Nobody else reaches that many people as Doordarshan, isn’t that a huge opportunity and responsibility?
Our reach is indeed huge. We are the only ones with terrestrial reach. Our competition is only through satellites, and mostly for the entertainment part of it, and news. For all the public broadcasting, we are the only ones. But there is a scope of improvement for sure. With the opening of our economy, the public sector units tightened their belts and emerged much stronger. Similarly, we have to tighten our belt and have a robust system, standing up to competition and strengthening ourselves.

Private competition has changed your reality?
Absolutely. Private competition is an opportunity to introspect and improve without compromising on our distinct role and mandate. Our mandate is to give the correct information and convey the government policy in the correct way, including the various schemes and programs devised for its execution. We have 17 centres and through them we can develop a feedback mechanism for all those policies. It is a wonderful vehicle to have such an arrangement.
Social issues and groups who need a constant assistance and exposure to take advantage of globalisation --- government programs are there to enable them to do so. That is where the role of a public broadcaster in conveying the government’s efforts is so crucial.

What about issues like domestic violence, female foeticide etc.?
I am thinking of a slot on Sundays for those issues, for instance children’s rights, child labour laws, nutrition issues and so on. Similarly for women issues, or guaranteed employment, or food security issues. It is about exposing a web of issues, the government efforts to cater to them and their impact.

... contd.