PRASAR BHARATI SECRETARIAT BROADCASTING CORPORATION OF INDIA

Minutes of the 109th Meeting of the Prasar Bharati Board held

on Wednesday, the 6th August, 2012 at 2.00 P.M. at Prasar Bharati Secretariat, PTI Building, New Delhi-110001

Present: Smt. Mrinal Pande - Chairperson Shri Jawhar Sircar - Chief Executive Officer Shri Rajiv Takru - Nominated Member Shri A.K. Jain - Member (Finance) Brig. V.A.M. Hussain - Member (Personnel) Shri Suman Dubey - Member, Prasar Bharati Board Shri Vikram Kaushik - Member, Prasar Bharati Board Shri S.K. Barua - Member, Prasar Bharati Board Shri Muzaffar Ali - Member, Prasar Bharati Board Smt. Prema Cariappa - Member, Prasar Bharati Board Shri Tripurari Sharan - DG, Doordarshan Shri L.D. Mandloi - DG, All India Radio Special Invitees Shri S.M. Khan, - DG (News), Doordarshan Shri G. Mohanthy - DG (News), All India Radio Shri R.K. Jain - E-in-C, All India Radio Shri R.K. Sinha - E-in-C, Doordarshan Shri Yuvraj Bajaj - ADG (Engineering), Doordarshan Shri P. Das - DDG (Technical), Prasar Bharati In attendance Shri Dhiranjan Malvey - Officer on Special Duty Ms. Poonam Ahuja - Consultant (CS)

Dr. Sunil Kapoor, Member, Prasar Bharati Board did not attend due to his other preoccupations. He was granted leave of absence.

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Item:1: Confirmation of the minutes of the 108th meeting of the Prasar Bharati Board held on 16th May, 2012

1.1. Regarding the statement made by Member (Finance) in

the course of discussions on agenda No. 5 during 106th Meeting, Chairperson said that she had gone through the minutes as well as the transcript. The minutes, as recorded, are fair enough, but in view of the sensitivities involved, the transcript, which was a verbatim account of what transpired, could be annexed to the minutes of the 106th meeting and the same could be treated as finally confirmed.

The Board also confirmed minutes of the 108th meeting.

Item:2: CEO’s opening remarks and Action Report: Part-A: CEO’s opening remarks:

After confirmation of the minutes, CEO made his opening remarks that are summarized below:-

2.1 Preparation of Agenda Items : Most agenda items

should originate from both the DGs, (or the DGs (News) or the E-in-Cs) based on their problems and proposals, and not prepared only by Prasar Bharati Secretariat. No item should normally be in more than two pages and additional information may form part of the Annexures. DGs and E-in-Cs should send these well in advance, so that the Prasar Bharati Secretariat was able to send them 7 to 10 days in advance. Only supplementary agenda items could be sent subsequently.

2.2 Zonal Coordination Meetings : CEO referred to the six

historic Zonal Coordination meetings that facilitated face to face interaction between Prasar Bharati top brass and field level officials, for the first time, and acquainted both sides with valuable information of field level realities.

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2.3 Look and feel of DD News : A live demonstration of DD

News was given and the Board appreciated discernable improvement in the ‘look and feel’ of the channel. It was decided to engage a reputed professional designer for working on the colour scheme of DD News (and other channels) on the basis of a limited competition. DG, DD and DG (News), DD will take necessary action in this regard and come up with a presentation at the next Board meeting.

2.4 Avoiding repetitions in DD News bulletins :

Expressing his concern over too much repetition of shots and stories on the DD News channel during the day, CEO suggested that news must be updated at least three times during the day by an official of not less than the rank of ADG/Director (News) and the Board approved this.

2.5 Monitoring repetitions in News : He also informed the

Board that Electronic Media Monitoring Committee (EMMC), an entity of the Ministry of I&B, was being entrusted with the task of monitoring such repetitions and cross-channel publicity.

2.6 Enriching AIR Bulletins : About AIR News, CEO said

that present monopoly may not continue for long and AIR news must get ready in advance, to face future competition. He suggested that audio bytes from the field could be used for enriching the bulletins.

2.7 Separate Hindi and English National Channels :CEO

mentioned that, as both DD National and DD News were bilingual in character, this came in the way of giving them a distinct linguistic identity. He suggested that existing terrestrially supported DD National Channel and DD (News) channels could be considered for conversion into completely Hindi channels which would attract the large Hindi-knowing audience who were confused with

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the present bilingual identity. To cater to the needs of English knowing viewers, Prasar Bharati may easily launch two new satellite channels-a General Entertainment Channel and a News Channel which could reach 70% to 75% Indians through Cable & Satellite. It was decided to refer the matter to Channel and Content Review Committee for further deliberations.

2.8 Rural orientation to DTH Platform : It was observed

that the present bouquet of DD Direct Plus, the DTH service of Doordarshan, appeared to lack any distinct character and identity. Members felt that bouquet should have a district orientation towards rural India (where DD’s strength lay) and it should give adequate representation to various regional languages and dialects. The matter may be further discussed in Channel and Content Committee and DG, Doordarshan should come up with specific suggestions, details and implications.

