Ashish Bhatnagar,
Sg. E, AIR, Shillong, India

AIR, Doordarshan – Challenges and We

“Oh! Where have you come? Didn’t you have any other department to go?. Life is miserable here…. Well, you will realize that soon.” This is what I was told by one of the senior officers on the first day I joined All India Radio. “There are no promotions, there is no status, no conducive working environment, there is no scope of growth, there is no motivation….”God knows….what an evil department.

“Sir we congratulate you to retire as a government servant from All India Radio & Doordarshan. We don’t know what is there in store for the generations to come. The department may exist or melt away. The future is dark. Congratulations Sir, you are leaving happily as a government servant with full pensionary benefits”. This is what I heard in a farewell party thrown in honour of a retiring officer and this was being told by one of the senior officers with strong association background. “The days to come are horrible, we may not even get the pay, leave the promotions and good service conditions apart. The department is going down. It is a sinking ship. Horror, horror and horror is there in the future”, this is what I heard, an association leader speaking.

Is this what is happening to this department. The department which is still worth thousands of crores of rupees, which still has got one of the most brilliant employees who entered the department by clearing tough examination, be they UPSC, SSC or departmental exams. Most of these employees have been outstanding during their college days. Many of them have joined this department after leaving their earlier well-paid jobs in public sectors/colleges/universities etc. The Department, which had just a few transmitters at that time of country’s independence, has as on today more than 330 Radio and 1400 TV transmitters spread in the length and breadth of the country. The department has a great legacy, it has been the breeding ground of almost all the towering musicians, singers and literary personalities which exist or existed in the Indian horizon for the past so many years. It was difficult to think of handling the first ever democratic election of the free India in 1952 without AIR, which through its repeated broadcast informed the public at large how to use the ballot paper and cast their votes. The much talked about Green Revolution, which made our country self sufficient in respect of food grains could succeed only due to active partnership of All India Radio and Doordarshan. The farm and home programmes educated the illiterate farmers about the quality of seeds, scientific farming techniques and methodologies to fight the adversaries.

The organization has always been instrumental in carrying the message of the developmental schemes framed by various governments to the last mile, i.e. Aam Adami. In nutshell All India Radio and Doordarshan have not only been the preservers and promoters of the cultural heritage of this great country but have contributed equally for the development and have been playing a vital role in promoting the communal harmony and national integrity of our country.

The broadcast scenario in our country witnessed a rapid changes in the early 90s with introduction of private TV and radio channels. Most of these private channels, due to their compulsions of profit making had to adopt populist programming, which at times damage the traditional cultural fabric of our country. Unlike the social family operas like Mahabharata, Ramayana, Hum Log etc, telecasted on Doordarshan, most of the serials presented on this channel revolve around flimsy topic like Saas-Bahu, family disputes etc, thus eroding the value systems of Indian society. As this was not enough, the cutthroat competition among the News channels compelled them to invent breaking news even at the cost of breaking the civil society. Whereas, even during the communal riots, All India Radio & Doordarshan never named the warring religious groups, It became a usual practice for these private channels to create running commentaries on the gory events involving violence on the television screens. Most of these channels have been working for achieving higher TRP ratings, which is nothing but response of a handful well-to-do households.

Being the only terrestrial TV broadcaster, despite the tall claims of the private channels, Doordarshan still remain the media of large penetration among the common masses of our country and AIR is still the lone voice in inaccessible far east, tribal and hilly areas. These organizations witnessed a major functional change with the implementation of Prasar Bharati in the year 1997. Though the autonomy of All India Radio and Doordarshan was being talked about for many years, Prasar Bharati bill was framed in 1990 to provide autonomy to these two organizations of mass media. The bill was passed in 1991 and became an Act, however, the then central government did not implement it possibly considering the paramount importance of these organizations of mass reach in maintaining the communal harmony, law & order and national integrity of the country. It was only in 1997, when the outgoing coalition government introduced the act (in hurry?). Since then a series of changes have occurred in these departments. Withdrawal of direct budgetary support since 2001, non-recruitment of officers in the organization and enhanced pressures for profit earning has created considerable discomfort in the organization. There have been large-scale employees movements, which are still continuing. These movements primarily revolve around the question of financial viability of this organization and the need of Prasar Bharati in the changed scenario. The conflict between public service broadcasting and commercial broadcasting needs to be resolved urgently.

