We deserve a better deal: All India Radio RJs unpaid since lockdown, Prasar Bharati not yielding

NEW DELHI: Despite Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s repeated appeals besides letters from the finance and labour ministries to not fire employees or cut their wages, about 80 radio jockeys (RJs) of public radio broadcaster All Radio Radio (AIR) or Akashvani’s flagship frequency 100.1 FM Gold say they have not been paid their salary for more than a month.

Right up till Janta Curfew was observed on March 22 and the subsequent lockdown on March 25, these 80-odd employees were rendering their services to public broadcasting agency Prasar Bharati on a casual basis.

But, when the lockdown came into effect, the nature of FM Gold changed. Earlier, it used to be an infotainment station. Besides airing news every hour through the day and night, it also hosted multiple entertainment and public awareness and educational shows, including Bollywood songs till the 1990s and ghazals. These shows were hosted by these RJs, besides the permanent ones.

But with FM Gold changing from an infotainment frequency to a 24-hour live news frequency, the RJs are now jobless, with no work or salary. Even shows assigned to them for the last week of March were cancelled. They say they have not been paid for the last week of March and for April.

THE CHALLENGES

Seema Verma, an RJ for about 25 years, has been associated with FM Gold on a casual basis since its inception in 2001. In fact, she presented its first-ever show - a programme on ghazals.

She also hosts private events, but these are at a standstill due to the pandemic. And with FM Gold also having stopped utilising her services, she is in deep financial trouble.

Seema used to host shows on every Saturday. She was scheduled to host a show on the last Saturday of March, but it was cancelled. She has not been paid for the cancelled show.

She said an RJ gets Rs 2,600 per show. Moreover, according to rules, one RJ cannot get more than six shows per month. On an average, an RJ anchors four shows.

A widow and a mother of two children - a son in college and daughter in school - she is worried about how she will pay for their education.

Talking to timesofindia.com, she said, “No section of the society should lose jobs or salary due to lockdown. If even the maid servants are being paid despite not working, we artists deserve a better deal from Prasar Bharati.”

Sanjeev Agnihotri has also been associated with FM Gold as a casual RJ since the beginning, prior to which he worked since 1997 for AIR’s National Channel. He said his shows from March 22 have been cancelled and he has nor been paid since then.

Apart from FM Gold, Agnihotri also hosts private shows, does theatre and conducts acting workshops. But with theatre and workshops also closed, he is worried about how he will manage to meet expenses.

Agnihotri, general secretary of AIR Broadcasting Professionals’ Association, said casual employees are the backbone of FM Gold. “As high as 95 per cent of employees are on a casual basis. Unfortunately, we are being given a short shrift by the government,” he said.

He rued the fact that the government did not consider casual RJs as their employees even though the Jabalpur high court has given a ruling to treat them as central government employees.

Another casual RJ, Rakesh Kumar Yadav, says if offices and shops are opening and different modes of transport are resuming services, why should FM Gold not return to its old format. Working with AIR since 2009, he said they are on a monthly contract, which again is disappointing and demotivating.

Compared to other casual and contractual employees of other central government departments and ministries, these RJs say the way they are being treated is unfair. For instance, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha have been paying their contractual, casual and outsourced employees, such as sanitation workers, wages for the entire months of March and April even though they were asked to stay at home during the lockdown period.

PRASAR BHARATI'S RESPONSE

However, Prasar Bharati chief executive officer (CEO) Shashi Shekhar Vempati feels the casual and contractual RJs are not entitled to be paid for the days they did not work because they are not employees of AIR.

Talking to timesofindia.com, he said, “There is no employee-employer relationship here. These are freelance assignments on a part-time basis subject to needs of AIR. Several casual assignees continue to deliver services per assignments across the network and are getting paid as per their entitlements on an assignment basis.”

Shashi Shekhar Vempati said the casual assignees are not employees. “They are drawn from a panel. The panel is fairly large. Assignments are taken up by a handful of assignees from the panel subject to availability and feasibility. If everyone on every panel is to be paid an unspecified amount from public funds, it would be unsustainable."

He further said the casuals are paid based on assignments delivered. “There is no entitlement for payments outside of assignments. All those who are entitled to a monthly salary either directly (regular, contractual) or through an outsourced contract (security, sanitation and the likes) have been paid.

Vempati also said assignments to these RJs are given on a “need basis”. “Wherever there was a need, assignments were given. Many casuals also declined assignments. Whoever accepted an assignment has been paid for those assignments.”

Asked why some of the RJs were not paid even though their duty had been assigned but was cancelled by the office due to lockdown, he said, “I will have this examined… They can write to me on my official email ID.”

But the RJs are not convinced. “Prasar Bharati is doing exactly the opposite of what our honourable PM Modi ji said or even the letters from finance and labour ministries have explicitly said a number of times since March 20,” said RJ Agnihotri.

PM NARENDRA MODI'S APPEALS

On March 23, while interacting with industry representatives via video-conferencing, Modi had asked India Inc to allow employees to work from home. He also asked them not to slash the workforce in spite of the pandemic's adverse impact on their businesses.

On the same day, the finance ministry’s department of expenditure (DoE) issued an office memorandum saying that the salaries of the contract workers associated with its offices will not be deducted if they were compelled to stay at home during the coronavirus pandemic.

On April 14, while announcing extension of lockdown till May 3, PM Narendra Modi once again appealed to the industry not to lay off employees.

In the latest office memorandum issued by the finance ministry to all the ministries, departments and other organisations of the central government on May 20, it asked them to make payments of wages to contractual, casual and outsourced persons during lockdown period till May 31.

FM Gold RJs want Prasar Bharati to go by the sentiments of the PM and the orders of the government.