Hamid Ansari’s term as the Vice President of India was largely uneventful until the 2014 general elections which saw a BJP led NDA obtaining a brute majority. After 2014, Hamid Ansari found himself in one controversy or the other, not participating in Yoga day celebrations three years in row to not saluting the flag during the Republic Day Parade are to name a few. But he did ensure that he left his mark during his last days as the Vice President by taking potshots at the government with his statement that Muslims are feeling insecure in India.
PM Modi on his part made sure that he gave a befitting reply to Hamid Ansari during his last day of the Monsoon Session in Rajya Sabha. The Vice President is also the head of the Rajya Sabha TV and let’s take a look at how the Hamid Ansari led Rajya Sabha TV on taxpayer’s money made merry.
A PIL filed in 2015 and the subsequent report by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India(CAG) exposed the irregularities in the running of Rajya Sabha TV (RSTV).
Before the advent of RSTV, the Lok Sabha TV would telecast the proceeding of the upper house but in 2011, the Rajya Sabha made a bid for a separate channel using Parliament’s Sansad Cable Network with a modest budget of Rs.1.55 crore. But after an investigation carried out by DNA, it was indeed the then VP Hamid Ansari’s decision to launch an independent channel. While the likes of USA and Europe telecast the live proceedings of their Parliament through webcast which cost a pittance, the upkeep of LSTV was always going to be expensive and add to that the setting up and maintenance of RSTV was sure to leave a huge dent in the government coffers.
The initial cost to set up the channel was estimated to be round Rs. 28.94 crore and the figure has shot to astronomical amounts since the channel’s inception. It would have cost just 1.55 crore if the LSTV continued to show the proceedings of the upper house.
The budget of RSTV is bigger than any government channel and also doesn’t generate any revenue as it shows no advertisements not even the government ones. RSTV was launched with an aim to provide tough competition to the private channels but funnily the staffers of RSTV have no idea if the channel is doing well or not because RSTV doesn’t track viewership ratings.
Since its inception RSTV spent a whopping Rs.1700 crore (as of 2015) which is completely bankrolled by the taxpayers. It is important to note that RSTV is an independent channel and doesn’t come under the ambit of the Central Government. Owing to cut throat competition and paucity of funds many private channels have closed down but surprisingly the RSTV has gone bigger. It’s annual budget stands at a staggering Rs 69.28 crores which is five times more than that of LSTV.
RSTV CEO Gurdeep Singh Sappal recently resigned from his post as the tenure of Hamid Ansari came to an end. Sappal was the right hand (Also OSD) of Hamid Ansari and enjoyed various perks during his reign.
A recent RTI query revealed that unlike the post of LSTV CEO which was prominently advertised, the post of RSTV CEO was never advertised and Sappal was handpicked without any competition. Additional perks that came with the job are top class house in posh Bapa Nagar and a life and distinguished pass for Parliament’s Central Hall on ‘out of turn’ basis. Sappal despite having no experience as journalist was granted lifetime access to the Central Hall during the fag end of Ansari’s tenure because he was a ‘distinguished journalist’ having an experience of over 15 years.
There is little doubt that Sappal was blatantly lying about his experience as a journalist as he is a scientist by profession and served as the additional private secretary for the then UPA Minister Suresh Pachouri from 2004-2007. His payscale was not only more than that of LSTV’s CEO but way above his official rank of Joint Secretary and stood at Rs.1.75 lakh per month.
Amrita Rai, wife of Congress leader Digvijay Singh to played a prominent role in the running of RSTV and made merry on taxpayers money. Sappal is also known as a close aide to Ahmed Patel, someone who enjoys Sonia Gandhi’s complete trust.
Recently a movie named ‘Raag Desh’ based on Subash Chandra Bose and the erstwhile INA was released at a budget of Rs.10 crores. Little did people know that the movie was the brainchild of RSTV and the capital for the movie was obviously provided by the taxpayers. What’s worse that another crores of rupees were plundered on the excuse of nationwide promotion of the movie by Sappal and Amrita Rai.
Incidentally, Amrita Rai has also acted in the movie. If you think RSTV stepping out of its mandate to produce a big budget movie is totally unnecessary, think of the fact that throughout the making of the movie which lasted over a year, Sappal and Amrita Rai enjoyed perks of movie related work on public money.
CAG in its damning report said that RSTV has no roadmap and its existence in itself questionable. Unlike LSTV , RSTV has no source of funding and completely relies on taxpayers money. The channel has four web links, whose viewership when put together does not exceed one lakh. The report further reveals that even before the channel was fully functional in 2012, it’s executive directors and editors had spent over Rs. 60 lakh on travel by taxis.
Ever wondered why such irregularities were never covered by the left leaning so called ‘liberal’ mainstream media? RSTV employed founders of various leftist media as guest anchors and offered them huge amount of money. People like Bharat Bhushan, editor of Catchnews, whose associate editor Aditya Menon, was recently found stoking tension in Kashmir by circulating fake news and pics of Syria and passed them off as the ‘brutalities’ of Indian Army on Kashmiris.
Siddharth Varadarajan and MK Venu, editors of The Wire, a well-known leftist media house which operates under the pretext of ‘free media’ were also hired as guest anchors. The wife of Siddharth Vadarajan, Nandini Sundar who also happens to be a columnist on The Wire is a well-known Naxal sympathiser who is also booked on charges of murder of a tribal by allegedly abetting Naxals in the insurgency hit Sukma district of Chattisgarh. All the guest anchors have been removed after Venkaiah Naidu succeeded Hamid Ansari as the Vice President and he has also ordered Prasar Bharati to take over the anarchy filled Rajya Sabha and probe the rampant money plundering.
With a CBI inquiry expected to be announced soon on the irregularities of RSTV, it is understandable why Hamid Ansari is feeling so insecure in India.
