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NEW DELHI: Although Doordarshan’s DD Urdu commenced in
November 2007 and over 1000 proposals for new programmes have
been submitted in two batches by around 800 producers since
2009, the channel is only beaming repeat programmes or those
taken from DD Kashir for more than three years.
However,
this claim by private disillusioned producers was contested
by Doordarshan Deputy Director General Ashok Jailkhani, who
told indiantelevision.com that DD Urdu was showing several
news programmes. He also felt there was nothing wrong in taking
programmes from DD Urdu.
Meanwhile,
he also said it was erroneous to say that no steps had been
taken on the 1069 proposals, adding that some meetings of
select committees had been held and the proposals were ‘under
review’.
According to the producers, proposals for commissioning programmes
had been invited twice, and each proposal had to be accompanied
with a processing fee of Rs 25,000.
Brief
proposals were invited up to 21 August 2009, wherein approximately
639 proposals were received. Presentations for the same were
conducted from September 2010 to November 2010 before a duly
(single) constituted committee.
The
second Commissioning was notified without concluding the earlier
exercise by making minor modification in the brief, but without
notifying any reasons for this action.
The
proposals were invited up to 1 October 2010 and up to 430
fresh proposals were submitted. The presentations for the
same were conducted from 26 December 2011 to 23 February 2012
before three Committees comprising three members each.
The
producers claim that the action by the public broadcaster
has not only harmed the interests of Urdu, but harmed the
image of the broadcaster itself.
They
said each of the producers spent Rs 200,000 to Rs 5000 each
and had undergone several hardships. Apart from the processing
fee of Rs 25,000 for each proposal, the producers had spent
money on reputed writers, directors and language experts,
expenses were made during the presentations including air/rail
travel, hotel and local conveyance for the experts were undertaken
twice, money was paid for acquiring of rights of novels /published
works; re-payment of the same to maintain the status quo so
that the proposal still remains viable; and professional fees
(although token) were paid to the creative team to remain
with the project, apart from payments to language experts.
The
channel totally banked on acquisition programmes which were
invited in the years 2005, 2006 and 2007 respectively.
Prasar
Bharti sources told Indiantelevision.com that the total outlay
of Rs 2.5 billion at the rate of Rs 500 million per year had
been projected for the channel during the 12th plan, which
is subject to approval of the planning commission.
The
formal announcement about DD Urdu came on 15 August 2006.
The language channel has been on air for 24 hours from 14
November 2007. The channel’s mandate was to encapsulate
heritage, culture, literature, information, education and
societal issues specific to the target audience.
The
theme that predominantly runs through the transmission relates
to modernising educational and social outlook of the target
audience, document and show comparative study of societies
in the South-Asian neighbourhood to draw lines of demarcation
between democratic and non-democratic social structures, popularising
science, technology, IT and demystifying science, conserving
literary and cultural traditions identified with Urdu, and
portrayal of Urdu as one of the modern Indian languages.
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