2.9 Use of National Emblem by PB : CEO observed that

while AIR and Doordarshan had distinct logos while, Prasar Bharati, the apex body, had not developed any distinct logo. The term “Corporation” attached to Prasar Bharati further exacerbated the problem and multiple difficulties were being faced at field level, where it was being taxed as a CPSU. He informed that he had already taken up the matter with the Government and had requested for permission to use the national emblem as was being done by many other autonomous bodies like TRAI, CIC, UPSC and EC. The Board accorded its approval to the proposal of CEO.

2.10 Enhancing reach of DD India : While apprising the

Board of the overseas presence of All India Radio and Doordarshan, CEO expressed concern over the extremely limited reach of DD India and its indifferent content. In this context, he referred to his letter to Foreign Secretary and said that technical and other possibilities were being

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explored for really reaching out overseas viewers. It was decided that the matter would be further discussed in the Strategy and Vision Committee (SVC) and professionals be involved in the revamp.

Part-B: Action Taken Report: 2.11 Same language subtitling : Regarding progress on the

matter of Same Language Sub-titling’, DG, Doordarshan informed that he had taken up the matter with the Director General, National Literacy Mission and it was felt that this exercise could be encouraged throughout DD’s reach, in other languages as well.

2.12 Amendments in the Sports Act : The proposed amendments of the Sports Broadcasting Signals (Mandatory Sharing with Prasar Bharati) Act, 2007 was discussed in detail. The Board agreed that henceforth marketing would be done by Prasar Bharati only and not by the Rights Holders. Regarding sharing of revenue, the Board decided that the advertising revenue accrued from Government clients would be fully retained by Prasar Bharati, while revenue earned out of advertisements (other than the Government) should be shared in the ratio 60:40, in favour of Prasar Bharati. Proposal may be moved to the ministry for necessary amendments in the Act/ Rules accordingly.

2.13 Preserving Broadcasting House : Progress regarding

preservation of the heritage Broadcasting House was discussed and the Board expressed concern over the slow progress on the part of the National Culture Fund which was facing hurdles. The Board authorized CEO to identify some other organizations (like INTACH) and adopt a transparent process if National Culture Fund did not deliver. Ms. Shobita Punja could, however, be engaged for supervision of the project in her individual capacity, in view of her expertise and track record.

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2.14 Committee for monitoring refurbishment of Akashvani Bhawan : The Board approved the proposal to constitute a Committee for monitoring the progress and to give suitable advice in the matter of repair, refurbishment and facelift of Akashvani Bhawan. Chairperson declined to be a part of the Committee in view of her other engagements. The Committee will now comprise of CEO, (PB), DG-AIR, CEO (NCF), E-in-C (AIR), Chief Engineer (CCW), Shri K.T. Ravindran, ex-Chairman, DUAC and other names that may be approved by the SVC.

2.15 Accommodation for Board Members : The Board

decided that henceforth, arrangement of accommodation for Board Members who come to Delhi for meetings of the Board and various Committees would be arranged by DG, Doordarshan, preferably in IIC or IHC.

2.16 High Power Committee for checking DPC proposals :

Referring to the constitution of the High Power Committee for screening of DPC proposals (as decided in the 108th Meeting of the Board), CEO informed that Shri Ashok Arora, retired Secretary, DoPT had been identified to chair this Committee. Two retired Additional Secretary level officers are also being identified for this Committee, to screen proposals to give comfort to the Ministry (about proper verification) and help expedite the DPC process and Ministry and Ad Hoc promotions.

2.17 SSC to be involved in Recruitment : Concern was

expressed at the acute shortage of staff and ways and means should be taken to hasten the process of recruitment. CEO informed that PB was requesting the Staff Selection Commission to carry out selection process for critical vacancies of posts having Grade Pay of less than R.4600/-. He said that as the entire process may take around a year, any changes (if at all required in the law) could be taken care of during this period. Delaying the process was hurting the Corporation and Board

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endorsed the action already been taken to request MIB/DoPT to issue necessary directions to Staff Selection Commission to take up PB’s recruitment.

2.18 Posting of Sh. A.V. Shukla on deputation : The Board

was informed that it had received CV of Shri Anand Vardhan Shukla, a Director level IPS Officer, who has experience of administration, particularly in the field of culture. Board felt he may be an asset to the Corporation and may be taken on deputation, at the level of DDG to start with.

2.19 Engaging talented professionals : The Board agreed to

the CEO’s observation that the Corporation was in dire need of highly skilled and talented professionals in various existing and newly emerging disciplines, such as anchors, presenters & moderators, studio/camera techniques, marketing, channel improvement, new media, corporate communications, publicity and promotion, human resource development, financial management, etc., The Board advised that such professionals should be brought, on fixed contract at prevailing market rates (more or less), to ensure that the Corporation got the best talents available.

The Board authorized CEO to hire such professionals up

to a fee of Rs one lakh per month. When the package is over this, the matter will be decided by a Committee to be known as ‘Special Assignments Committee’, comprising of Chairperson, CEO and any two Board Members who may be available from among four, (i.e., Shri Suman Dubey, Shri Muzaffar Ali, Shri S.K. Barua and Ms. Prema Cariappa). DG, All India Radio and DG, Doordarshan would normally propose names, package and deliverables of short-listed professionals to the Committee and consult Engineering and News. DGs (News) or E-in-Cs of AIR and DD, would be invited whenever required. The Search Mode, as for IITs, IIMs, etc., was preferred – to cut down time and be more focused.

