set up eleven groups to work on various issues including the pubcaster?s relationship with the government.
The groups were set up after the first meeting of the committee. Pitroda later told reporters that the groups would report in a maximum of two months and the committee hoped to wind up its work in four to six months.
The groups are on Prasar Bharati-Government relationship; Technology and choices; Business Development; Finance; Organisation and Human Resources; Programming and Content; Archiving; Global Initiatives; Social media (for delivery platforms); Regulatory Mechanisms; and Competitive Analysis.
Pitroda expressed hope that the recommendations of the committee will be implemented. He was commenting on an observation by a journalist that recommendations of previous committees had not been implemented.
He said the group on archiving will study digitisation, and also monetising the archival material. The group on organisation and human resources would consider filling vacant posts and reduce dependence on casual employees.
He said social media had become a very important tool for spreading messages about Prasar Bharati and this will form an important aspect.
The group on competitive analysis would work on studying how public service broadcasters are managed in other countries.
Pitroda, Advisor to the Prime Minister of India on Public Information Infrastructure and Innovations is the Chairman of the Expert Committee set up by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry for reviewing the institutional frame work of Prasar Bharati.
The seven-member Committee includes retired Prasar Bharati CEO Sircar, IAS officer Asha Swaroop, who had earlier served as secretary in the I&B Ministry; B K Gairola, Mission Director (e-Governance); Shekhar Kapur, a member of the National Innovation Council; Professor M P Gupta of IIT Delhi; and Jitendra Shankar Mathur, additional secretary and nominated member on the Prasar Bharati Board.
The timing of setting up the Committee coincides with the recent announcements of fresh financial packages to the pubcaster, and the Government undertaking to pay salaries of employees who had been employed with the pubcaster as on 5 October 2007.
The Committee will review the status of implementation of the recommendations made by various committees that have undertaken study of Prasar Bharati, like the Sengupta committee of 1996 and the Bakshi and Narayanamurthy committees of 2000 and suggest a road map ahead for enhancing the reach and potential of Prasar Bharati.
It can suggest measures to sustain, strengthen and amplify Prasar Bharati`s role as a Public Broadcaster with special reference to its relationship with Government in the emerging context.
It will also suggest measures to digitize the archival material in the possession of Doordarshan (DD) and All India Radio (AIR) including material from Independence Movement era, and develop enabling infrastructure, in the form of data digitalization systems, data centers and networks etc.
The Committee will suggest ways of using the new media to deliver digital content - both in broadcast mode (DTH) and in a demand-based mode (Free on social media like You-Tube, and on payment through IPTV).
It will work out a strategy for creating a network of domestic and overseas business partners for ensuring wider reach to a worldwide audience including creating an exclusive overseas service.