Thought - that the days of public service broadcasting have gone and the future of All India Radio & Doordarshan as a national and public broadcaster is bleak, has made the employees of these organizations demoralized and direction less. It is time to take effective measures to end the frustration among the employees and the management as well as the associations have to strive for it. All of us are boarding on the same ship and if it sinks there will be no selective survivors. While admitting that there are problems, lets have courage to face them and resolve them.  
In recent past, the whole world has been engulfed in turbulence arising out of socio-economic-environmental upheavals, creating newer threats, challenges and opportunities for all kinds of organizations. All the organizations has one common agenda and that is ‘Ensuring Survival and Growth’, as the matter of paramount importance. The organizations are facing more uncertainties while strategizing the future in these troubled times, regardless of what you are producing, what services you are giving, and what functional areas you are handling! What do the great organizations do in such situations? It has been seen through several organizational studies, that the following aspects are looked into— Focused Strategic Thinking with foresight on Futuristic Development, Focused Attention on Raising Productivity in all possible ways in production plants, which directly affects your Fighting Power with your Competitors in the Jungle of Market, Focused Efforts on continuously creating Developmental and Growth Oriented Culture in the Organization at all the levels, Benchmarking with the Best in world in Performance Management, and  Continuous search, development, and rigorous implementation of the viable and effective Total Quality Management Systems to get the Best out of the Men, Money, Materials and the Machines.

In order to take organization to the greater heights of performance in the face of mind-boggling challenges, what is required is the serious, mature, empathetic, sensitive, proactive, sustainable and High Quality Visionary Leadership. To achieve grand organizational goals successfully is one thing and to remain in that position is another. For this organization, has to create the leaders at various levels. And the leaders are created through the process of empowerment. When majority of the people in the organization are continuously empowered, as the Mission for development, it has to lead to continuous Organizational Development, popularly termed as the OD in management parlance.

When so many organizations, which were comparatively new, had much lesser assets and public backing, have come out of the Red, there is no reason to become hopeless about ours. What we need to do is to - Stop thinking and talking negative. Negativity kills much before death.

As seniors, we have to put benchmarks, set examples and stand for the rights of our juniors. As fathers, we have to first ensure proper bread and dignity for our kids. We cannot be any more respected, just because we hold a higher post, we have to act as true leaders – fearless, bold and effective. Until we bring back the sense of pride among our employees, that - they work in a great organization, work for a great cause and work with a great team, we may not win. And this is what every body is looking for – A great leader to emerge, who can talk for employees first and with employees later. Successful organizations are today working with TEI(total employees involvement), lets also involve them in decision making. Lets develop communication, cooperation and coordination. There is need to have dialogue with the employees in order to bring the Change in the Perceptions and Attitudes among the employees at the operational level, which is fundamental for increasing efficiency and productivity.

As workers we have to be honest, to ourselves. Somebody recently said, the power of the organization is – it’s relevance. How much you are heard, how best you are heard/viewed, how much you are talked about, how much you are criticized. This may not be simple – inviting troubles – some say – No one listens – No complaints- No problems. But That is the problem, that means you don’t exist – may be just awaiting the final declaration of death. That won’t do. No more blame games. No Control Room- Transmitter – Duty Room fights. For our listeners/ viewers, we are one. If he claps – we all win, or else we all loose. He the listener/ viewer is our sole master, our boss and we work only for him. Each one of us be he/She a helper, technician, AE, Pex or SE, are partners and this department belongs to each one of us equally as it belongs to CEO, DG or E-n-C. Each one of us has great potentials and turning around the organization is in our hands. It may take time but it is bound to happen, we all know – Rome was not built in a day.

As Association leaders, our work is not much different from the selected bosses (senior officers). As we are the elected bosses, the expectations are much more. Regular interaction with members, council and general body meetings makes the true bonds. Transparency in our working is paramount. Lets not blame the members for not following every call, instead introspect – where have we failed. Each of our members expects a personal touch. We can’t be bureaucratic – No this is a personal case, we can’t take up. No, It’s a policy decision…This won’t work. Every ones problem, if it is genuine is to be taken up. This is a responsibility we have taken up voluntarily and we have to pour in our extra efforts and extra hours in this. It can’t be a 9 to 6 business.

As a member, we are the masses. It’s we who will set the direction. We have to stand with our elected leadership, whatever be the differences. If we expect our leaders to invest 100 hours in a month, lets put in just 5 hours. Lets follow the leadership, honour the majority decisions and march towards success. We are the majority, one drop from each of us can fill up the tank. It’s We, who will make the ship sink or Sail through…

And We can Do it! We will Do it!

AIR & Doordarshan Engineers Association is a body representing the Indian Broadcasting Engineering Services Officers (Group A) and Assistant Engineers (Group B) working in AIR & DD and works for the welfare of its members and development of the organization as a whole.