Mann ki Baat, central govt of no help, say AIR casual employees demanding regularisation for decades

Hundreds of Akashvani voices, engaging and entertaining millions in the country every day over decades, rose to fight for their cause on Monday.

Organised under the umbrella of the Akhil Bharatiya Casual Announcers and Comperes Union, at least 700 employees from across the country associated with the All India Radio on a casual basis came together at
Jantar Mantar to demand regularisation of their jobs, an issue that they have been fighting for, even before public service broadcaster Prasar Bharati became an autonomous body in 1997.

Resolute members at the venue said they are expecting many more casual announcers to join the strike in the following days. If they are not regularized, they would be up for a hunger strike, the third day on.

It is estimated there are around 3,000 casual announcers and comperes in Akashvani’s regional centres across the country, as against 300 permanent ones. To a large extent, these casual employees run the show
for the AIR centres.

They are supposed to be given six assignments in a month, and are paid around Rs1,400 per assignment.

However, protesting members present at the venue said While they are given only three or four assignments a month officially, they invariably end up working for around 20 days a month, which allegedly is unaccounted for.

“If people protest, they are asked to leave,” said Simran Kaur, one of the announcers. Another female casual announcer from Maharashtra said the AIR had not given her a single assignment in the last three years,
because she had protested once. "They told me they don't need my services anymore since I'm over 35," she said.

The protestors said they hoped that with the BJP government in the Centre, there would be some progress.

"But, despite working over decades for Akashvani at meagre wages, we remain dispensable,” said Manoj Kumar Pathak, general secretary of the union, who has been an announcer with Akashvani Patna for the last 28
years.

Pathak said he and his colleagues have tried all means in the last 10 years to get their voices heard.

“At least 200 of us have sent messages on this issue to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on his monthly radio Mann Ki Baat platform, which is also broadcasted on AIR. But,they never reached him,” Pathak said.

In 1978, as per an order from the Information and Broadcasting (I&B) ministry, several casual artistes working with AIR were regularised, while in 1992, the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) had ordered regularisation of all existing casual workers attached with the AIR on the lines of Doordarshan.

“However, a scheme was formed to regularise only two cadres of casual artistes, the production assistants and general assistants, leaving out announcers, journalists and musicians, in violation of the CAT order and also the earlier guidelines of the I&B ministry,” Pathak told dna.

The issue was also raised recently in the ongoing session in Lok Sabha by BJP MP from Shimla Virender Kashyap, who demanded the regularisation of the staff working at Doordarshan and All India Radio for the past 10 to 30 years, referring to the CAT order and the I&B ministry policy framed in 1978.

Even a parliamentary committee report on the “Working Conditions of Women in Prasar Bharati” had observed that Prasar Bharati was guilty of unfair labour practises, as the employees there were kept as casual
workers against jobs which were of permanent nature. The committee had also recommended that a policy to regularise casual employees of Prasar Bharati, especially women, be finalised and put to operation
immediately.

“AIR authorities say that most of us who are more than 35-years of age have lost our voices. But many of those who are permanent are more than 50. Why this discrimination?” Mahesh Sharma, another casual
employee who had participated in the protest, asked.

Sharma also pointed out the AIR is also violating the Supreme Court judgement which mentions that casual employees who have been working for 10 years should be made permanent.

Talking about looking for a job with the number of sprouting private radio channels, Pathak said they are mostly suited for youngsters.

“We will continue our fight with Akashvani till we get justice. We have written to I&B minister Venkaiah Naidu and hope he will find a solution for us,” Pathak said, adding he already had “futile” meetings with former I&B ministers Sushma Swaraj and Manish Tewari on the issue. 

dna tried contacting DG AIR F Shehreyar for comments, but he remained unavailable.