BBC's India correspondents complain about redundancy offers

Three BBC correspondents based in three of India's largest cities have complained to the corporation's director-general, Tony Hall, about the size of their redundancy offers.

Ram Dutt Tripathi, who works in Lucknow, Mohammed Omer Farooq (Hyderabad) and Manikant Thakur (Patna) have asked why they are not entitled to the same pay-off terms as other BBC staff.

According to the National Union of Journalists, their letter asked: "Why are we being treated differently? Why are we being discriminated against?"

The trio were among five staff affected by a reorganisation of the BBC's Hindi service. They were all asked to relocate to Delhi. Two agreed, but the other three did not wish to move and were offered redundancy instead.

They have received support from the NUJ and the Indian Federation of Working Journalists (IFWJ). Both organisations have protested at the closure of the Indian bureaus.

The IFWJ has called on the Indian government to intervene, demanding that BBC management "strictly abide by the relevant laws of the land to protect the interests of the other journalists who have been working with it for quite long periods."

NUJ general secretary Michelle Stanistreet said: "The NUJ supports our BBC colleagues in India with their demands for an immediate halt to the entire process of closure of positions of regional correspondents of the BBC in India and urges the management to hold proper discussions to ensure a just and fair treatment with these senior journalists in accordance with the BBC's policies."
The BBC has stressed that it is not cutting jobs in India. A BBC World Service spokesman said: "BBC Hindi is changing its reporting operations in India to meet the needs of its audiences across radio, the web and television for coverage across the whole of the country. We have been in discussions with the five staff affected…

"The three who do not wish to move have been offered redundancy terms consistent with those offered previously to staff in India and in accordance with labour law guidelines. They were also offered the opportunity of a trial period in Delhi."
Sources: NUJ/BBC