All India Radio and Doordarshan employee strike leaves broadcasting services affected

All India Radio and Doordarshan transmission services have been disrupted due to the ongoing strike by its technical staff. The first strike in the history of launch of both All India Radio and Doordarshan, the strike led to well over 90% of All India Radio and 50% of Doordarshan broadcast service hubs being interrupted frequently.

Organized by the National Federation of employees of Doordarshan and All India Radio, the reason for broadcasting strike has been disclosed as the protests on the Prasar Bharti Act of 1997. The Prasar Bharti Act approved by the President in 1990 and implemented by the Government in 1997 granted autonomous status to Doordarshan and All India Radio which were previously under the command of the Government. The broadcasters were now placed under the control of Prasar Bharti.

The 2010 amendment to the Prasar Bharti Act, called for all the employees of Prasar Bharti who have joined the broadcasters after the act was passed, to be provided the status of Government employees. The employees now protest that the act and the amendment need to be repealed because it still does not address the practical aspects of finance and leaves Prasar Bharati empowered to make the decision of disbanding or selling the country’s national broadcasters. The employees claim that many of their salaries have still not been paid out.

The employees who are about 38,000 in number have consequently called for a nation wide strike for a period of 2 days during which the broadcasting ability of both Doordarshan and All India Radio will be deeply curbed.

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