Few weeks before it was Indra Nooyi taking control of Pepsico & ....Now its the turn of Dr. Chitra....

LONDON: An NRI doctor born in Tamil Nadu's cultural capital of Madurai is set to become the head of the BBC and arbiter of 21st-century Britain's broadcasting culture, even if by default and solely in a caretaker capacity. Dr Chitra Bharucha's assumption of the influential role of BBC chairman, come January, has been confirmed by the BBC and the British government. Bharucha takes up the position on a temporary basis until a new chairman is appointed, possibly in the spring, to replace Michael Grade, who suddenly resigned on Tuesday to join the BBC's main terrestrial rival.

Bharucha's appointment, even if short-term, makes her the first woman and the first Indian to head the BBC, the largest broadcasting corporation in the world with a 26,000-strong staff in the UK alone and a budget of £4 billion.
News of Bharucha's sudden rise to the testing position came as Britain's culture secretary Tessa Jowell confirmed her ministry was busily engaged in looking for a long-term replacement for Grade. Grade's shock resignation is seen to have knocked the BBC sideways, leaving it leaderless at a critical stage in its negotiations with the government to secure a rise in the huge licence fee it earns from British taxpayers in exchange for pursuing a strictly public-service remit. Accordingly, Bharucha's first task in the job will be to continue headache-inducing negotiations with Jowell to secure a licence fee that approximates the BBC's deeply-desired sum of 2.5 per cent above inflation.

Bharucha is described by those who've worked with her in the past as a "capable pair of hands". Just weeks ago, she was named vice-chairperson of the newly-formed BBC Trust, a brand new body set up to take over and extend the traditional function of the corporation's governors. The BBC Trust's appointment was announced by the government in October. At the time, former BBC chairman Grade hailed the Trust's remit as strictly representative of the broadcaster's new government charter, which requires the Trust to be "independent of BBC management representing the interests of licence fee payers." In a reference to the broad range of skills and experience of BBC trustees such as Bharucha, Grade stressed they were "from around the UK, bring a wide range of experience and expertise from broadcasting, regulation, newspapers, commerce, competition and economics."

Bharucha, who has suddenly and unaccountably been thrust into the limelight, has lived in Britain for 34 years. A qualified haematologist, Bharucha has previously held high-profile jobs as deputy director of the Northern Ireland Blood Transfusion Service and as a consultant at one of Belfast's leading hospitals. Those who know her say her CV is proof of her toughness and ability to succeed in a province of the United Kingdom that had hardly any Indians or coloured people and barely knew or appreciated so-called "talent from the colonies". Even though Bharucha is barely known in mainland Britain, she has previously played an important supervisory role in broadcast regulation, serving two years as the Northern Ireland member of the Independent Television Commission from 2001. Even though she left full-time medicine in 1996 to join the BBC Broadcasting Council for Northern Ireland, Bharucha continues to serve on Britain's lead medical regulatory body, the General Medical Council.

Government officials said on Wednesday that Bharucha's temporary stewardship of the BBC would last until a permanent new chairman - the right man or woman at the right time - was found to take Grade's place. The BBC's current vice-chairman Anthony Salz has already succeeded Grade. After Salz demits the post at year-end, Bharucha will take over. In a reference to the 84-year-old institution's ingrained culture of continuity culture secretary Tessa Jowell denied the BBC had been left stranded by Grade's shock resignation. She said, "It is a large and resilient organisation and is bigger than the loss of any one person in it". Officials said the government was already drawing up a job description for the new chairman's post. Those thought to be in the running for permanent chairman of the BBC include veteran presenter David Dimbleby and film producer Lord Puttnam.