Retired as Associate Editor, The Indian Express, on December 27, after 29 years with the paper at Nagpur.
Currently contributing opinion pieces to various publications as freelance journalist.
Started in 1988 as sub-editor at Marathi daily Nagpur Patrika. Also worked with another Marathi daily Janwad before joining The Hitavada.
Overall 34 years as working journalist.
Covered everything under the sun including politics and governance to agriculture, forest and wildlife and Left-wing extremism.
Main thrust area was rural reporting.
Broke the story of farmers' suicides in Vidarbha in 2002. It later became av raging issue and continues to resonate with people and governments.
Broke the story of the Sarva Judum vigilante movement in chhattisgarh in 2007 and reported on it for three years.
Broke the story of man-animal conflict in Vidarbha in 2007.
Also reported extensively on Forest Rights Act.
Also traveled to US, Germany and The Philippines for reporting assignments.
Awards
- Statesman Award for Rural Reporting in 2002.
- Ramnath Goenka Award for reporting on Sarva Judum in 2007.
- Was shortlisted for the same reportage for Kurt Shork Award for International Journalism in the same year.
- Sanctuary award for wildlife reporting in 2010
Topic
Twist in the Tale of human-wildlife conflict - Vivek Deshpande, Poonam Dhanwatey, Ambika Aiyadurai, Arvind Jha In Conversation with Sangeeta Varma
On 20th Nov 05.00 PM TO 05:40 PM
Ms Sangeeta Varma - began the session by asking the question to the panel for the Discussion of what is conflict. According to Ms Ambika Aiyadurai - conflict is when you try to conquer other spaces by overlooking their needs. And Mr Vivek Despande - said in Society humans express their anger or discomfort through words but by speaking power the animals don’t have their reaction towards us we label them tamed or Wild but they too have feelings. Mr Arvind Jha - said the professionalism of the forest Department plays a crucial role in making peace between the conflict of humans and Wildlife, their approach is sensitivity towards the animals. Since the time of Earth’s creation from ages it is passed from generation to generation that you need to create balance in nature, when we say nature consists of human beings and animals are the vital elements of the earth. The role of animals in various cultures is undeniable. Ms Poonam Dhanwatey - said that there is something to learn from Pardhi’s ways of dealing with animals and how they make peace with humans & wildlife in the jungle. The cases of wild animals such as leopards or tigers making the trip to the human locality is due to our encroachment in wildlife space. The Samruddhi project has shown the way. Forest area is conquered by humans through roadways. Humans undertake the study where there is a number of conflicts between humans & wildlife in large numbers. Proper education should be provided from a young age to increase tolerance towards wildlife. Empathy should be taught in school towards nature and animals. Not only towards humans but with all things they find in nature before it is too late. Each session was interesting, informative and engaging which gave the audience a different perspective through the talk, and discussion delivered by eminent people. After every session audience’s questions were addressed by the speakers.