Lok Sabha Question No. 382 (STARRED), answered on 2018-03-22
Subject: Salaries of the Employees of Prasar Bharti
Ministry: INFORMATION AND BROADCASTING
Asked by: BALKA SUMAN, RAMACHANDRAN MULLAPPALLY

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF INFORMATION & BROADCASTING

## LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 382 TO BE ANSWERED ON 22.03.2018

## SALARIES OF THE EMPLOYEES OF PRASAR BHARATI

*382.  SHRI SUMAN BALKA :

SHRI MULLAPPALLY RAMACHANDRAN

Will the Minister of INFORMATION AND BROADCASTING be pleased to state:

- (a) whether her Ministry has not released the funds meant for  the payment of  salaries  to  the  employees  of  Prasar  Bharati  since  December,  2017 and  the  organization  had  to  pay  the  salaries  of  its  employees  for January and February, 2018 from its own contingency  funds and if so, the details thereof;
- (b) whether  there  was  a  delay  in  releasing  funds,  as  a  result  of  which salaries  of    thousands  of  Doordarshan  and  All  India  Radio(AIR)  staff had not been paid and if so, the details thereof ; and
- (c) whether  her  Ministry  has  not  released  the  grants-in-aid  to  Prasar Bharati so far during the current year, if so, the details thereof and the reason therefor?

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF INFORMATION AND BROADCASTING [SHRIMATI SMRITI ZUBIN IRANI]

- (a) to (c):   A  Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

## Statement as referred in reply to Lok Sabha Starred Question No. 382 for answer on 22/3/2018

- (a) & (b):  The release of funds to Prasar Bharati which is an autonomous organization  under  the  Ministry  of  Information  and  Broadcasting  is linked to signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Ministry  and  Prasar  Bharati.  As  per  the  recommendations  of  the Expenditure  Management  Commission  chaired  by  Dr.  Bimal  Jalan, Eminent  Economist/Public  Policy  Expert,  each  Ministry  /Department should  enter  into  a  Memorandum  of  Understanding  (MoU)    with  their Autonomous  Bodies,  on  the  same  lines  as  done  for  Central  Public Sector  Enterprises        (CPSEs),  clearly  laying  down  the  performance parameters  as  also  the  roadmap  to  carry  out  the  intended  course  of action.  As  per  the  report,  Organizations  that  distinctly  serve  'a  public purpose'  specially  in  sectors  with  significant  externalities  need  to  be strengthened further and at the same time may be encouraged to raise internal resources.

Rule 229(xi) of General Financial Rules, 2017 also prescribes the requirement of signing of MoU by the Autonomous Organizations with their  Administrative  Ministry/Department.  The  Ministry  of  Information and Broadcasting has been pursuing with Prasar Bharati, since March 2017,  to  sign  the  MoU  and  several  reminders  have  been  issued  to them.  However,  Prasar  Bharati  had  not  furnished  the  MoU  as  per prescribed norms. Nevertheless, the Ministry has released funds amounting  to  Rs.1989  crore  under  Grants-in-Aid  Salaries  to  Prasar Bharati  from  April,  2017  to  December  2017.  The  salaries  of  Prasar Bharati's  employees  for  the  months  of  January  and  February,  2018, have been paid by  Prasar Bharati  from  their  Internal  Extra  Budgetary Resources (IEBR).

The revised MoU  received from Prasar Bharati has been considered in the Ministry and sent to them with some modifications to take further steps for signing the MoU with the Ministry.

Prasar Bharati earns nearly Rs. 1400.00 crore per year which is their  IEBR.  The  total  financial  requirements  of  Prasar  Bharati  are  met by  combining  IEBR  with    Grant-in-Aid  releases  from  the  Government. Prasar Bharati has to pay for Spectrum Charges and Satellite Charges from  IEBR    but  for  past  several  years  has  not  been  making    any payment to Department of Space and Department of Telecommunications and the dues mounted to  Rs. 1824.24 crore.

(c)  No  Madam.  The  Ministry  of  Information  &  Broadcasting  has  released Grants-in-Aid  to  Prasar  Bharati  in  the  current  financial  year  (2017-18)  as under:

(Rs. in crore)

|   Sl. No. | Object Head                                                |   Grant released from April 2017 to December 2017 | Grant released from January 2018 to till date   |
|-----------|------------------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------|
|         1 | Grant-in-aid - Salaries                                    |                                          1989     | 2.75                                            |
|         2 | Grant-in-aid-General (Leave Salary & Pension Contribution) |                                            49.175 | 87.655                                          |
|         3 | Grants for Creation of Capital assets                      |                                           179.86  | -                                               |
|         4 | Grant-in-aid - General for Kisan Channel                   |                                            25.45  | 12.00                                           |

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