NEW DELHI: Government will shortly ‘set up a five member board to oversee the functioning of All India Radio and Doordarshan (Indian radio and television network), Information and Broadcasting minister P Upendra announced in Lok Sabha (Lower House).
Introducing a bill to provide for the establishment of a Broadcasting Corporation of India, to be known as “Prasar Bharati”, Upendra said the board will be vested with sufficient authority to ensure that the electronic media presented programs with Bojectivity”.
He said government will also take up comprehensive review of the existing programs of both AIR and doordarshan.
Upendra said the “Prasar Bharati” bill 1989 will be taken up for consideration in May 1990 and thereafter sometime will be consumed in framing the laws.
He expected it will take a year for the establishment of the corporation.
He said the five member committee, to be appointed in the next few days, will be an interim measure to oversee the functioning of the media.
Upendra described the bill, which provides for the establishment of a single corporation for the two electronic media, as “a charter of freedom to be given to the voice of the people”.
Upendra said it fulfills part of the promise of an open government given by the National Front.
Upendra said the intention of the bill is that the corporation should function as a genuinely autonomous body, innovative, dynamic and flexible, with a high degree of credibility. It must function in a democratic manner to enrich our democratic traditions and institutions keeping in mind the traditions, languages and cultures of the country.
Article extracted from this publication >> January 5, 1990
