The six-member board will be headed by senior journalist Jagdish Upasane, who is a director of Bharat Prakashan, the group that publishes RSS mouthpieces Panchajanya and Organiser. (File Photo)

For the first time since it was established in 1997, Prasar Bharati has set up a board for recruitment of thousands of programming, engineering, transmission and other executives up to the level of Directors, according to sources.

The six-member board will be headed by senior journalist Jagdish Upasane, who is a director of Bharat Prakashan, the group that publishes RSS mouthpieces Panchajanya and Organiser.

Sources said there are thousands of vacancies at these levels in both All India Radio and Doordarshan.

The provisions for the creation of the board were mentioned in the Prasar Bharati Act of 1990, but it had not been created since Prasar Bharati was set up in 1997, when the Act came into force. In February this year, the government notified the rules for its setting-up.

As per the notified rules, the new recruitment board “shall hold the competitive examination or departmental examination or conduct interviews for selection of candidates” and “shall shortlist and recommend to the (Prasar Bharati) Board candidates for appointment thereto”.

Upasane, chairperson of the board, is the brother of Chhattisgarh BJP spokesperson Sachidanand Upasane. Their mother Rajni Upasane was a Jana Sangh member and a legislator from Raipur in 1977.