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NEWSNOTES
 U.R.
Rao
The new Prasar Bharati chairman on his agenda for the
board
Q. Which are the areas that you will focus
on as chairman?
A. My
first priority is to constitute the whole board. Secondly, I'd like to
sort out the manpower issue. Right now, Prasar Bharati has no employees-they
are all employees of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry. Thirdly,
the general improvement in programming quality.
Q. To what extent will you stress on the
board's autonomy?
A. Autonomy
is the most important thing. The whole idea of creating Prasar Bharati
is for the sake of autonomy. It cannot and it should not be a government
mouthpiece. Prasar Bharati must be viewed like a constitutional body,
like the Supreme Court, the Chief Election Commissioner and the Union
Public Service Commission. It must be accountable to people through Parliament.
Q. A government notification wanted to retire
you in November 2001.
A.
I never asked for this position. Nor will I have any problem if they take
it away.
Q. How will you combat competition?
A. By
ensuring quality. No other weapon. There is no other way ...
Q. How should programmes on television be?
A.
Our programmes can't be like those on private channels because we are
a public service. However, the programmes cannot be preachy, they have
to be interesting. We talk of the democratic right to information, but
it has to be the right to right information.
Q. How soon will we see a new CEO?
A. They
say we will select someone soon, but this has taken four years.
—Stephen David
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