Uncertainty hangs over Rajya Sabha TV

With an imminent change of guard at the Vice President's office over the next fortnight, uncertainty hangs over the fate of Parliament-run Rajya Sabha TV (RSTV), with many questioning its need and relevance as a special channel dedicated to the Upper House.

The Vice President of the country is the ex-officio chairman of Rajya Sabha and the chairman of the RSTV. As the term of current Vice President Hamid Ansari draws to an end, the NDA's chosen candidate M Venkaiah Naidu is expected to take over the position.

Pegged as an anti-establishment channel by members of the ruling BJP, for often being critical of government policies and also for having a much higher budget than its counterpart the Lok Sabha TV, the channel has received criticism for spending public money in a recent feature film Raag Desh. It has also drawn flak from BJP leader Ram Madhav for not giving adequate publicity to crucial government events such as the Yoga Day.

Earlier, the Comptroller and Auditor General, in an observation report, had questioned the relevance of RSTV, stating that it doesn't have a roadmap. Last year, there were also talks of a merger of RSTV and Lok Sabha TV (LSTV) into one single channel, with government insiders alleging that RSTV has made several unnecessary, high-salaried appointments, and that its budget should have been ideally used for other parliamentary work.

RSTV insiders admit there is panic among the channel's staff — one they are not sure if the Upper House-run channel would change track of its existing programmes under the new leadership and second, many are expecting a fresh spate of appointments at the helm of the channel.

The CEO of the channel Gurdeep Singh Sappal, who is also the officer on special duty (OSD) of Ansari, has already put in his papers.

"We have been neutral and have produced good quality programmes, as compared to LSTV or Doordarshan, which has become more of a government mouthpiece," said a source from RSTV. "The LSTV has been producing series on RSS ideologues like Keshav Hedgewar and Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay. But RSTV documentaries span a variety of subjects and historical topics," the source added.

When DNA contacted Sappal and asked him about the criticism RSTV received over its expenditure, he said the channel actually works on a shoestring budget with the average annual expenditure of RSTV being Rs 51.71 crore, of which around Rs 24 crore goes to the New Delhi Municipal Council as rent.

However, sources close to Naidu said that once he takes charge of RSTV, he wouldn't tolerate any unnecessary expenditure.

"If RSTV is so confident about about the quality of its programmes, why do they not part of the BARC which would give out the rating?" one of Naidu's close aide asked.