New Delhi: The information and broadcasting (I&B) ministry on Monday appointed Ira Joshi as the director general (DG) of Doordarshan News, a post which has been vacant ever since former DG Veena Jain retired earlier in August.

Joshi is currently serving as the director general of Press Information Bureau (PIB) in the national capital.

A 1984 batch Indian Information Services (IIS) officer, Joshi has previously worked as the additional director general at the publications division and directorate of advertising and visual publicity (DAVP) for two and three years, respectively.

Joshi’s appointment comes at a time when public broadcaster Prasar Bharati is in the process of converting its socio-cultural channel DD India into a global English-language news channel. The broadcaster is also looking to convert its current bilingual channel DD News into a full-fledged Hindi news channel that will compete with private Hindi news channels.

Prasar Bharati runs Doordarshan and All India Radio. Additionally, Prasar Bharati had recently revamped the official website of DD News and is in the process of launching a global digital platform like BBC and Al Jazeera by year-end.

In an order dated 20 November, the I&B ministry also appointed Ghanshyam Goel as the director general of directorate of advertising and visual publicity (DAVP).

At present, Goel, a 1984 batch IIS office, is the director general of Press Information Bureau (PIB) in New Delhi.

DAVP is the nodal agency of the central government for advertising on behalf of various ministries, departments, public sector firms and autonomous organizations funded by the government.

Goel will replace Esther Kar, who has been put on a “compulsory wait until further orders," according to the order from the ministry. Goel has previously served as the additional director general at DAVP.

Meanwhile, Prasar Bharati has multiple vacancies at top positions including the post of chairman as the tenure of A. Surya Prakash ended recently in October. The post of member (personnel) at Prasar Bharati has also been vacant ever since SC Panda retired in February.

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