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2.20 Regularization of causal workers in J&K : The Board discussed the issue of regularization of casual workers in J & K. Member (Personnel) informed that Parliamentary Committee on Labour has directed MIB and the Corporation to regularize those workers who had worked and contributed substantially towards the functioning of All India Radio and Doordarshan during the peak militancy period and even thereafter, when regular staff members were not available. Nominated Member mentioned that a Committee of three officials had visited Srinagar to examine the matter and it had found that claims of many of the casual workers were not fully substantiated by the available records. CEO and NM mentioned that those were reports of irregularities on the part of officials functioning in AIR and Doordarshan during the period and hence proper verification was essential. Responsibility needed to be fixed even if officers had retired.

Board observed that cases of such casual workers could

be considered on the basis of some screening process to be devised by Member (Personnel), with the approval of Personnel Committee, for determining their length of engagement as casual hands and minimum qualification/ experience. Casual workers could first be considered for regular absorption by following the established selection process, by giving them age relaxation based on their engagement period. They may also be given relaxation in terms of minimum qualification at semi-skilled levels, provided their long experience so justified. Casual hands who do not make the grade after passing through the established process may be allowed to continue on contract basis if they are of high quality and experience on such terms that are equitable.

It not be possible to accommodate all of them in Srinagar

itself and hence they may be deployed outside Srinagar and J&K, depending on availability of posts. It was

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decided that Member (Personnel) would prepare draft recommendations and send it to the government, after getting the approval of the Personnel Committee. It was also decided that report of the Committee of the three officials would be circulated to the Board Members.

2.21 Reviving the critical posts : CEO mentioned that in

2009, the Group of Ministers had identified 3452 vacancies as critical out of approx. 12000 vacancies, as of 2007. As doubt existed whether these 3452 critical posts were still existing, or they had already lapsed in view of various Government orders, the Board recommended to the Government to revive these posts.

2.31 Reviewing the number of critical posts : CEO also

mentioned that the vacancy position had further worsened during the last few years due to retirements and many projects were sanctioned in the 9th, 10th and 11th Plans without sanctioning any manpower. Further, the Corporation required personnel having new skills like marketing, new media etc. The Board asked DG, AIR and DG, DD to work out the number of additional critical posts afresh, after taking into consideration all the above factors and submit the same to Member (Personnel), who would bring it as an agenda item in the next Board meeting.

2.32 Reviewing manpower and managerial structure :

Regarding conducting professional study of the manpower and managerial structure of the Corporation, CEO recalled that an assessment in this regard was carried out by National Productivity Council, but its report had not been accepted. He also recalled the discussion of the Board in the last meeting, for engaging an outside expert body of national and international eminence to carry out such a study. The Board approved and observed that the study should have a much broader scope: to cover various new activities like DTH management, archives management, marketing, new media etc., in addition to organizational structure, functions and effective Management CEO requested Prof. Barua to give his

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inputs for framing the criteria for identifying suitable expert bodies of eminence.

2.33 Adopting CCS (Conduct) Rules and CCS (CCA) Rules :

The Board desired that notification regarding adoption of CCS (Conduct) Rules and CCS (CCA) Rules be expedited. Member (Personnel) was authorized to send draft notifications to the Ministry, after getting them vetted by Shri Rajeev Sharma, Standing Counsel of Prasar Bharati.

Member (Personnel) referred to the decision in the 108th

meeting regarding appointing Station/Kendra heads of the level of STS and above as disciplinary authority in respect of Group ‘C’ and ‘D’ employees and mentioned that due to shortage of staff, many Stations/Kendras were being headed by junior level officers who could not be appointed as such head. He suggested that to remove this difficulty, ADG of the concerned Zone could be empowered to appoint any officer of the STS or higher level within his Zone as disciplinary authority in such cases. The suggestion was agreed to by the Board.

Shri Suman Dubey referred to the decision taken in the

last Board meeting with regard to Appellate Authority in disciplinary proceedings against Group ‘A’ officers and felt that Member (Personnel) and Member (Finance) may be replaced by two Part-time Members, to be nominated by the Board, to impart more objectivity. The Board agreed to the suggestion, subject to legal vetting.

2.34 Disciplinary proceeding against an officer : Member

(Personnel) referred to the amendment in the Prasar Bharati Act empowering the Corporation to initiate disciplinary proceedings and impose major or minor penalties on officers on Deemed Deputation and mentioned that there was a file concerning the case of Ms. Deepa Chandra, ADG, which had gone to the Ministry. It had come back and there was difference of opinion between the PB and Ministry. As the powers were with the Corporation, it was decided that the

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matter be studied by a Committee of two Members to be nominated by the Chairperson, before proceeding further.

2.35 CWG-2010: Arbitration : CEO briefed the Board on the

issue pertaining to CWG-2010. He mentioned that the CBI had decided to close the case against Shri B.S. Lalli, former CEO, as no “criminality” could be attributed but had also felt that arbitration could still continue.

