NEW DELHI: A Parliamentary Committee has criticised the Information and Broadcasting Ministry for not doing adequate preparatory work before embarking upon schemes to increase the capacity of Doordarshan?s free-to-air direct-to-home platform DD Direct Plus.

Doordarshan?s DTH platform at present has capacity of 59 Standard Definition (SD) TV channels. A plan scheme for upgradation of Doordarshan?s DTH Platform to 97 TV channels was approved by the Government in August 2010.

Prasar Bharati Board later approved further expansion of Doordarshan?s DTH platform to 150 TV channels. An additional satellite transponder was required for upgradation of DTH platform.

During the examination of the Demands for Grants 2011-12 on measures being taken by Prasar Bharati to generate revenue, the Ministry had stated that it was proposed to move towards the use of tools provided by IT to enable automation of various functions so as to bring down the manpower requirement.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee for Information Technology ?are concerned to see that though AIR had proposed ?E- Governance by implementing ERP system? in XI Plan for effective management of the vast infrastructure but it could not be approved and this scheme has now been proposed as a fresh scheme in XII plan at a cost of Rs 700 million.?

The Committee is not convinced with the reasons cited by the Ministry that though comments were sought from the Planning Commission, no comments were received. Later, the Planning Commission had opined that the requirements of Doordarshan may also be included in the SFC proposal.

Accordingly, requirements of Doordarshan were obtained. The total requirements of All India Radio and Doordarshan could not be met within the allocated amount of Rs 280 million during the 11th plan. Therefore, this scheme could not be put up for approval and it was decided to take it up as a fresh scheme in 12th Plan.

The Committee noted that once the scheme has been conceptualised, the reasons for under performance are untenable.

Taking a serious note of the way the Ministry has dealt with this issue, the Committee desires that the Ministry should take up the projects on priority basis and expedite approval from the Planning Commission and all corrective action may be taken so as to utilise the outlay effectively in the Twelfth Plan.

NEW DELHI: Seeing the "sad state of affairs in the public broadcaster Prasar Bharati?s functioning", a Parliamentary Committee has reiterated once again that there is need to review the Prasar Bharati Act 1990 "comprehensively" and "without any further delay".

The Parliamentary Standing Committee for Information Technology said it has been assured by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry that it is "still in the process of preparing" a separate cabinet note for the amendments suggested by the Group of Ministers to the Act.

The Committee has taken note of the failures in systemic problems, massive under-utilisation of funds, acute shortage of staff etc. and have emphasise that the various provisions of the Prasar Bharati Act 1990 need to be reviewed comprehensively keeping in view the ongoing scenario and new legislations modifications to the existing Act should be brought to Parliament without any further delay.

At the outset, the Standing Committee noted that in various reports earlier, it had consistently been recommending for organisational and financial restructuring of Prasar Bharati.

The Standing Committee has also been expressing ?serious concern? over the non-implementation of various provisions of the Act such as constitution of a Parliamentary Committee and the Broadcasting Council as per provisions in the Act.

"In spite of the continuous insistence on implementation of these provisions", the Ministry has neither constituted a Parliamentary Committee and Broadcasting Council nor these have been deleted from the Act by bringing amendments to the Act.

The Committee was informed that GoM on Prasar Bharati constituted to examine various issues pertaining to Prasar Bharati had made a number of recommendations aimed at bringing about significant increase in the degree of efficiency in the overall operation of Prasar Bharati on one hand and improving governance in Prasar Bharati on the other. It has also undertaken comprehensive review to the Act and suggested certain amendments.

As elaborated by the Secretary during the course of evidence, there is also urgent need to address the issue of relationship between Prasar Bharati and the Government and redefine it in clear-cut terms.

The Committee is separately examining the functioning of the Prasar Bharati organisation and will come out with appropriate recommendations on the subject in due course.

However, "going by the way the organisation is functioning at this juncture" and the views expressed by the Secretary and the CEO Prasar Bharati, the Committee "at this point of time would like to emphasise that comprehensive amendments to the Act are long overdue" and should be brought forward "expeditiously" after wider consultations with all concerned.

Interestingly, the Committee had made a similar recommendation in its examination of the Ministry?s budgetary demands for 2011-12 on 4 August last year and an Action Report on 27 March this year.

NEW DELHI: Irked by consistent under-spending and under-utilisation of funds by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry, a Parliamentary Committee has asked the Ministry to identify the grey areas, make the implementation of its schemes more effective and step up the monitoring mechanism so as to ensure optimum utilisation of funds.

Taking note of the observation before the Standing Committee for Information Technology by the Secretary in the Ministry that the under-utilisation and approval of schemes was primarily due to the problems in Prasar Bharati which depended on the Ministry for its funding, the Committee has expressed the hope that the problems relating to Prasar Bharati are addressed and ways are found during the Twelfth Plan resulting into effective implementation of various programmes which would ensure cent per cent utilisation of the outlay.

