PRASAR
BHARATI: The Status Report
The financial Status of Prasar Bharati is evident from
some of the data provided below;
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| Besides this dismal picture, there are
liabilities to the tune of 1700 Croes. In addition, the Government
assets which are deemed to have been transferred to Prasar Bharati
from 01-04-2000 are also being treated as 'loan in perpetuity' carrying
an interest of 7% per annum. There could be more additional liabilities
in terms of satellite transponder charges, rents, property taxes etc.
Needless to say that Prasar Bharati in its present form is financially
unviable. There have been enough discussions and articles in media
on this issue. Under these circumstances, there can be two options; 1. If With multiplicity of channels Prasar Bharati's becoming an autonomous Corporation has lost its charm and relevance, and if Govt. needs one organ to propagate its developmental schemes amongst its citizens than instead of controlling AIR&DD indirectly, it should own it proudly. After all Govt. is investing thousands of crores on various social sectors. Information is as important as putting up a road or digging a well or providing a house. It is part of infrastructure and should be treated like this by the policy makers. 2. If Parliament, the Apex body so decides that Prasar Bharati should be totally independent from govt., then it should not beg for annual grants. The govt. must ensure full funding on the lines of other models. There are Independent models in our democracy, which do exist and have proven to be so. They are Supreme Court of India, UPSC, Election Commission of India. If Prasar Bharati is desired to be a functional autonomous corporation then it should be made |
a body on these lines simply by making amendment in chapter-3 of
Prasar Bharati act, which probably all the political parties will
support. Despite the confusion over the role and functions of Prasar
Bharati and with a proven financially unviable preposition of the
organization in its current form, Min. of I&B was trying to
dump thousands of employees in the dark by contemplating to ask
the options from them. This was totally undemocratic and would have
put lakhs of family members of such employees in a state of financial
uncertainty. We denounced the move and decided to fight against
this sinister design. To press for the demand, NFADE intensified
its on-going agitational programme by observing satyagrah with relay
hunger strike at Akashwani Bhawan from 2nd to 5th May 2005. The
charter of demands includes; |
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| NFADE : Fight for existence National Federation of Akashvani and Doordarshan Employees which started with the initiative of certain associations is now the powerful body representing almost all the cadres of AIR & Doordarshan. It has the active participation of all, engineers, programmers, administrative staff, group 'D', newscasters, motor drivers, cameramen etc. NFADE came into limelight when a massive rally, a silent march of more than 5000 employees was organized from Mandi House to Jantar Mantar. |
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Silent
march Leading by R.Dasgupta, Chairman, NFADE
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Sh.R.Dasgupta
addressing Silent March
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Sh,C.
Majumdar, MP& GS, CITU addressing the Dharna
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Sh,
Ajay Maken,MP(Congress-I) addressing the Dharna
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| NFADE has received support from eminent personalities
such as Sh.Chittabrato Majumdar (MP & General Secretary, CITU),
Sh. Gurudas Dasgupta (MP & General Secretary, AITUC), Sh.Deepankar
Mukherjee (MP & Secretary CITU), Sh. Nilotpal Basu, MP [CPI(M)],
Sh. Ajay Makhan, MP (Con I), , Sh.D. Raja (CPI). The Parliament March on 16th December 2005 was really the show of strength of the Unity of employees in AIR &DD. The Parliament March was addressed by Sh. Gurudas Dasgupta and Sh Achinta Sinha (Joint Platform of Action, Central Govt & Associated employees Associations) and leaders of NFADE. Thereafter Sh.Gurudas Dasgupta has taken representative of NFADE to Dr. Manmohan Singh, Hon'ble Prime Minister of India. Hon'ble Prime Minister has given a sympathetic hearing to the problems of Employees and assured to discuss the matter with the concerned Ministries. |
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Parlament
March by NFADE on 16 Dec 2004
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Gurudas
Dasgupta,MP &GS,AITUC addressing the march
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| The recent judgement of Hon'ble Supreme Court directing
Prasar Bharati to operate section 11 of Prasar Bharati act, which
deals with seeking the options from the employees came as a shock
eroded the sleep of employees. Prasar Bharati and Ministry swung into
action to anyhow finalize the recruitment rules and service conditions
for the employees. Employees were given to understand that the RRs
and Service Conditions will be finalized by the 1st week of May and
they may be asked to exercise their option very soon. Hectic lengthy
meetings were organized by the Administration with various Associations
to persuade them to agree to the RRs and Service Conditions. While
doing so, particularly in case of RRs the aspirations of the employees
were totally ignored and unilateral reports were submitted to Prasar
Bharati/Ministry on the pretext that the finalized recommendations
are to be handed over to the Solicitor General of India in the first
week of May. Turning point came on 30th April, 2005. On that Saturday, all the Associations were called in presence of full time Prasar Bharati Board members and senior officers of AIR & DD. The representatives of the Associations were made under tremendous pressure to accept these unilateral RRs. However, the unity of the Associations turned the table around. All these unilateral RRs were unanimously rejected. The Administration was told in clear terms that any such move is completely unacceptable to all of us and will be opposed tooth to nail. While discussing the service conditions, Prasar Bharati Management remarked that they are not enough financial footing to give the legitimate perks and allowances which has been recommended by the Committee appointed by themselves. This shook all the Associations representatives who stood united in saying that if Prasar Bhrati can afford to have free DTH, dedicated channels for Parliament coverage, financially unviable social programming etc., it has to guarantee us the legitimate minimum perks and allowances which are already prevailing in various public sectors. They were told that Prasar Bharati is better than Navratnas. It is not earning because of the policies of the government. It was emphasized that Prasar Bharati has got no right to ask for the options from its employees if it has got no money to pay them. The financial viability of Prasar Bharati is to be ascertained before asking any options. The Management had no answers and was speechless. In the end, CEO said that if there cannot be any middle path, the only solution is to go back to the Government. Are we all prepared for this? The staff representatives unanimously said that if Prasar Bharati has no money to pay us as per genuine aspirations there cannot be any alternative. The meeting ended and this was a major victory of solidatory. NFADE decided to fight the battle on all fronts. We decided to move a writ petition in the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India to present the actual picture of Prasar Bharati. The writ emphasizes on the hollow financial status of Prasar Bharati. It throws light on various aspects with facts and figures to establish that in present form, Prasar Bhrati is totally financially unviable and thus does not have right to ask for the option. Dedicated team of NFADE leaders spent hours day and night to give a shape to this exhaustive document. One major requirement for the court case is finance.
