New Delhi: The Electronic Media Monitoring Centre (EMMC) which was set up in 2008 to “monitor” media is now set to get a new contractor which will help the organisation find employees using private vendors at “cheapest costs”.

The current employees – about 300 in total – now fear that this will mean a termination letter for them. Many of them have been working at the organisation for over a decade and are afraid that the nature of their work, which is to “monitor” the media, does not provide them with enough scope to find work elsewhere.

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“When a private company will hires new people, they will ensure that they get the cheapest labour. The work standard would not matter so much, as the only purpose of private contractors is to maximise profits and minimise costs. We who have been working here for many years will either be told to resign, or to work at a salary even lower than our current salary,” says Sahil (name changed to protect identity). Sahil has been working there for seven years and earns less than Rs 30,000 a month.

What is the Electronic Media Monitoring Centre? 

In 2008, the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government set up the EMMC under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to “monitor the content of private TV channels” with to check for any violation of guidelines and advertising codes. The two acts under which content is mainly monitored are the Cable Television Networks Act, 1995, and the Cable Television Network Rules, 1994.

Section 6 [2] of the Cable Television Network Rules (1994) specifies that channels do not offend good taste, decency or attack religions or communities. Nor should they carry anything that is likely to encourage or incite violence or anything that goes against the maintenance of law and order.

Specifically, the code says programmes should not telecast anything amounting to the contempt of court. They should not cast aspersions on the integrity of the president and the judiciary, and criticise, malign, or slander any individual in person or certain groups, segments of the social, public and moral life of the country.

However, the EMMC does not have any powers to seek action against the defaulters, which leaves the scope of “selective punishing” of certain channels by the I&B Ministry, according to one of its oldest employees, Aman* (name changed to protect identity).

High-profile monitoring work

Aman says that more than 50% of the work that they do is off the record. Even though it was initially formed with the view to monitor TV channels, the organisation, according to multiple employees, also monitors OTT (over the top media) platforms, newspapers and news websites.

There are multiple wings in the organisation – news analysis, administration, compilation, technical wing and newsroom, etc. The newsroom wing of the organisation also monitors prime time debates on an everyday basis, keeping an eye out for “anti-establishment anchors,” making a report based on their perspective in the show, opening and closing remarks.

“Just anybody cannot do this work. It takes a keen eye, a dedicated person, and lots of acquired talent to do this kind of work,” Aman adds.

Issue at stake

Broadcast Engineering Consultants India Limited (BECIL), its current contractor, has so far been responsible for several tasks, including that of hiring people. Now, it will be replaced by GeM (government e-marketplace) as the new year 2021 begins.

GeM is an online portal created by the Central government where private vendors register themselves on the portal, which then supplies goods and services to government departments/public bodies/central and state institutions.

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“Private vendors don’t have an affinity for employees, they only care about profits,” says Sahil.

A notice dated August 21, 2020, was sent to the employees under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. It says that while BECIL will continue to be the implementation partner of EMMC for technical work, other tasks such as purchase, and AMC currently carried out by BECIL could be moved to GeM from the next year.

“Regarding the HR component of the work, the current arrangement would continue till 31^st December 2020. EMMC would hire manpower via GeM beyond 31.12.2020. A committee will look into rationalization of manpower well before this time limit,” the notice reads.

It is this “rationalisation of manpower” that the current employees say they are afraid of. “This term simply means that they will hire new people, and we who have spent almost a decade here will be told to go,” Aman sighs.

“It is after working here that I realised how powerful the government really is,” he adds.

According to Aman, the staff at EMMC are often sent for work which is outside their domain. “And we don’t get paid for the extra work that we do. Who should we complain if the very government isn’t on our side?” he asks.

Besides, they are not given medical insurance or “permanent” employee status even after several years of being part of the centre. According to him, maternity leaves in the EMMC were introduced as late as 2019, that too after a long process.

While The Wire has reached out to Information and Broadcasting Minister, Prakash Javadekar, for his statement, his response is still awaited. His response will be added as soon as it is received.

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