When CEO reiterated that arbitration had exposed PB to

even adverse Orders, Nominated Member said that the arbitration is a civil proceeding and pendency of a criminal investigation/ lodging of an FIR does not under law affect an arbitration based on a contract. After the arbitration notice was received, the matter was examined in consultation with our Advocate and it appeared that this was not sufficient ground to refuse an arbitration. Nominated Member felt that by not responding, PB ran the risk of allowing SIS Live to approach the High Court for appointment of an Arbitrator who otherwise could be appointed by PB and this would expose PB to high risks. CEO’s consistent stand was that by entering into arbitration and by not projecting the criminal and tax/duty case strongly (and the implications thereof), PB now runs the real risk of any Award for any amount that may be imposed on it.

2.36 Selection of classic and award winning films : CEO

referred to the decision of the Channel and Content Review Committee (CCRC) regarding telecast of high quality regional language films on the National Channel (after dubbing or sub-titling them in Hindi, to begin with) and suggested the constitution of a Sub-Committee of the Board to consider and take decisions on this and allied matters. The mandate of the Committee would be to lay down norms for selection and the payment structure of new classics and award winning films, in various languages for telecast based on well reasoned proposals of Doordarshan. The Board authorized CEO to

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constitute the Committee in consultation with the Chairperson and Strategy and Vision Committee may examine it further.

2.37 New Media strategies : The Board expressed concern at

the slow pace of adoption of New Media strategies, through the in-house expertise and proposed engagement of experts for advising Prasar Bharati . The engagement will be done through the Special Assignment Committee (SAC).

2.38 Expansion of DTH Platform : The Board noted that in

the 105th meeting on 5th December, 2011, approval had been given for expansion of Doordarshan’s DTH platform from 59 to 75 channels using 5th transponder. It was further noted that following this decision, DoS had allocated an additional KU transponder to Doordarshan for expansion of its DTH platform. Accordingly, the Board agreed to the recommendations of the Strategy and Vision Committee in its meeting held on 27.06.2012 for expansion of the platform from the existing 59 to 97 channels by utilizing the 6th transponder.

2.39 Engaging experts for publicity and promotion : The

Board took note of the various steps being taken for publicity and promotion of programmes of All India Radio and Doordarshan but advised engagement of one or more Consultants directly, or better-paid Special Assignees through the SAC for professional advice on publicity and promotion, across various media platforms. Chairperson requested the Board Members to suggest suitable names for such engagements.

2.40 Sub-committees for DD Bharati and DD India : The

Board authorized CEO to constitute a Board Sub Committee on DD Bharati and DD India, in consultation with the Chairperson. The Board also approved the engagement of Consultants/ Special Assignee for revamping of DD Bharati and DD India and the Board Members were requested by CEO to suggest suitable names.

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2.41 Appraisal of Archival materials : The Board appreciated the recent initiatives taken in the area of archiving of materials in All India Radio and Doordarshan. It was also noted that there was large quantity of available archival material with local Doordarshan Kendras/AIR Stations and there was an urgent need for appraisal of such material for archival purposes.

2.32.1 In view of this, the Board desired that constitution of

Local Archival Appraisal Committees be set up at various AIR Stations/DD Kendras. DGs were asked to get the panels of suitable names from various AIR stations/DD Kendras and to submit to the Strategy and Vision Committee, after proper screening, for its approval. The Board also agreed to the suggestion to engage a Consultants/Special Assignees, for advising on Archives.

2.42 Transparency in the Corporation : The need to bring in

more transparency in the functioning of the Corporation was emphasized. It was decided that, from now onwards, the gist of the decisions taken by the Board and in meetings should be put on the Prasar Bharati website. Also, information regarding engineering procurements and Committees, assignment of programmes to producers and other important notes should be placed on the website.

2.43 Commissioning for Urdu Channel : The matter

pertaining to commissioning of programmes for Urdu channel was discussed at length. The Board Members took note of the status report placed on the website. Nominated Member observed that 580 proposals were shortlisted on the basis of some administrative benchmarking and in the first phase, approval letters could only be issued on the basis of fund availability and immediate requirement of the channel in various genres.

2.34.1 The Board directed DG, DD to announce the selection of

upto 150 nos., keeping in view its genre-wise

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requirements for six months, based on top marks downwards. This list of first phase approvals should be placed on Doordarshan website during the next seven days. The Board also heard about the Committee’s recommendations of 580 nos., but approved phase-wise selection, on the basis of markings, genre-wise need and funding availability.

2.35 Policy for contractual engagement : The Board

considered the draft Comprehensive Policy for Contractual Engagement and approved in principle. It also authorized Personnel Committee to further fine tune the Policy and take suitable decision on this well-documented exercise.

Item:3: Functioning of the Committees of the Board

The Board took note of the minutes of the meetings of various Committees that took place after 16th May, 2012. Discussions taking place and decisions taken are summarized below:

3.1 TAM issue : The matter pertaining to TAM came up for

elaborate discussions. Members took note of concerns and the allegations of corruption leveled by M/s NDTV, who have filed a case against TAM in a New York court. Even otherwise, there has been question marks over the credibility of TAM, due to the small sample size and its operations being shrouded in secrecy. Nominated Member said that TAM refused to even part with the information relating to 162 towns (having population of more than one lakh), where their people meters were installed in the TV households.

