Mann Ki Baat Ahead, All India Radio Behind: Public Broadcaster Shows Signs of Institutional Decline

For decades, radio served as the government’s most reliable voice across India’s towns and villages. But today, the vast network of public broadcasting stations under All India Radio (AIR) appears to be struggling under the weight of administrative neglect and prolonged staff shortages.

An on-ground visit to the AIR station in Rewa after nearly thirty-four years — the last being in 1992 — revealed a system that seems to be functioning in survival mode rather than as a robust public broadcaster. The once-busy corridors of the station now reflect a quieter, uncertain reality.

Across the country, hundreds of sanctioned posts in the Indian Broadcasting Service remain unfilled. Key operational positions such as Programme Executives (PEX), Transmission Executives (TREX), Duty Officers and Announcers have been lying vacant for years, affecting programme production and transmission at multiple stations.

The situation at the Rewa station mirrors this broader crisis. Currently, only two Programme Executives are available, forcing the station to depend heavily on relay content from the Bhopal station. Local programming — once the backbone of regional broadcasting — has been reduced considerably.

Former employees and observers of the broadcasting sector say the decline is not limited to a few stations. Many AIR units across states are reportedly operating with skeletal staff and shrinking local output, raising concerns about the future of government radio in the country.

Ironically, the past decade also saw a revival of radio’s public visibility. After the change of government in 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s monthly programme Mann Ki Baat brought radio back into national conversation. The programme drew millions of listeners and was broadcast simultaneously across radio, television and digital platforms, demonstrating the continued reach of the medium.

Within the AIR fraternity, the programme had initially generated optimism that the institution itself would receive renewed policy attention and structural strengthening. While Mann Ki Baat expanded the popularity of radio as a medium, many employees say the organisational strengthening of AIR did not follow at the same pace.

A separate concern relates to the status of casual employees. While contractual staff in several government departments have been receiving regular monthly remuneration, casual announcers and other casual workers in AIR stations continue to face strict working limits. Many of them are permitted to work only up to six days in a month, a restriction that has drawn criticism from labour observers and former broadcasting professionals.

Sector experts warn that if the current staffing and structural issues are not addressed, public broadcasting could face deeper institutional weakening. Several analysts have called for urgent intervention by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to review recruitment, strengthen regional programming and revive the operational capacity of AIR stations.

For a network that once connected remote villages with the nation’s political and cultural life, the present moment raises a pressing question: whether India’s government radio will be revived through reform — or gradually fade into administrative obscurity.