NBSA appoints new members, including former CEC Dr Nazim Zaidi

Dr Nazim Zaidi, former Chief Election Commissioner of India; Stuti Kacker, former Chairperson, National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR); Zohra Chatterji, former Secretary, Ministry of Textiles; and Navtej Sarna, former India’s Ambassador to the US, have been appointed as new members of the News Broadcasting Standards Authority (NBSA), the independent and autonomous self-regulatory body for member news channels of the News Broadcasters Association (NBA). 

They replace Nitin Desai, Dr SY Quraishi, Leela Ponappa and Vijayalakshmi Chhabra, whose terms at the NBSA have ended. 

This was announced by Rajat Sharma, President, NBA, in a press release issued. 

The Chairperson of NBSA is Justice AK Sikri, former Supreme Court judge, who was appointed in May 2019. He succeeded Justice (Retd) RV Raveendran, who completed his term in May 2019. 

Dr Nasim Zaidi, IAS from 1976 batch of the UP cadre, served as the 20th Chief Election Commissioner of India from 2015 to 2017, after earlier working as Election Commissioner from 2012 to 2015. During his career spanning several years, he has served in increasingly responsible positions in the state of Uttar Pradesh and Government of India (GOI). As a constitutional authority, he brought about several institutional reforms at ECI, including introduction of digital technology in several areas such as inclusive voter registration, election monitoring and 100 per cent use of VVPAT with EVMs. 

Stuti Narain Kacker is an IAS officer from the 1978 batch of the UP cadre. In 36 years of service, she held progressively responsible positions in the State and Centre. She became Secretary to Government of India, Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities. As Secretary, she established the Department of Disability Affairs, Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment, GOI and superannuated on December 31, 2014. Thereafter, she was Chairperson, National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), a statutory body of GOI, under the Ministry of Women and Child, Government of India, from September 17, 2015 for three years. She is currently Chancellor, Swami Vivekanand Subharti University, Meerut, UP. 

Zohra Chatterji is an IAS officer from the 1979 batch of the UP cadre. In July 2014, she retired as Secretary, Ministry of Textiles in the Government of India. She has held several important positions in her home state, including Secretary and Director Industries, Labour Commissioner, Secretary & DG Tourism, Secretary & Project Director Basic Education. Her last assignment in UP was Principal Secretary, IT & Industries. 

Navtej Sarna was India’s Ambassador to the United States till December 2018. He also served as India’s High Commissioner to the UK, Ambassador to the State of Israel and Secretary at the Ministry of External Affairs. He has the distinction of being India’s longest serving foreign office spokesperson, having held that post for six years. He is also an established author of fiction and non-fiction works.