3.1.1 The Board expressed the need for a more credible and

statistically tenable system of viewership measurements. It also felt that because of unreliable viewership data being provided by TAM to the market, revenues of

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Doordarshan was adversely affected and CEO mentioned how DD had hardly made any serious attempt to reverse its fortunes. Board felt that time was most appropriate to intervene and explore possibilities of moving to appropriate legal and quasi legal forums for remedial measures. The Board directed DG, DD to get the matter examined in detail in consultation with the Standing Counsel and requested CEO to be in touch with the Government on this issue, and also authorized him to take all necessary steps. The Board may be kept informed of the developments.

3.2 Local level programming : The Board welcomed the

idea of the pilot project for introduction of ‘Local Level Programming’ in local dialects from identified TV & AIR transmitters and accorded its in-principle approval to it. It was also decided that Shri S.Y. Qureshi, who had introduced narrow-casting on Doordarshan be requested to mentor or chair the Advisory Committee and noted social activists who have insisted on better grass-roots links be also involved with this project. Chairperson and CEO would constitute the Advisory Committee for Content and Operations (ACCO), while the TEC went over the technical feasibility. JS (Broadcasting) who had led the Community Radio programme as well as others with expertise and experience in such communication may be associated with the ACCO.

3.3 TEC meeting : The Board welcomed the constitution of

the Technical Experts Committee (TEC), which included Shri Ajai Chowdhury, Co-founder and ex-Co-chairman of HCL as its Mentor/Adviser. Shri Vikram Kaushik, the Convenor apprised the Board of the proceedings of the 1st and 2nd meetings of this Committee including interactions with Sh. Sam Pitroda in the Planning Commission.

3.3.1 Some of the important points are as follows:-

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• The leadership team of PB needs to look beyond the

day-to-day issues and address some key long term issues. Some of these are: redeployment of resources, especially real estate assets and manpower between DD and AIR.

• The common housing of archives and the Broadcasting Museum should be evaluated, along with common training facilities.

• Technology projects for the future should be prioritised. The relevance and feasibility of HD, 3D etc need critical scrutiny, given the severe constraints of bandwidth.

• A cogent content strategy emerging from the statement of purpose of a public service broadcaster should be developed and presented to the Board.

• Issues relating to convergence should be listed. Opportunities exist in using the 3 screen perspective, i.e, TV, mobile phones and PCs/ tablets.

• Localising set top box manufacture with local CAS and low-cost radio should be key projects to be pursued.

• Programming that includes high quality educational material and matter relating to the development of skills should be areas of focus.

Item:4: Western Music over FM Rainbow India 4.1 The Board took note of the DG, AIR’s statement which

said that duration of western music was to be reduced from 8 hours to 5 hours, due to declining listenership. Slots vacated by western music would be allocated to popular programmes to increase revenue. It was decided that the matter would be further discussed in the Channel and Content Review Committee.

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Item:5: Air-time Marketing in Prasar Bharati 5.1 CEO said that the Corporation needed to strengthen its

marketing network so as to compete in a highly competitive airtime environment. Board decided that marketing of airtime of both AIR and Doordarshan needed to be done jointly and ultimately, marketing activities would have to be evolved into a separate vertical. The Board, that had always insisted on greater professionalization, approved the proposal to engage a Marketing Consultant/Special Assignee for a complete review of the existing marketing activities and to suggest blueprint and plan of action. The Board also approved the hiring of Marketing Executives from the private sector, with built-in-incentives.

Item:6: Mechanism for outside inputs on programmes aired

by All India Radio and Doordarshan 6.1 Guidelines for AIR PACs : The Board considered the

proposal for revisiting the guidelines for re-constitution of Programme Advisory Committees at All India Radio stations and decided that, henceforth, approval of the names of non-official members of the Committees will be done by the Strategy and Vision Committee (SVC). Accordingly, the concerned guidelines would stand amended and DG, AIR was asked to suggest revised guidelines and submit names, in consultation with DG-DD, for approval of Strategy and Vision Committee.

6.2 PACs for Doordarshan : The Board also approved the

proposal for constitution of separate Programme Advisory Committees at Doordarshan Kendras having more than three hours of originated programming. Guidelines for constitution of such Committees would be the same as that of All India Radio mutatis mutandis and DG,

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Doordarshan was asked to take necessary action and propose names to the SVC.

6.3 Viewers and Audience Committee (VAC) : The Board

also approved the proposal for constitution of Viewers and Audience Committee for each Regional Channel of Doordarshan, as contained in the agenda item after broad consultations. Proposal for engagement of Regional Language Coordinators and Regional Language Assistants for assisting the Committees was also approved and DG, Doordarshan was asked to take further action and report to the SVC.

Item:7: Anomaly in pay scale of Full time Members vis a vis

Directors General of AIR and Doordarshan 7.1 The Board approve the proposal for removing the

anomaly in pay scales of Member (Finance) and Member (Personnel) vis a vis Directors General of AIR and Doordarshan and upgrade the Members’ grades to HAG-1. Member (Personnel) was asked to refer the matter to the Ministry for approval and CEO was to also suggest an effective role for 2 Members to supervise AIR & DD, for which they were recruited.

