Delhi Confidential: Helping Out

As Shashi Shekhar Vempati concluded his five-year term as the Chief Executive Officer of India’s public broadcaster, Prasar Bharati, on Wednesday, another important organisation attached to the Union Information and Broadcasting Ministry has fallen vacant. Vempati, considered close to the powers at the top, did not get an extension, for which an application should have been made to the selection committee, which the government did not do. However, the selection committee itself does not have all the members required. Headed by Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu, whose tenure comes to an end in a couple of months, it included I&B Secretary Apurva Chandra, and the Press Council of India chairman. The PCI chairman’s position, however, has been vacant since November last year, when Justice C K Prasad (retd) demitted office. Prasar Bharati hasn’t had a chairman of its board for over two years after A Surya Prakash completed two tenures in February 2020. Doordarshan’s director-general Mayank Agarwal has been given additional charge of Prasar Bharati CEO for now.

Marketing Education

Appearing in the hearing of a plea that sought one more round of counselling for vacant seats in NEET-PG All India Quota, a doctor told the Supreme Court on Thursday that chances of medical seats remaining vacant in private colleges is almost nil because they are able to “market” any seat that may remain vacant after counselling and get it filled. The submission caught the attention of Justice M R Shah, who was quick to tell the doctor that he had “rightly used the word market”. He recalled that Justice B R Gavai, during a recent hearing, had said that education has become a business. Additional Solicitor General Balbir Singh, too, weighed in and said medical education “is a business today” and entire education is a business the world over.