Prasar Bharati: Autonomy of Public Service Broadcasting

GS-II | Indian Polity | Governance | Constitutional Bodies and Institutions | Freedom of Speech and Expression | Media

Introduction

• The Modi government came into power in May 2014. At that time, Prakash Javadekar was the Information and Broadcasting Minister. He had made a promise that he would be able to break down “the government’s control” over Prasar Bharati, as well as create an autonomous organization like the BBC.
• The BBC is autonomous in terms of its administration; it has complete freedom regarding what can go into its programs; and it is answerable to Parliament.
• Twelve years after being promised, that promise has yet to be kept. The 138th episode of “Mann Ki Baat”, aired on September 27, 2026, is just another example of how the government continues to use the public airwaves for its personal benefit.

 The BBC Model: Unfulfilled

• Nehru’s Vision (1948): Jawaharlal Nehru told the Constituent Assembly that broadcasting should approximate the British model, the BBC, with a semi-autonomous corporation under the government, with policy controlled by the government but not conducted as a government department.
• Public Service Broadcasting (PSB): Mark Tully, former BBC bureau chief in Delhi, stated that public service broadcasting is not the same as government broadcasting. It rests on two principles: the government must not interfere in the broadcaster’s autonomy, and programmes must not be judged by commercial merit alone.
• Impact of the Emergency: The emergency of 1975 turned All India Radio (AIR) and Doordarshan into tools for the government.
• Prasar Bharati Act: After Indira Gandhi lost, the Janata government had B.G. Verghese suggest how to provide autonomy. The BBC-like plan he recommended became a Bill in 1979, however, it expired. A revised version of the Bill was introduced in 1989 and approved by the President in 1990 as the Prasar Bharati (Broadcasting Corporation of India) Act, 1990. However, the Prasar Bharati Act did not take effect until 1997.
• Purpose of the Legislation: The organization was intended to be an independent, creative, active and adaptable organization, with a strong reputation for reliability, accountable to both the public and parliament.
• Section 12: The main responsibility is to provide public broadcast services for the purpose of informing, educating and entertaining. Section 12(2)(b) states that the corporation must protect citizens’ right to receive free, true and objective information and to deliver a fair and balanced exchange of ideas, including differing opinions from across the spectrum of thought, while refraining from taking a position on an issue or ideology.

Institutional Constraints on Autonomy

• Parliamentary Oversight: Pursuant to Section 13 of the Act, a committee consisting of twenty-two Members of Parliament (MPs) shall be elected by each House and shall provide parliamentary oversight over Prasar Bharati. Since the enactment of this Act, no Government has formed this Committee.
• No Broadcasting Council: The Broadcasting Act requires a Broadcasting Council to hear complaints and monitor for political bias (sections 14 & 15). The Council has not yet been formed, therefore there is no way for the public to address issues related to content on the airwaves.
• Government controls: The board that was supposed to have professional management has now had many of its seats taken over by bureaucratic individuals who are easily manipulated. Ownership of assets and personnel were never turned over to the board and since it does not have its own budget it will always be under the thumb of the ministry.
• Binding Directions: The center can continue to provide direction regarding which programs should or should not be aired under section 23.
• Recruitment Autonomy: The recruitment board’s ability to hire employees without political interference was guaranteed by section ten. However, when Jagadish Upasane was hired as the board’s chairperson in July of 2020, it called into question whether the board would remain independent from the government.
• Workforce imbalance: A 2021 manpower audit showed that nearly half of Prasar Bharati’s total workforce of approximately 25,000 employees were in engineering, compared with slightly more than 10% of the BBC’s total workforce. Content-related employees represented less than 20% of Prasar Bharati’s total workforce, whereas content-related employees represented approximately 70% of the BBC’s total workforce. These data indicate that Prasar Bharati functions as a transmission machine rather than a content-driven, news-driven broadcaster.