Item:8: Regularization of Temporary Status Workers (TSW)

under DOP&T scheme of 1993 8.1 The agenda item was discussed in detail. CEO observed

that while considering the regularization, care should be taken to ensure that ghost workers were not benefited and only such workers were regularized who were actually coming for duty as must be certified by responsible officer. He also said that after regularization, the concerned persons would be required to be moved to

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the centres where vacancies were available and shifting of posts for accommodating the workers at their existing places of work should be avoided.

8.2 It was decided to authorize the Personnel Committee to take final decision on the matter, keeping in view the observations of CEO and make suitable recommendations to the Government.

Item:9: Annual financial Statement of Prasar Bharati for the

year 2010-11 9.1. The item was discussed in detail. Shri Vikram Kaushik

asked whether earlier concerns of the Board regarding reflection of doubtful debts and contingent liability had been addressed in the Annual Accounts. Nominated Member specifically referred to the communication from the Ministry of I&B on this subject that pointed out specific points regarding the accounts.

9.2 Member (Finance) responded that there were certain

systemic issues with regard to data capture from the two Directorates and field offices and addressing these issues would take quite some time.

9.3 Nominated Member also reiterated that the same

omissions as were found in the accounts of 2009-10 were seen, like arbitration, court cases, doubtful debts, contingent liabilities and tax payments or taxes not being reflected. Member (Finance) said that the list of doubtful debtors that mentioned Rs. 48 crore earlier was closer to Rs. 40 crore to which the Nominated Member said that whatever figure was based on PB record was acceptable.

9.4 Member (Finance) mentioned that he had already taken

steps in this regard and a team of ten persons had been deputed in Doordarshan Commercial Service for compiling records pertaining to debtors including those under arbitration and that the depreciation pointed out

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were part of PB’s legacy and were not specific to any particular year.

9.5 CEO said that the Corporation had promised to the

Government regarding timely submission of Accounts and that CAG was already on the job of auditing the Accounts of 2009-10. Also, the Three Member Expert Committee, chaired by Shri Anupam Kulshreshtha was in the process of preparing the second part of its report that would contain recommendations for bringing in systemic improvements in the financial management.

9.6 CEO was constrained to draw the attention of the Board

once again to the repeated instructions of the Government on delays in the previous year’s accounts that had led to this cumulative delay and problems. He also mentioned that this was not just a threat but that Government had indeed withheld funds. During the first four months of the current financial year, no funding from the Government was received and the Corporation had to manage its affairs out of its own internal resources. Similarly, release of funds from Plan budget was also delayed. There is also directive from the Government to submit audited Annual Accounts for the year 2009-10 and 2010-11 latest by 30th September, 2012, failing which further release of grant might get adversely affected.

9.7 The Board gave its approval to the Annual Accounts, but

reiterated its on-going concern about the poor management of records (which is a long pending defect in the PB system) and subsequent aggregation of accounts and insisted that no stone should be left un-turned to rectify the faults and inject improvements. The Board will be apprised of the aforesaid report of the Expert Committee following its submission.

Item:10: Draft Policy Paper for out of court settlement of

pending arbitration cases of Doordarshan

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10.1 Member (Finance) circulated the draft policy papers

among Members for their perusal and both the CEO and Nominated Member insisted that this problem could not be kept pending indefinitely and need to be resolved at the earliest. CEO was authorized to take appropriate action to finalize the Draft Policy Paper and also send a copy of the present paper to the Ministry for their comments and advice.

Item:11: Procurement of 112 Nos of 500 W (1+1) – Auto Mode LPT from M/s. Arraycom at a total price VHF and UHF of Rs. 37,54,79,717/-

11.1 The Board took note of the approval by CEO of a proposal

for procurement of 112 Nos. of 500W (1+1) – Auto mode LPT (VHF – 83 Nos. + UHF 29 Nos.) from M/s Array com at a total price of Rs.37,54,79,717/- that had been granted in anticipation of the Board’s approval, to maintain the deadline of the bid validity which was 31.7.2012 in this case. CEO also asked both the DGs (and also both the E-in-Cs, who were present in the meeting as ‘special invitees’) to ensure time bound processing of procurement cases, so as to avoid recurrence of such a situation in future.

11.2 Nominated Member referred to the second para of the

agenda item and observed that it was not fair to blame the Ministry for delay in processing of engineering procurement proposals and suggested that Prasar Bharati should prepare chronological sequence of events, in respect of delayed procurement cases, in order to understand the bottlenecks. He also suggested introduction of a monitoring system in this regard. Following the observations of the nominated Member, CEO agreed that the ‘offending’ remarks in the agenda would be deleted and should be treated as withdrawn.

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11.3 Member (Finance) mentioned that delays in processing of procurement cases were taking place due to delays in technical evaluations and also due to inadequately-staffed Finance Wings in the two Directorates. He suggested preparation of a Procurement Manual for the Corporation, which should (inter-alia) define time lines for various stages involved in procurement processes.

