India-born media veteran Dr Samir Shah selected as new BBC chairman
London, Dec 7: An India-born media executive who has worked in UK broadcasting for over 40 years, Dr Samir Shah, has been announced as the UK government's preferred candidate to take over as the new BBC chairman.
The 71-year-old, who was honoured with a CBE by Queen Elizabeth II in 2019 for services to television and heritage, will replace Richard Sharp, who had been forced to resign after his communication with former prime minister Boris Johnson came under scrutiny.
Shah will now be quizzed by cross-party MPs of the House of Commons Media Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee for pre-appointment scrutiny before formally taking charge.
"With a career spanning more than 40 years in TV production and journalism, Dr Shah has a wealth of experience to bring to the position of BBC Chair," UK Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer said on Wednesday, confirming the selection as per the appointment process.
"He has a clear ambition to see the BBC succeed in a rapidly changing media landscape, and I have no doubt he will provide the support and scrutiny that the BBC needs to meet the challenges and opportunities of the future," she said.
The minister said Shah's knowledge of the British Broadcasting Corporation and his belief in its role as a national broadcaster alongside his extensive work to promote diversity in broadcasting will be invaluable in helping to ensure that the BBC reflects, represents and serves communities across the whole of the UK.
"The BBC is, without doubt, one of the greatest contributions we have made to global culture and one of our strongest calling cards on soft power," Shah said.
"If I am able to put what skills, experience, and understanding of public service broadcasting I have built up during my career to help this brilliant organisation meet the complex and diverse challenges it faces over the coming years, it would be an honour," he added.
"The BBC has a great place in British life and a unique duty to reach a wide audience right across the country and I will do all I can to ensure it fulfils this in an increasingly competitive market," Shah further said.
Born in Aurangabad, Shah came to England in 1960 and has previously been the head of current affairs and political programmes at the BBC.
The CEO and owner of Juniper, an independent television and radio production company, Shah has also served as a non-executive director of the BBC between 2007 and 2010.
Besides, the Oxford University alumnus is a race relations expert who co-authored the government's Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities report in 2021.
More recently, he was named on a three-member panel set up by the government to independently review the unrest that took place in the city of Leicester last year, as community groups clashed in the aftermath of an India-Pakistan cricket match.
As BBC chairman, a three-day-a-week role with an annual salary of GBP 160,000, Shah will be responsible for upholding and protecting the taxpayer-funded licence fee-operated public broadcaster and ensuring it fulfils its mission to "inform, educate and entertain".
"We welcome the announcement that Samir Shah has been selected as the government's preferred candidate to take up the role of BBC chair and look forward to him joining the board once the formal process has been completed," a BBC spokesperson said.
Shah's half-brother, Mohit Bakaya, is also a BBC veteran as controller of BBC Radio 4.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Environment ministry endorses names of 10-member expert committee set up to define Aravalli hills
New Delhi (PTI): The Union Environment Ministry has told the Supreme Court that it has no objection with the Central Empowered Committee's proposed 10-member high-powered expert committee which has been tasked to come up with a uniform definition for the Aravalli hills and ranges.
In an affidavit filed before the top court, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has endorsed the names suggested for the high-powered expert committee comprising in-service and retired bureaucrats associated with the Forest Survey of India (FSI), Geological Survey of India (GSI) and Survey of India, along with academicians.
"The MoEFCC respectfully submits that it has no objection if this court as the aforesaid suggested names for the constitution of the proposed High Powered Committee. It is further submitted that the Ministry does not have any additional names to propose at this stage for inclusion in the said committee," the affidavit said.
The committee is proposed to be headed by Kanchan Devi, the current director general of the Indian Council of Forestry Research & Education.
The MoEF, in its affidavit, said the aspects relating to the Aravalli Hills and Ranges require a comprehensive and analytical examination, including stakeholder consultation, by a group of domain experts in the relevant fields.
The CEC in its report to the apex court said Devi, a 1991 Indian Forest Service officer from the Madhya Pradesh cadre, has over three decades of experience in forestry education and research, wildlife and forest policy, and institutional leadership.
The other members include Subhash Ashutosh, former director general of FSI,
former GSI director Rajendra Kumar Sharma, climate and energy policy expert Tejal Kanitkar, senior academician and life sciences researcher Jaya Parkash Yadav, senior geographer and scholar Tejbir Singh Rana, former additional surveyor general of India SV Singh, former Gujarat principal chief conservator of forests CN Pandey, and former Nagaland PCCF Dharmendra Prakash.
The CEC also recommended names of RN Mishra, a noted author and Vijay Dhasmana, an ecological restoration practitioner and conservationist.
On February 26, the top court had asked the environment ministry and other stakeholders to suggest names of domain experts for the panel which would define the Aravalli hills and ranges, and observed that only lawful mining would be allowed in the region.
The top court, on December 29, took note of the outcry over the new definition of the Aravallis and kept in abeyance its November 20 directions that accepted a uniform definition of these hills and ranges. It had also stalled all mining activities.
It remarked that there was a need to resolve "critical ambiguities", including whether the criteria of 100-metre elevation and the 500-metre gap between hills would strip a significant portion of the range of environmental protection.
