The Prasar Bharati, India’s Public Broadcaster came into effect on 15th September 1997. The employees recruited before 05.10.07 are called Employees Deemed Deputation to Prasar Bharati and they get all the benefits and facilities provided to any Central Government Employee.
The Employees recruited after 05.10.07 are called Prasar Bharati employees but they do not get the benefits and facilities as par with the Deemed Deputation employees due to the cut-off date of 05.10.07. The said cut-off date is a day-to-day hurdle for the Prasar Bharati employees recruited after 05.10.07 to get even small benefits and facilities.
Due to this discrimination faced by Prasar Bharati employees, they are worried about their future and the families they look after. Prasar Bharati employees recruited after 05.10.2007 had already demonstrated a peaceful gate meeting on 19.09.2023 during lunch hour to demand equal benefits similar to deemed deputation PB employees in front of the Prasar Bharati Secretariat, New Delhi.
Now, they have come forward again and formed a Joint Action Forum (JAF) of the Engineering Wing, Program Wing, and Administration Wing to do a joint peaceful gate meeting at all major Akashvani Stations and Doordarshan Kendras.
JAF (Joint Action Forum) is a combined representation of
- Association of Prasar Bharati Engineering Employees (APBEE)
- Association of Programme Officers (APO)
- Prasar Bharati Programme Employees Welfare Association (PBPEWA)
JAF (Joint Action Forum) has declared a Nationwide Peaceful Gate Meeting on 05th October 2023 against the discrimination faced by Prasar Bharati Employees Recruited After 05.10.07 and to demand benefits and facilities similar to Deemed Deputation Prasar Bharati employees.
The primary objective of this demonstration is to advocate for the rightful inclusion of Prasar Bharati employees recruited after 05/10/2007 in the ambit of benefits currently availed by deemed deputation PB employees, which include: CGHS medical facility or similar with comprehensive coverage of both OPD and IPD.
The Prasar Bharati employees recruited after 05.10.2007 are facing a lot of discrimination on the basis of the cutoff date, i.e., 5th Oct 2007. Therefore, JAF (joint action forum) of engineering, program, and admin employees has decided to mark 5th October as a black day and plan to organize another nationwide peaceful demonstration on 05.10.2023 whose prior intimation was already given to the CEO of Prasar Bharati vide letter Ref No. JAF/2023/02 dated 29.09.2023.
The major demands outlined by JAF (joint action forum) of engineering, program, and admin employees
The demands asked by employees recruited after 05.10.07 are as mentioned below:
CGHS medical facility for all PB employees same as deemed deputation PB employees.
At present, Prasar Bharati Employees are getting OPD reimbursement equal to 50% of their basic salary or a minimum of Rs. 30000/- per annum. For IPD, till now there is no comprehensive facility available and reimbursement of bills are done at CGHS rate only. In a few places, Prasar Bharati introduced PBHS cards with the Hospitals agreed and signed the MOUs.
Provision of family pensions under the NPS scheme equally as compared to central government employees for deceased PB employees.
Recently late Jyoti Prakash Trivedi died after battling with the cancer. He was the sole earner of his family but his family is not eligible to get Family Pension since he was recruited after 05.10.07.
Equal promotion opportunity to PB recruited employees as given to deemed deputation PB employees.
Neither Prasar Bharati employees are included in the common promotion opportunity with deemed deputation employees nor separate promotion channel is created for them.
Grant of the equal pay scale to PB employees at par with deemed deputation PB employees.
Due to the cut-off date of 05.10.07, employees recruited prior to said date are getting higher pay scale than the employees recruited after cut-off date 05.10.07.
Provision of CGEGIS Group insurance or similar.
Till now department has not come to any conclusion to provide group insurance to employees after 05.10.07.
Grant of 14% employer contribution under the NPS Scheme.
NPS contribution by the employer for the central government and autonomous bodies has been increased from 10% to 14% w.e.f dated 01/04.2019 but Prasar Bharati has not yet implemented this to its employees.