11.4 After discussions, the Board resolved as follows:

11.4.1 The Corporation should ensure that the examination of the proposals by all concerned authorities are finalized by at least 4 to 6 weeks before the last date of the expiry of the relevant bid in all future cases.

11.4.2 The decisions of the Board should be communicated

to the concerned officials with the approval of the CEO immediately and without waiting for the issuing of formal minutes.

Item:12: Decision taken by the Finance and Accounts Committee in its meeting held on 25.06.2012, 19.07.2012 and 31.07.2012

12.1 CEO raised the issue of the on-going/approved plan for

DRM Transmitters and other equipments (which was part of the modernization and digitalization programme of AIR, as the receivers were extremely expensive (at Rs. 15,000/- per set) or even more. He had held up this issue for a month or so for taking a wider view of the entire matter in the PBB. During the discussions on the item, Engineer-in-Chief, All India Radio, Shri R.K. Jain (who was attending as a ‘special invitee’) was asked about the relevance and feasibility of DRM technology. E-in-C, AIR responded that it was the latest digital technology and DRM transmitters were replacing the existing Medium and Short Wave transmitters that have outlived their useful life.

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12.1.1 He added that as per current market prices, DRM

receiver sets were prohibitively costly, but manufacturers were claiming that with the passage of time they would fall considerably. He also said that existing listeners would not be put to any disadvantage as conventional receivers would be able to receive signals from these DRM transmitters.

12.1.2 Nominated Member observed that procurements of DRM

transmitter was part of 11th Five Year Plan and it might not be advisable to reconsider the matter at such a late stage.

12.2 DG, AIR expressed the need for expansion of FM network

of All India Radio in view of the proposed expansion of private FM network following phase-3 auctions of frequencies to private players by the Government. CEO observed that a band width of 3.7 MHz was available to All India Radio and therefore it was possible to have three AIR FM bands at nearby locations without interfering with each other in any way. It might be worthwhile to consider the possibility of total FM coverage of the entire country, so that listeners might have the benefit of AIR FM services. This would help popularize AIR’s transmissions through the huge mobile network (estimated at 850 million) in India, which was the most popular form of radio transmission and is available to the poorest sections and remotest corners.

12.3 Nominated Member recalled that the Board, in its 104th

meeting on 6th September, 2011 had allocated Rs.300 crore to AIR from IEBR for expansion of FM service of All India Radio. This was not possible under the present circumstances, but CEO wanted the TEC to study the feasibility of having a parallel FM bands to cover the whole country and work out the cost estimates so that it could be introduced during the 12th Plan.

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12.4 It was decided, therefore, that the matter would be discussed in detail in the next meeting of the Technical Expert Committee in which the Nominated Member would also be invited to participate.

12.5 Concerns were expressed at the deteriorating condition of

INSAT 4-B satellite that might lead to disruption of services in the event of the satellite becoming totally dysfunctional. E-in-C, Doordarshan was asked to prepare a contingency plan for such an eventuality after taking inputs from the Nominated Member. CEO mentioned regarding the offer made by Tata Sky and the letter from the Ministry about the option of a private Satellite, both of which were to be examined by the TEC and the Finance wings of DD and PB (in consultation with the Ministry/ISRO) for the best options available. Shri Vikram Kaushik reiterated CEO’s apprehensions that INSAT 4B (which was permitting DD’s DTH to operate at 50% capacity only at present) may suddenly shut down and that the ISRO Satellite would take more than 30 months to be commissioned even after the fund allocation and fund order were issued, which were not in sight. The danger to the DTH services was thus quite real though ISRO has been insisting that INSAT 4B would not fall, the Board advised CEO and the TEC to explore other alternatives, as well.

12.6 The Board accorded approval to the recommendations

made by the Finance and Accounts Committee, as contained in the agenda item. The approval for procurement of transmitters from M/s Nautel Canada is subject to disposal of a complaint dated 25.07.2012 received from M/s Thomson Broadcast AG for which E-in-C, AIR may take appropriate action.

Item:13: Procurement of SITC of High End Server with

Centralised Storage and Software of 48 Stations

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13.1 After discussions, the Board approved the proposal for procurement of SITC of High End Server with Centralized Storage and Software at 48 locations from M/s Progressive Infra Pvt. Ltd. Noida at a cost of Rs. 27,30,54,320/-

Item:14: Regularization of eligible Casual Artists under the

Regularization Scheme of 1992 & 1994 of Doordarshan

14.1 The agenda item was discussed in detail. CEO observed

that while considering the regularization, care should be taken to ensure that ghost workers were not benefited and only such workers were regularized who were actually coming for worthwhile duty which would have to be certified by responsible officers. He also said that after regularization, the concerned persons would be required to be moved to the centres where vacancies were available and shifting of posts for accommodating the workers at their existing places of work should be avoided.

14.2 It was decided to authorize the Personnel Committee to

take final decision on the matter, keeping in view the observations of CEO and make suitable recommendations to the Government.

Item:15: Modified Assured Career Progression (MACP) 15.1 The Board went over the facts placed in the agenda note

and approved the grant of MACP to the employees of Prasar Bharati in general and to employees in 11 categories covered by Ministry of I & B’s order dated 25.2.1999 in particular and asked Member (Personnel) to take further action in this regard.