The Secretary had told the Committee that these problems would ease after the Government accepts the recommendations of the Group of Ministers on Prasar Bharati. But the Committee noted that the same reasons have continuously been repeated by the Ministry, whenever the question of under spending has been raised by the Committee.

The Committee emphasized the need for periodic close monitoring of the implementation as well as the expenditure position under the three sectors - Broadcasting, Film and Information.

The Ministry should make serious efforts to identify the weakness in the system and streamline the planning process so as to ensure effective utilisation of Plan outlay - Rs 13.05 billion - during the year 2012-13.

The financial performance of the Ministry particularly under the Plan schemes during the Eleventh Plan has not been very satisfactory, the Committee noted. The allocations provided at Budget Estimates were reduced at Revised Estimates stage due to overall trend of utilisation. Even the reduced allocations could not be utilised fully resulting into under spending of the scarce resources during each year of the Eleventh Plan.

The Committee said the Ministry was allocated Rs 36.86 billion at the Budget Estimate stage against the projections of Rs 781.212 billion if the overall allocations during the Eleventh Plan (which ended on 31 March 2012) as a whole are taken into consideration. The BE allocations were then reduced to Rs 31.44 billion at the Revised Estimates stage. The utilisation is to the tune of Rs 25.79 billion, thus resulting into under spending of Rs 5.64 billion. The under spending is more during the years 2008-09 and 2010-11 when 66.99 per cent and 74.74 per cent of the outlay respectively could be utilised.

The Committee observed that the Ministry had proposed the Demands for Grants for the year 2012-13 amounting to Rs 27.37 billion which comprises Rs 9.05 billion as the Plan outlay and Rs 18.32 billion as the Non-Plan outlay.

The financial performance of the Ministry particularly under the Plan schemes during the Eleventh Plan ?has not been very satisfactory?, the Committee notes. The allocations provided at Budget Estimates were reduced at Revised Estimates stage due to overall trend of utilisation. Even the reduced allocations could not be utilised fully resulting into under spending of the scarce resources during each year of the Eleventh Plan.

The Committee has consistently been saying that under spending results in blocking of the national resources.

The Committee observed that during the year 2011-12, out of the proposed allocation of Rs 20.26 billion under the non-Plan head for the three Sectors - Film, Information and Broadcasting, the BE was Rs 17.83 billion, which was increased to Rs 18.18 billon at the RE stage, but the Actual Expenditure was Rs 18.13 billion, 99.74 per cent of the RE allocation.

The Committee also observes that the proposed allocation of the Ministry for the year 2012-13 under non-Plan head is Rs 18.32 billion which is more than double of the Plan Outlay of Rs 9.05 billion.

Justifying the increase, the Secretary has stated that many of the spending of Prasar Bharati is evaluated in terms of creating infrastructure. Furthermore for many programmes of Directorate of Field Publicity (DFP) and the Song and Drama Division, a lot of expenditure takes place through non-Plan budget and the outputs are not tangible.

While appreciating the facts enumerated by the Secretary, the Committee would like the Ministry to give the details of the activities under non-Plan head for which the allocations during 2012-13 have almost been double. Besides, the Committee would like to emphasize for rationalisation of expenditure under the non-Plan head as per the General Financial Rules. The Ministry should try to contain its expenditure in non-Plan head so as to have a proper balance between the Plan and non-Plan head, the Ministry says.

NEW DELHI: The Information and Broadcasting Ministry has prepared a cabinet note to bring about financial restructuring of Prasar Bharati and ensure all operating expenses should be borne by the Broadcasting body?s internal revenues.

The Note will come up before Union Cabinet soon as inter-ministerial discussions on the same are in their final stages.

The note is based on recommendations of a Group of Ministers attached to Prasar Bharati, which suggested that Government Non-Plan support should be extended for meeting the total expenses on salary and salary-related expenses and augmentation and replacement of capital assets for the five years from 2011-12 to 2015-16.

The GoM had also recommended that accumulated arrears of space segment and spectrum charges up to 31 March 2011 should be waived.

Section 22 of the Prasar Bharati Act 1990 should be restored in its original form to exempt the pubcaster from paying any income tax.

All loans paid to the public service broadcaster should be converted into grants-in-aid, the GoM had said, adding that interests accrued on the loans should be waived.

Prasar Bharati?s revenue stood at Rs 10.38 billion for the nine-month period ended 31 December 2011. The commercial revenue by Doordarshan and All India Radio during this period was Rs 7.48 billion and Rs 2.45 billion respectively while Rs 444 million came from ?other resources?.

In 2010-11, Prasar Bharati?s revenue climbed to Rs 12.71 billion, from Rs 11.46 billion a year ago. Out of the net revenue, Rs 9.44 billion came from DD and Rs 2.76 billion from AIR as net commercial revenue. A total of Rs 505.8 million came from other resources.

Prasar Bharati?s operational costs during fiscal 2010-11 rose to Rs 27.45 billion, out of which Rs 14.69 billion was for Doordarshan. The increase in the operational cost has been attributed to the hike in the salary of employees following the 6th Pay Commission.

