CHENNAI : Ever wondered why the audience for All India Radio and Doordarshan is steadily declining? It is not just because private players in TV and radio domains have inched far ahead. The content creators for these two organisations, which are managed by Prasar Bharati, claim they have lost motivation to come up with engaging segments as they are not considered for promotions. These content creators come under the programming cadre, for which the Indian Programming Broadcasting Service posts are allegedly reserved for. However, the Programme Staff Association of AIR and DD claim that the posts are being filled from other government services.
For the post of assistant director, which has 449 IPBS posts, only three from the programming cadre were posted. Only one of the 399 IPBS posts at the deputy director level had gone to a person from the programming cadre and only two of the 30 additional directors- general had been filled from the programming cadre. R Sudarsan, who joined AIR as a transmission assistant in 1989 had received only one promotion in 29 years. “I was made ad hoc programme assistant in 2003, but that has no financial benefits and time served with the ‘ad hoc’ promotion doesn’t count for the next promotion,” said Sudarsan.
The tale of R Shrinivasan, president of Programming Staff Association, is similar. More than 20 years of service has only taken him up one rung of the career ladder. “For the post of additional director-general, 17 years of service in programming and knowledge in arts in culture are required. What would someone who is deputed from the Indian Revenue Service know about programming,” asked Shrinivasan, who is also a convenor of Joint Action Forum (JAF) of programming cadre.
Shashi S Vempati, CEO of Prasar Bharti, was not available for comment. Members of JAF have said that an indefinite fast is on the cards if Prasar Bharati continues to turn down their demands. Interestingly, the post of Member (Personnel) (who is supposed to look into human resources and complaints) in Prasar Bharati has been vacant for the last two years.