News Broadcasting
Prasar Bharati financial rejig delayed
NEW DELHI: The Indian government has said that the terms of a committee looking into the financial restructuring of pubcaster Prasar Bharati has been extended till year-end, which is likely to delay implementation of panels suggestions.
As the collation and compilation of the requisite data from various field units is likely to take more time, the term of the committee has been extended by three months up to 31 December, 2005 for submission of its report, information and broadcasting minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi told Rajya Sabha (Upper House) today.
A committee, headed by I&B secretary SK Arora, was appointed by the government on 30 March, 2005 for suggesting a viable capital and financial structure for the cash-strapped Prasar Bharati to facilitate the strengthening of its functioning.
The terms are from references of the panel which was to propose a viable capital and financial structure for Prasar Bharati, while taking into account the broadcasters role as a pubcaster and the need to maximise revenue-earning potential through commercial operations.
Meanwhile, the government also said that All India Radio proposes to increase FM radio coverage to about 50 per cent of the population during the Tenth Five-Year Plan.
The present FM coverage is about 33 per cent by population, Dasmunsi informed fellow parliamentarians, adding the whole, however, is covered through short wave signals.
Twelve satellite radio channels of AIR are available on Doordarshans DTH platform throughout the country except Andaman & Nicobar islands.
News Broadcasting
Uma Sudhir signs off from NDTV after 27 years
The executive editor shaped NDTV’s southern reportage for nearly three decades
NEW DELHI: Senior journalist Uma Sudhir has retired from NDTV, bringing to a close a 27-year association with the network.
Sudhir served as executive editor, heading NDTV’s south India editorial operations. Over nearly three decades, she emerged as one of the most recognisable faces of on-ground reporting from the region, with sustained coverage of politics, governance and social issues across Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
At NDTV, Sudhir played a central role in strengthening regional journalism within national television news. Her reporting consistently connected local developments to the national conversation, ensuring stories from the field shaped policy debates beyond studio discussions. Known for her boots-on-the-ground approach, she came to represent a generation of reporters whose authority rested on fieldwork rather than prime-time punditry.
An award-winning journalist, Sudhir is a recipient of the Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Award and the Chameli Devi Jain Award. Her body of work has been widely recognised for its public-interest focus, spanning elections, governance, gender issues, rural distress, environmental reporting and social justice.
