Doordarshan Srinagar lives its tradition of being a hub of Nepotism & Favoritism

Only Kashmir News Desk
Srinagar, Mar 09 (Only Kashmir): The words nepotism and favoritism have become synonymous with state-run Doordarshan Kendra Srinagar. Reports convey that only blue-eyed personalities, relatives of bureaucrats and politically connected people are recruited and invited for several programs telecasted on daily and weekly basis.
Sources said that lesser-known people having the ‘certificate of relation’ with the concerned officials and politicians and zero contribution in any of the field are being promoted through several TV shows aired on DD Kashir, whereas deserving people lacking the requisite influence are not invited at all. As a consequence, merit becomes a direct tragedy in such institutions and may be a potential factor in being incremental to the already established mass alienation.
Pertinently, most of the shows run are given to people without an open qualification test, for example, several shows hosted by many youths are done where they recruited without proper audition which has ultimately affected the quality of programs, as a result, decreasing the viewership of the channel.
“The nepotism and favoritism is the reason that DD Kashir is losing the sheen and has not introduced any local talent other than the useless songs filmed mostly in Botanical Garden,” a producer and an insider said while talking with Onlykashmir[dot]in pleading anonymity.
“It has become a norm that relatives, friends, neighbors and acquaintances are being invited even by the hosts, who themselves are the product of nepotism, which amounts to cheating those who really deserve to come in limelight.” the producer added.
Pertinent to mention here, on the instructions of Home Minister Rajnath Singh DD Kashir is all set to introduce Kashmir’s own version of popular TV game show Kaun Banega Crorepati to promote ideas and values of what is known as secularism, peace and patriotism.
The official said, KBC will be themed to promote democratic values of India, national unity, communal harmony, merits of secularism, patriotism and also highlight the perils of fundamentalism.
Surprisingly, no audition was held for the position of host of the show KBC, leaving many youngsters who yearned to win the position on the dint of their talent, in utter dismay and disgust.
Pertinently, Kashmiri artists associated with the public broadcaster Doordarshan time and again hit the streets against “extinction of Kashmiri programs” from a Kashmir specific channel like DD Kashir. They alleged that the Kashir channel has been turned into a money minting machine for Mumbai-based producers whose “flop movies” run at prime times adding to the suffering of the local artists.
The curse of corruption at DDK Srinagar became evident sometime in early 2004 and has made itself permanent. The Kendra is beset with corruption cases to over a tune of Rs.30 crores and is facing multiple cases from private professionals for non-payment of their dues.