Barkha Dutt

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Barkha Dutt bigraphy, stories - Indian television journalist and columnist

Barkha Dutt : biography

18 December 1971 –

Barkha Dutt is an Indian television journalist and columnist. She is the group editor with NDTV.

Dutt gained prominence for her reportage of the Kargil War. She has won many national and international awards, including the Padma Shri, India’s fourth highest civilian honour. She writes a column for the Hindustan Times called "Third Eye". In 2010 she was one of the journalists taped in the 2G lobbying Radia tapes controversy.

Personal life

Barkha is married with Haseeb Drabu.http://in.groups.yahoo.com/group/kashmiripandit/message/4996

Portrayal in popular culture

Barkha Dutt was a model for the portrayal of a female journalist in Farhan Akhtar’s film Lakshya, which was set during the 1999 Kargil Conflict. In recent times, the role played by Rani Mukherjee in the film No One Killed Jessica is loosely based on her.

Early life

Barkha Dutt was born in New Delhi to S. P. Dutt, an official in Air India and Prabha Dutt who was a well-known journalist with the Hindustan Times. Barkha credits her journalism skills to her mother, Prabha, a pioneer among women journalists in India. Prabha Dutt died in 1984 due to a brain haemorrhage. Barkha’s younger sister, Bahar Dutt, is also a television journalist working for CNN IBN.

Awards and accolades

Barkha Dutt’s Sunday talk show has won the most awards out of any show on Indian television, winning the Indian Television Academy award for Best Talk Show five years in a row. In 2012, the Association for International Broadcasting awarded Barkha Dutt the title of "TV Personality of the year" with the following citation: "a reporter of considerable stretch and depth, still passionate and fearless in bringing the issues closer to her viewers." Dutt was the recipient of the C H Mohammed Koya National Journalism Award in 2009. In 2008, Dutt received the Indian News Broadcasting Award for the Most Intelligent News Show Host. Dutt received the Commonwealth Broadcasting Association award for Journalist of the Year, 2007. She was awarded "Best TV News Anchor (English) for her programme "We the people" at the first Indian News Television Awards in 2007.

In 2008, the Indian government awarded Barkha Dutt the Padma Shri, a civilian honor, for her coverage of the 2004 Tsunami.

She has twice been named on the list of 100 "Global Leaders of Tomorrow" compiled by the World Economic Forum (2001, 2008). In 2005, she was among 50 Indians who were 35 or younger and listed for their achievements and impact on society.

In 2010 she was appointed as a member of India’s National Integration Council.http://mha.nic.in/pdfs/NIC-MemberLst.pdf She was named an Asia Society Fellow in 2006 and serves on the International Advisory Council of the Asia Society.

Career

Barkha graduated from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi with a degree in English literature. She received a Master’s in Mass Communications from Jamia Millia Islamia Mass Communication Research Center, New Delhi. She started her journalism career with NDTV and later rose to head the English news wing of the organization. She also obtained a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, New York assisted by an Inlaks Shivdasani Foundation scholarship. Her reporting of the Kargil conflict in 1999, including an interview with Captain Vikram Batra, brought her to prominence in India., RaghuKrishnan, The Economic Times, 24 August 2003, accessed on 22 January 2012, MediaWire, 27 January 2008, accessed on 22 January 2012 She has since covered conflicts in Kashmir, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq., bollywood.com (IANS), 2008, accessed on 22 January 2012

Radiatapes controversy

In November 2010, OPEN magazine carried a story which reported transcripts of some of the telephone conversations of Nira Radia with senior journalists, politicians, and corporate houses, many of whom have denied the allegations. The Central Bureau of Investigation has announced that they have 5,851 recordings of phone conversations by Radia, some of which outline Radia’s attempts to broker deals in relation to the 2G spectrum sale. In one of the tapes Barkha Dutt assures Radia of getting Ghulam Nabi Azad, Congress general secretary, to talk to Karunanidhi to get the portfolios in the Union cabinet fixed. Dutt denied acting on any promise to pass on messages to the Congress. In a subsequent tape, Nira Radia is heard saying ‘Barkha has got Congress(political party) to issue a statement’. Dutt denies the allegations.