It is estimated to cost between 3 to 5 lacs. Dedicated voluntaries have started the collection. The minimum requested donation from Group 'A' and 'B' is Rs. 100/- and from Group 'C' and 'D" is Rs. 50/-. Encouraging results have started flowing in, people contributing as much as Rs. 500/- but the drive needs to be continued and strengthened. NFADE underwent a successful agitational programme of Hunger Strike at Akashvani Bhawan from 2nd to 5th May 2005 wherein several voluntaries including many ladies participated. This unified show of strength compelled the government to bow down and our Minister Sh. Jaipal Reddy came personally to the agitation point to make certain announcements. |
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Appeal to the members
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| Recent Supreme Court directive has created such a situation that
options may be asked from us, the govt. employees serving in AIR &
DD to join Prasar Bharati or otherwise. Draft service conditions have
already been formulated in concurrence with the Federation and representatives
of other Associations. Same is pending with the board for approval.
We wish that there'll not be any tempering with the proposed service
conditions, whereas RRs are being framed in most hurried manner and
our apprehension is that options may be asked shortly. We all know that Prasar Bharati is running under losses and is financially totally unviable. Are we all being dumped to this financially unviable body with uncertain future, even pay and pension for employees are doubtful. NFADE, the umbrella body constituting almost all major Associations (list attached) has vowed to oppose this move on all fronts. It has decided to move in to Supreme Court to protect our interest, the petition will have to be filed within a week. As funds are needed for this, NFADE has unanimously decided to collect at least Rs.100 from Gr A&B and Rs. 50 from Gr. C&D employees. Many friends have even contributed Rs 500 for the cause. We appeal to you all to donate generously and support your Associations. You are also requested to immediately form a Unit Coordination Committee of NFADE in your office comprising of two representatives from each constituents of the Federation. The members of the committee will elect among themselves the following office bearers; 1. One Unit Coordinator. 2. One Joint Coordinator |
3. One Unit Secretary, 4. One Assistant Unit Secretary and 5. One Unit Treasurer. Similarly State Coordination Committee of NFADE should be formed in every state, with headquarter at the Capital of the State, comprising of two representatives from each constituents of the Federation. The members of the committee will elect among themselves the following office bearers; 1 One State Coordinator. 2. Two Joint Coordinators 3. One State Secretary, 4. One Assistant State Secretary and 5. One State Treasurer. Zonal Coordination Committee of the Federation will be formed in all the six administrative zones i.e. East, West, North, South, Central and North-East with headquarters at Kolkata, Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Lucknow and Guwahati respectively. The Zonal Committee will be comprised of two representatives from each constituents of the Federation. The members of the committee will elect among themselves the following office bearers; 1 One Zonal Convener. 2. Two Joint Conveners, 3. One Zonal Secretary, 4. Two Assistant Zonal Secretaries and 5. One Zonal Treasurer. You are further requested to intimate email address & phone no. of the unit/State Coordinator and the Zonal Convenor at nfadeairdd@yahoo.co.in |
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 (Sangam Thakur) Secretary General Ph: 9891118363 |
 (R. Dasgupta) Chairman Ph: 9811251072 |
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| The Demand Drafts may be drawn in favour of " National Federation of Akashvani & Doordarshan Employees" payable at Delhi | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Constituents of NFADE
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| 1. Association of Radio&Television Engineering Employees (ARTEE) 2. AIR & DD Administrative Staff Association (ADASA) 3. Programme Staff Association of AIR&DD (PSA) 4. AIR & DD Technical Employees Association (ADTEA) 5. AIR&DD Engineers Association (ADEA) 6. Akhil Bharatiya Akashvani Gr.D Karmachari Sangh 7. AIR&DD Motor Drivers Association 8. AIR&DD Stenographers Association 9. Doordarshan Group D Union 10. AIR Newscasters Association 11. Akashvani Announcers Association 12. Doordarshan Programme Producers Association |
13. Doordarshan Programme Professionals Union 14. AIR CCW Employees Union 15. JE Association CCW, AIR 16. Association of Engineering Staff(E) of CCW 17. Audience Research Employees Association 18. DD News Professionals Forum 19. Akashvani Rajyabhasha Staff Association 20. Akashvani & Doordarshan Library Staff Association 21. Doordarshan Cameraman's Welfare Association 22. Broadcasting Musicians Association of AIR 23. Carpenters & Painters Employees Association, Akashvani &Doordarshan Kendra. |
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| We appreciate the efforts by the Orissa state committee of NFADE under the co-ordinator ship of Sh.B.B.Das for the formation of NFADE units in most of the stations in Orissa. We hope that other States and Zones will follow the same. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