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Item:16: Financial Assistance to distinguished artistes of AIR and Doordarshan

16.1 After discussions, the Board approved the proposal for

grant of financial assistance of Rs 10,000/- per month to Mrs. C.E. De Mellow, W/o late Sh. Melville De Mellow, DG, All India Radio was asked to implement it, with immediate effect and issue directions to concerned officials to ensure timely payment every month.

16.2 The Board also asked the Personnel Committee to work

out a fresh scheme of financial assistance to distinguished artistes of AIR and Doordarshan, who were in indigent circumstances, after taking into account the existing schemes of Ministry of Culture, Ministry of I & B, etc. The Personnel Committee would also invite two DGs during discussions on this subject.

Item:17: Status note on recognition of employees association in Prasar Bharati under recognition of Service Association Rules 1993

17.1 Nominated Member said this was a serious matter and

involved possible initiation of contempt of court proceedings as well as potential mala-fides by the concerned people. This needed to be treated very seriously and CEO fully agreed.

17.2 The status report was noted and the Board took serious

view on non-compliance of directions of the Secretariat by certain field level DDOs. It was desired that strict action be initiated against those responsible, as Prasar Bharati was failing to comply with Court orders.

Item:18: Issue pertaining to pending payment to be made to

M/s B.R. Films 18.1 DG, Doordarshan observed that payment due to M/s

B.R. Films should not be withheld as default was not by

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him per se, but on the part of the agency that had filed commercial contracts on their behalf and against whom arbitration proceedings were already in progress. In fact, Doordarshan did not even ask M/s B.R. Films to clear the dues during the last 10 years and the issue of receivables from them was raised only recently, while dealing with the issue of the payables to them.

18.2 Member (Finance) said that M/s B.R. Films were also

having joint and several liabilities for any default on the part of the agency engaged by him to deal with Doordarshan.

18.3 It was unanimously felt that the case of M/s B.R. Films

stood on a different footing vis-a-vis various other defaulters, who were both producers and agencies. Also, M/s B.R. Films had a track record of eminence and accordingly, the Board decided that M/s B.R. Films be considered by Doordarshan for assignment of programme production: as a special case, to improve DD’s software. Issue of payment to be made to them by Doordarshan would be decided subsequently, after an on-going relationships were re-established.

Item:19: Fixing the minimum reserve price for e-auction of

slots to private channels on DD Direct Plus, the DTH platform of Prasar Bharati.

19.1 DG, Doordarshan said that as per the extant practice,

base price for any particular e-auction of slots is determined on the basis of minimum price quoted in the immediately preceding e-auction. This practice has led to escalation of base price in each successive e-auction and reached a level where responses of bidders became either lukewarm or nil. He expressed the need for realistic look at the existing criteria for fixing the base price. Nominated Member mentioned that fixing any price arbitrarily as the base price did not appear justifiable. In

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case, the bench mark price was not attracting bidders, it would be appropriate to try the previous bench mark price. After discussions, the Board decided that the matter be further examined by the Channel and Content Review Committee.

Item:20: Fixation of date for the next Board meeting 20.1 To be decided later. Item:21: Matter pertaining to fresh MoU with Public Service

Broadcasting Trust (PSBT) 21.1 After discussions, the Board decided to enhance the

annual funding to PSBT from Rs 2 crore per annum to Rs 2.50 crore per annum for a period of five years, counted from the date of signing of the new MoU.

21.2 So far as changes proposed by PSBT in the new MoU are

concerned, the Board authorized CEO to take decision. DG, Doordarshan was asked to submit the concerned file to CEO through Member (Finance).

Item:22: Any other item allowed by the Chairperson 22.1 Expanding the TEC : In view of the suggestion of

Member (Finance) to include one more Board Member in the Technical Experts Committee, the Board requested Sh. Muzaffar Ali to be a Member of this Committee and Shri Ali agreed to it. Expansion of FM transmission was also to be part of TEC’s mandate.

22.2 Changes in designations : The matter of change of designation of E-in-C to DG (Engineering) came up. It was decided not to change the designation for the time being.

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22.3. The Board, however, decided that designations of officials

in The Secretariat should be on the same lines as the officials of the same level in the two Directorates, so as to avoid confusions. Accordingly, the new designations in the Secretariat will be as follows:-

Existing Designation New Designation i. Asst. Manager Section Officer ii. Manager Dy. Director iii. Dy. General Manager Director iv. General Manager Dy. Director General v. Sr. General Manager Addl. Director General

‘P & T’ may be renamed as ‘HR’ and training be given top priority.

22.4 Personal staff to be brought on deputation : CEO suggested that to meet the acute shortfall of appropriately skilled personal staff such as Private Secretaries, the Corporation should get them on deputation basis with permissible allowances and the suggestion was approved.

22.5 Prasar Bharati Samman : CEO mentioned that iconic

personalities who had contributed towards building the image and reputation of AIR and Doordarshan and on the regular members of the staff should be duly honoured by bestowing upon them ‘Prasar Bharati Samman’. He requested Board Members to suggest appropriate names and the Board decided that further action in this regard may be taken in the Strategy and Vision Committee.

The meeting ended with vote of thanks to the Chair.

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