Quick Facts
Biography
Gurdeep Singh Sappal is the Chief Executive Officer and Editor-in-Chief of Rajya Sabha TV, the public broadcaster owned and operated by Rajya Sabha, the Upper House of The Parliament of India. He is also the Officer on Special Duty to the Vice President of India and works as his aide and political advisor.
Sappal is credited with conceptualizing and establishing Rajya Sabha Television (RSTV). He has also conceptulized and produced a ten-part television series Samvidhaan - The Making of the Constitution of India, which re-enacts the debates of the Constituent Assembly and recreates the drama of the political and parliamentary process of developing the salient features of the Constitution of India. The series was directed by Shyam Benegal.
Project
Sappal's latest project is the film Raagdesh. It is a cinematic rendition of the famous Red Fort Trials of the Indian National Army's Azad Hind Fauz. The trials were held in 1945 by the British Government, who charged Lt. Col Gurubaksh Singh Dhillon, Major General Shah Nawaz Khan and Lt. Col. Prem Sahgal with charges of acting against the King of Britain and murder. The three were the main associates of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose. The film was conceptualized by Sappal, is directed by Tigmanshu Dhulia.
Career
Sappal started his career as Senior Research Fellow in Council for Scientific and Technology Research (CSIR), where he worked on Information Systems for Mlti Sectoral Rural Development. He also worked for inconclusive Ph.D. in Information Systems at IIT, Delhi. Thereafter, he worked on several research projects in rural technology development, District Primary Education Programme, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and child labour. He was also an active participant in adult literacy and post-literacy campaigns.
He has also worked as aide to Suresh Pachauri, Minister of State for Personnel and Parliamentary Affairs from 2004 - 2007, in the UPA 1 government. Thereafter, he was the associated with the election of the President of India and Vice President of India in 2007. He was the main coordinator for the election campaign of Mohammad Hamid Ansari, who went on to become the Vice President of India for two successive terms, i.e. 2007-2012 and 2012-2017. After taking office in August 2007, the Vice President of India Hamid Ansari chose him as his main advisor for political and parliamentary work and appointed him as the Officer on Special Duty. The association lasted for the entire two terms of Sh. Ansari as the Vice President of India. In 2008, Rajya Sabha decided to start its own 24x7 TV channel. The efforts to begin the channel were frustrated due to various reasons for the next three years. In 2011, the decision was taken to hand over the reins of the proposed channel to Sappal, who was given the additional task of the CEO, RSTV. Within months of taking the charge, he started limited broadcast of the channel on 26 August, 2011. Subsequently, it became a 24x7 channel on January 26, 2012.
Controversies
Sappal and RSTV faced criticism on Twitter for declining to telecast Yoga Day in June 2015. It was a false charge and was answered to by Sappal, who was supported by the mainstream media.
There have been media reports and a PIL by Prashant Bhushan in Delhi High Court challenging the appointment of Sappal as CEO of RSTV, citing the CAG report. Rajya Sabha Secretariat has defended the appointment, saying that the allegation was on the basis of a non-existent report of CAG. It also subsequently submitted to the court that CAG also had accepted the reply of the Rajya Sabha Secretariat and the appointment was fair and regular.