NEW DELHI: With All India Radio (AIR) facing 8462 vacancies in various categories, the government has granted approval for filling up 1150 posts.

The Government has also granted approval for undertaking recruitment against Group B and C posts through the Staff Selection Commission as a one-time dispensation to fill critical posts expeditiously.

Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari told Parliament that of the 8,462 vacancies, 1,314 are Group A posts while there are 1,596 Group B posts, 3,618 Group C and 1,934 group D posts.

Tewari also said that non-availability of language experts on the permanent rolls for Urdu programmes have affected the quality of the 24-hours programme on AIR.

He clarified that the Urdu services are being managed through engagement of retired personnel and through outsourcing.

He said the shortage of staff had arisen because little fresh recruitment had taken place since the formation of Prasar Bharati in 1997.

In response to another question, he said that casual presenters were being booked by AIR stations on assignment basis for six to seven days.

Earlier this year, a Parliamentary Committee had noted that All India Radio and Doordarshan have a total staff strength of 33,800 against a total sanctioned strength of 48,022, leaving a gap of 14222 posts. The most critically affected areas are the Programme Wing and the News Services Division (AIR)/DD News.

The existing strength in the Programme Wing is just 6108 out of the total sanctioned strength of 10679, leaving the gap of 4571. Similarly, in NSD/News, there are 146 vacancies in the sanctioned strength of 379 with the present strength at 255.

The Committee for Information Technology also regretted that Prasar Bharati had failed to live up to the assurance given by then Prasar Bharati chief executive officer that the Recruitment Boards for Prasar Bharati would be set up by 31 March 2011.

The Committee had been informed that the notification with regard to setting up of Recruitment Board is under inter-Ministerial consultation. The Committee was given to understand that there are still some issues to be resolved between the Ministry/Department of Expenditure and the Department of Personnel.

It is understood that the UPSC and SSC have both refused to select for a non-Governmental organisation, thus creating a new problem for the Ministry/Prasar Bharati.

The proposal for setting up a Prasar Bharati Recruitment Board was approved by Prasar Bharati Board on 21 July 2010 and discussed in the Ministry and a final proposal was referred to the Department of Personnel and Training on 15 February 2011. DOP&T concurred with the proposal in June 2011 and the comments of the Department of Expenditure (DOE) were also received on 28 September last year. The DoE had requested that a separate proposal be formulated for creation of posts for the secretariat of Prasar Bharati Recruitment Board and also requested for drafting of agreement containing terms and conditions of the members of the Board.

This had been done and the proposal sent to DoE in February 2012 and would then be sent to Law Ministry.

MUMBAI: The all new revenue consciousness is making public broadcaster Prasar Bharati to get a bigger share of advertising from the government and public sector undertakings (PSUs) on its channels, Prasar Bharati CEO Jawhar Sircar told Mint newspaper in an interview.

He also said Prasar Bharati needs to sell ad spots on All India Ratio (AIR), DD News and DD main channel separately and for this purpose, repositioning and freshening up of DD News is under way.

The public broadcaster is planning to revamp its marketing channel. It will consists of two additional directors general (DGs) and their teams in Mumbai, where the companies are located. "Currently, roughly half the revenue comes from the marketing wing and the other half from government commercial wing. There are a lot of doables on these two counts," Sircar said.

Sircar also mentioned that recent report by Crisil and NSSO (National Sample Survey Office) shows that the highest consumption is taking place in the rural areas. "Not even our worst rivals can doubt we have complete monopoly in that market, especially in villages with scattered houses. Even in the most difficult places, we have terrestrial transmission."

He also believes that marketing has to relate to reports that come out periodically that rural India spending is higher than urban India. "We are rural India. That nexus has to be drawn."

According to him, there are roughly 10 million DD Direct DTH homes. There would be another at least 15 million terrestrial-only DD homes. "So, 25 million viewers are completely loyal to us. All the private operators also carry DD."

Also, on DD Direct Plus, the company is planning to begin default advertisements. "All the private operators have these when you switch on their systems. So, unlike them, I cannot charge the customer, but I can charge the company," he added.

The company has set a target of getting Rs 20 billion revenue a year. Sircar told Mint that Prasar Bharati earned Rs 169 million from London Olympics. Simulcast properties like Coke Studio (an MTV show) helped the channel make Rs 2.5 million per episode while it made Rs 140 million because of simulcasting Satyamev Jayate, Sircar said.