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K A Shaji is a Kerala-based developmental journalist, who regularly reports from the most backward regions of the state. He is a Special Correspondent with The Hindu and writes on the environment, dalits, tribals, art, culture and socio-political issues.
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Early life and education
Hailing from Cheeral village, Wayanad district of Kerala, Shaji has a post graduate degree in Personnel Management and Industrial Relations and a post graduate diploma in Journalism and Mass Communications. He completed his school education from Government Upper Primary School, Kallinkara and Government Model High School Cheeral. He graduated from Zamorin’s Guruvayurappan College, Kozhikode and Alagappa University in Karaikudy.
Career
Shaji started his journalism career with The New Indian Express in 2000. He continued with the organization till 2006 and worked as its correspondent in Kalpetta, Kannur, Kozhikode and Bangalore.
Shaji was the Chief of Bureau of The Times of India Daily in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. In an earlier stint, he had worked as Tamil Nadu correspondent of Open, a features and current affairs magazine from New Delhi. Shaji has also worked as a Senior Correspondent with Tehelka weekly magazine in New Delhi and in Thiruvananthapuram.
Shaji’s areas of focus include rural distress, farmers’ suicides, human rights violations, caste atrocities and flawed developmental perspectives. He won a National Media Fellowship from the National Foundation for India in 2005 for Excellence in Journalism. Under the fellowship, he wrote a series of articles on half a million Tamil repatriates from Sri Lanka. In 2009, he won a Sanskriti National Journalism Award for a series of articles on agrarian crisis that plagued Wayanad district of Kerala.
Shaji writes in both English and Malayalam and his articles have appeared in various journals. He has translated P Sainath's `Everybody Loves a Good Drought' to Malayalam and a collection of drama written by Rabindranath Tagore. He has also translated The Glass Menagerie of Tennessee Williams and `Harvest of Hate' authored jointly by Swamy Agnivesh and Vatsan Thampu to Malayalam.
In an article written on the 10th-anniversary special issue of Outlook Magazine, P Sainath has listed KA Shaji as one among the promising young journalists:
``Youngsters are still drawn to the profession by idealism. There's a lot more money to be made elsewhere. Whether it is a Narasimha Reddy in Anantapur; or a Purushottam Thakur or a Bijaya Sahis or Jagadish Suna from the Kalahandi region; or a Dayamani Barla in Jharkhand; or a Jaideep Hardikar in Vidarbha; or a K.A.Shaji in Kerala, younger journalists have put their seniors to shame. Their energy and commitment, and that of many like them, is an inspiration.Journalists like these have worked against enormous odds and often in the face of active hostility, to tell the stories of the rural poor.''
P Sainath also wrote about K A Shaji in the Republic Day special edition of CPI(M) mouthpiece People's Democracy in 2006 as one young journalist with outstanding efforts to focus on rural distress:
``Can things change? Yes, but abandon the idea that this will happen on the merit and initiative of individual journalists. It’s a fact that there have been outstanding efforts from young journalists that have kept the issues of rural distress alive in the press. Whether it is Narasaiah Reddy of Eenadu in Andhra Pradesh, or K.A. Shaji of the New Indian Express in Kerala. Whether a Jaideep Hardikar in Vidharbha or a Dayamani Barla in Jharkhand. Whether it is Bijaya Sahis, Jagadish Suna and Purushottam Thakur who have long kept the real problems of Kalahandi in the news.''
Eminent agriculture scientist M S Swaminathan lauded the works of K A Shaji in an editorial page article in The Hindu on September 10, 2014.
``The report of this Sub-Committee contains useful recommendations worthy of immediate implementation. Media representatives such as P. Sainath of The Hindu , K.A. Shaji of The New Indian Express, Narasimha Reddy of Eenadu, Parvathi Menon and Asha Krishnakumar ofFrontline and television channels like NDTV have been rendering valuable service in awakening political and public consciousness of the deepening agrarian crisis.''
Citation for translation of everybody loves a good drought.
He is the recipient of "Sanskriti Award" for Journalism.