Prasar Bharati

Prasar Bharati is India's largest public broadcaster. It is an autonomous corporation of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India and comprises Doordarshan television network and All India Radio. Prasar Bharati was established on November 23, 1997 following a demand that the government owned broadcasters in India should be given autonomy like those in many other countries. The Parliament of India passed an Act to grant this autonomy in 1990, but it was not enacted until September 15, 1997. Baljeet Singh Lalli is the current chairman of Prasar Bharati and Brijeshwar Singh is the current CEO. Singh is also the DG of All India Radio. It is right now working with Nokia to make a DVB-H system for the whole country and metros should be able to use the service in May 2007. Prasar Bharti on being granted the status of autonomy gave the benefits of its becoming a corporation to two of its three cadres; namely Engineering, Programme while the Administrative cadre is still begging for pay parity. The pay of Engineering and Programme staff were upgraded but even the use of RTI has not deterred the CEO Prasar Bharti who in cahoots with the Government has decided to declare Prasar Bharti as a sick unit. Transmitters which other developed countries have declared as outdated are being purchased by Prasar Bharti for reasons unknown. New Transmitters are being ordered and plans for purchase of digital transmitters are already on paper.