Govt begins manpower audit to trim Prasar Bharati: Report

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The Centre has started a manpower audit of India's largest public broadcasting agency Prasar Bharati, acting on an expert committee recommendation in 2014, according to a report by The Times of India.

The Sam Pitroda-led committee had in 2014 recommended the Prasar Bharati to ‘undertake a comprehensive manpower audit and human resources planning exercise to map workforce requirements for the future, in line with the public broadcaster’s mandate’.

Professional services company EY is in-charge of the audit. The process is expected to complete in around six months.

To assess the progress of the process, a mid-term evaluation will be conducted after three months.

The resource rationalisation is likely to include shutting down offices located in proximity to each other, winding up of the civil construction wing of the All India Radio (AIR), closing down of the National Academy of Broadcasting and Multimedia (NABM) and merging it with the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC). NABM’s training programmes may not be shut down.

Prasar Bharati properties that have been impacted by technological obsolescence are also likely to be closed.

“The focus is prepare a blueprint for the future in terms of technology, the model of operation as well as a revenue-generating business model. It will make the organisation leaner and better equipped to tackle growing competition,” Shashi Shekhar Vempati, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Prasar Bharati, told the newspaper.

Vempati also allayed fears that jobs will be lost as a result of the manpower audit.

“The big change will only be in terms of rationalisation of roles. For instance, a large number of engineers who were hired when Prasar Bharati was set up are now being re-skilled so as to put them in new job roles,” he added.

Creation of an effective recruitment system to attract the best talent, allowing hiring of skilled professionals, and supplement manpower audit with a re-deployment plan that addresses training, reskilling and promotion of existing manpower through an institutionalised modern appraisal system were some of the recommendations made by the Pitroda-led committee.