Prasar Bharti Act,1990

PBC Act 1990 a regulation aimed to give autonomy to the Public

Broadcasting System, was introduced in December 1989, passed
in September 1990, and notified in 1997. The Corporation would
inherit the capital assets of Doordarshan and AIR and would be
managed by a 15-member Prasar Bharati Board, including the
Directors-General of the two organisations and two
representatives from amongst the employees. The Chair and
other members of the Board would be appointed on the
recommendations of the selection committee headed by the Vice
President. Its aim was autonomy with accountability. It is a
statutory body.
The Act was notified in 1997. It provided for the formation of an
autonomous Broadcasting Corporation that would manage
Doordarshan and AIR, discharging all powers previously held by
the Information and Broadcasting Ministry.
Apart from safeguarding the citizens right to be informed freely,
truthfully, and objectively, on all matters of public interest, the
PBC would have a special commitment as a PSB. This would
include paying special attention to fields that commercial
broadcasters may ignore (e.g. education, agriculture, rural
development, womens empowerment, traditional arts, health and
family welfare, etc). The PBC would also have to meet the needs
of regional audiences, minorities and the STs & SCs of Indias. The
primary duties of the PBC were two:
1. To organize and conduct Public Broadcasting Services;
2. To inform, educate & entertain the public and ensure a
balanced development of broadcasting on Radio & TV.
The Prasar Bharati Act gives a kind of activist agenda to Prasar
Bharati mandating it among other things, promotion of social

justice, combat of evils of untouchability, work for safeguarding

the rights of the working classes, and stimulate national
awareness on the status and problems of women.
The creation of a 22-member Parliamentary committee was to
oversee the performance of the PBC in accordance with the rules
and regulations and in letter and spirit of the Act. It envisages
Parliamentary accountability without Government intervention.
Prasar Bharti (Broadcasting Cooperation of India) Act provides for
grant of autonomy to electronic media, namely, AIR and
Doordarshan, which was under the Government control before
enactment of this law. The main aim of the act is that Media
should be under the control of the public as distinct from
Government. It should be operated by a public statutory
corporation or corporations, whose constitution and composition
must be such as to ensure their impartiality in political, economic
and social matters and on all other public issues.