Public Service Broadcasting versus Government Broadcasting

• UNESCO Definition (2001): The 2001 definition of UNESCO for public broadcasting is that it is not either commercial or state-run; it has a voice for each and every individual. Prasar Bharati does not meet this standard.
• Public Service Broadcasting Day: The government declared November 12, 2000 as Public Service Broadcasting Day, to commemorate Gandhi’s single broadcast on AIR in 1947 to over two hundred thousand refugees at Kurukshetra. It has now become a symbolic day.
• Editorial freedom: In 2022, even the simple act of having a Christian song performed by students at school, as part of an annual commemorative national broadcast, became controversial when there were attempts to have it removed from the program.
• Social Contract: The broadcaster’s social contract is that they are able to express themselves without restriction; however, they have a responsibility to provide accurate, impartial and independent information to the public from all sources (the market) as well as the government (Ministry).

Judicial Recognition of Broadcasting Autonomy

• Supreme Court Decision (1995): In Secretary, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting v. Cricket Association of Bengal, Justice P.B. Sawant, on behalf of the Supreme Court, stated that airwaves are public property and that the Central Government should create an independent and autonomous public organization to regulate the use of these airwaves.
• Unimplemented Direction: The direction to create an independent, autonomous public agency is yet to be realized.
• Freedom of speech and expression: The Prasar Bharati Bill introduced in 1989 referred to autonomy as a “charter of freedom” within the scope of Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution.

Political Will and Accountability

• Lack of Formal Complaint: The government informed the Lok Sabha in August 2026, that it did not receive any formal complaints from journalists or other media organizations regarding their autonomy over the past year. Although there have been no formal complaints submitted, this does not mean that the government is independent of its control, particularly since the Broadcasting Council has not been formed.
• Chanda Committee: Chanda Committee was established by Indira Gandhi while she served as the Minister of Information & Broadcasting. The Chanda Committee made its final report in 1966 stating that there must be “a psychological change” in how the Government views broadcasting.
• Continuing challenge: Sixty years later, that transformation has yet to occur, and Nehru’s goal of having broadcasting “otherwise not operated as a government agency” still remains a dream.

Way Forward

• Constitute the parliamentary committee: The parliamentary committee provided for under section 13 of this Act shall be established to supervise Prasar Bharati on behalf of Parliament.
• Professionalise the Board: rebuild the Board as a professional body and move employees/assets so that they may function independently.
• Create the Regulatory Council of Broadcasting: Create the regulatory council created by the Act to receive complaints and protect political neutrality.
• Ensure financial independence: Create a plan for financing that is independent of government control to ensure the Board does not continue to rely on the Ministry.
• Remove operational control: Remove operations in reference to the Indian Information Service (IIS) Officers.
• Amend the Prasar Bharati Act: Wherever there are holes in the 1990 Act due to practices that have revealed them.
• Judicial enforcement: In case of need, approach the courts to ensure compliance with the Act and the Supreme Court’s decision in the Cricket Association of Bengal case.
• Ensure Political Will: Create a transformation of how governments deal with public broadcasting. Ensure that public broadcasting is not simply criticized by politicians when they are out of office, but then ignored once they take office.

 Conclusion

• Public broadcasting is not state-run; rather Prasar Bharati should operate as an independent public service broadcaster that protects citizens’ right to receive free, accurate and unbiased information.
• To achieve this goal, a parliamentary committee should be created, the Board professionally restructured, the Broadcasting Council established and funding provided independently of government controls.
• It will ultimately take political commitment to transition Prasar Bharati from a government tool into a true public service broadcaster.

UPSC Mains Practice Question

Q. “Public broadcasting is not the same as government broadcasting.” Discuss in the context of Prasar Bharati, examining the institutional constraints on its autonomy and the measures required to make it a genuinely independent public service broadcaster.

Preparing for UPSC Prelims and Mains? Join our GS Foundation Course to strengthen your Polity, Governance and Current Affairs preparation.