MIB appoints former IAS officer Navneet Kumar Sehgal as Chairman of Prasar Bharati

The Indian government has appointed retired bureaucrat Navneet Kumar Sehgal as the new Chairman of Prasar Bharati, the autonomous body overseeing the country’s public broadcasting services. The appointment came after a four-year-long vacancy.

Sehgal was appointed by President Droupadi Murmu upon the recommendation of a high-level selection committee headed by Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar. He succeeds A. Surya Prakash, whose tenure ended in February 2020 after reaching the upper age limit of 70 years. 

Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in its order stated, “The President, on the recommendation of the Selection Committee, is pleased to appoint Shri Navneet Kumar Sehgal, IAS (retd) as the Chairman of the Prasar Bharati Board with effect from the date of his assuming charge of the post for a term of three years or until he attains the age of seventy years, whichever is earlier.”

The three-member selection panel consisted of Dhankhar as the Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha, Justice Ranjana Desai (retd), as the Chairperson of the Press Council of India, and Information and Broadcasting Secretary Sanjay Jaju.

With over three decades of experience in the bureaucracy, Sehgal is expected to bring fresh vision and stability to Prasar Bharati, which oversees the operations of Doordarshan, India’s public television network, and All India Radio, the national public radio broadcaster.

He started as a Joint Magistrate of Dehradun in August 1991 and remained till July 1992. Later, he also served as the Principal Secretary to the Government of UP for the Khadi & Village Industries Department from June 2017 to June 2020. He was then the Additional Chief Secretary in the same department from June 2020 onwards for almost two years.

Sehgal’s association with the state of Uttar Pradesh has been particularly noteworthy. He served as the Secretary to the Chief Minister under the governments of Mayawati, Akhilesh Yadav, and Yogi Adityanath between 2007 and 2012. Most recently, he held the position of Additional Chief Secretary in the Sports Department and Youth Welfare Department of Uttar Pradesh until his retirement on August 31, 2022.

As Prasar Bharati’s new chairman, Sehgal will be tasked with providing strategic leadership for the organization that has remained without a permanent head for a prolonged period. He is expected to ensure editorial independence and modernize Prasar Bharati to keep up with India’s evolving media and broadcast industry.