NEW DELHI: Prasar Bharati and the Information and Broadcasting Ministry appear to be getting into murkier waters with their justification and replies to Parliament relating to award of coverage of the Commonwealth Games 2010 to SIS Live which in turn outsourced it to Zoom Communications.

In an action taken report presented to Parliament around 18 months after the Games got over, the Parliamentary Standing Committee for Information Technology which deals with I&B Ministry said it wanted to be informed about the reasons for the ?mismatch in the calculation of the cost estimation at various stages?.

Shunglu assumptions on profits based on wrong premise: Ministry

Interestingly, the Ministry says that the report of the High Level Committee constituted by the Government under V K Shunglu based on the premise that SIS Live had outsourced the work to Zoom Communications for Rs 1.77 billion and the two entities made a profit of Rs 1.34 billion (Rs 690 million to M/s SIS Live and Rs 650 to Zoom) is based on wrong premise and facts as it is based on an income tax survey in the middle of the year. .

The Committee took note of the statement by the Ministry that the tender of SIS Live of Rs 2.46 billion was accepted as it was found by the Financial Evaluation Committee of Prasar Bharati to be around 17 per cent lower than the estimate of Rs 2.54 billion (after taking the impact of foreign exchange variations into account) that was approved by the Cabinet Committee for Economic Affairs ?for similar components/activities?.

In its reply, the Ministry said Prasar Bharati had on 3 July 2007 initially forwarded an estimate of Rs 5.57 billion. However, on the basis of Request for Information (RFI), the estimates were brought down to Rs 4.45 billion in the EFC proposal. Finally, the Cost Estimate Committee on 16 May 2008 confirmed the cost estimates of Rs 3.66 billion.

Taking note of this ?mismatch? and the fact that the case was still under investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation, the Committee said detailed information should be placed before it as soon as the findings are made available to the Ministry.

In its reply, the Ministry admitted that the suspension of then Prasar Bharati CEO BS Lalli was not linked to the Games imbroglio, and gave details of the case registered.

Reiterating its transparency, the Ministry said eight Expressions of Interest applications had been received by the public broadcaster which ultimately forwarded five for issuance of RFP documents. Only two bids were received by the closing date and that of SIS Live was approved. It further said that the Ministry had on two occasions informed the Central Vigilance Commission its reasons for selecting this broadcaster.

The Committee has also taken note of the reply of the Ministry that new amendments are being brought in to improve the relationship between the CEO of the pubcaster and the Government and improve functioning, and expressed the hope that it would be informed about the discussions with the Law Ministry and fate of the amendments in the Cabinet.

Parliamentary Committee observes about loss dilemma between Govt. and pubcaster

In its report last year, the Parliamentary Committee had said it was ?deeply concerned about the controversy?. It is clear that the Information and Broadcasting Ministry seems to be in dilemma about the actual loss on account of broadcasting rights.

What is more, the Committee had noted that neither the I&B Ministry nor Prasar Bharati were aware that SIS Live, United Kingdom, had outsourced the coverage and production to Zoom Communications and this fact came to their notice at ?a later stage?. The Committee was also "surprised to note the opinion given by the Law Ministry that the sub-contract was not in violation of the clause which existed between Prasar Bharati and SIS Live".

The report had said "the fact remains that the contract which SIS Live got from Prasar Bharati for Rs 2.46 billion was outsourced by the entity to Zoom Communications for Rs.1.77 billion. The High Level Committee constituted by the Government under V K Shunglu has estimated the work below Rs one billion."

Prasar Bharati realised gross revenue of Rs 604.8 million through commercial advertisements during the Games held from 3 to 14 October 2010.

NEW DELHI: Prasar Bharati has spent a sum of Rs 20.43 million to pay former Supreme Court and High Court judges to act as arbitrators to recover claims in 27 cases.

Parliament was told by Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting C M Jatua that the amount sought to be recovered was Rs 3.95 billion.

The Minister said that Prasar Bharati had said that in view of the arbitration clause inserted in the agreements, the matters could not have been taken before other judicial authorities.

In another reply, the Minister said that a sum of Rs 8.43 million had been recovered by encashing bank guarantees relating to 11 defaulting producers since 2010. These included two cases each of PAS International and Art Advertising, and one each of Pritish Nandy Communications, Liazo of Kolkata, Signet Communication, Mast Media, Joel Advertising, TBWA Anthem, and PSI (Population Services International).

Proceedings were also initiated against Fame Communicatiins (Cinevista), Creative Channel, and Nimbus Communication for a total principal amount of Rs 331.10 million and interest till date of Rs 193.59 million.

A single bench of the Bombay High Court had in July 2002 directed Nimbus to pay a sum of Rs 763.42 million along with interest at 18 per cent per annum on the principal sum of Rs 62.80 million with effect from 1 September 1998. The broadcaster?s case is pending before the Court but it has paid a sum of Rs 30 million and furnished a bank guarantee of Rs 40 million to the Court in terms of its order.