Kishalay Bhattacharjee

Early life

Kishalay Bhattacharjee's Mother Smt. Sobhona Bhattacharjee is a retired teacher and writer. Father Sri Kamana Krishna Bhattacharjee, retired head of department, History, St. Edmund's College, Shillong and author of Making of North East India

Education

Mr. Bhattacharjee completed his schooling up to ICSE from the St.Edmund's School, Shillong and completed a bachelor's course in English from St.Edmund's College, Shillong, He then went to North Eastern Hill University, Shillong for M.Phil coursework and Master of Arts

Career

Bhattacharjee worked for seventeen years at New Delhi Television (NDTV), as a Resident Editor. He reported on several conflicts during this time, including northeast India and Maoist corridor. He is currently the founder- director of the Reachout Foundation, which works to defy stereotypes, fight prejudice and eliminate discrimination.

News reel

Since 2006 Kishalay Bhattacharjee has been covering the militant camps documenting the recruitment of child soldiers. and about the Gender discrimination and child rights. In 2009, He was reporting on alleged fake encounter in Manipur and before the elections and a time when The Dalai Lama made his visit in Arunachal Pradesh , the name of the program aired was in the Dragon's Shadow In 2010, Mr. Bhattacharjee has been detailing with various issues like on N C Hills Violence, Bleeding Hills of Assam, Terror Outfit into Microfinance in Assam and Manipur, Manipur's Troubled Highways,Maoist Attack on trains in West Bengal, Manipur A Satyagraha, A Decade of Irom Sharmila's hunger strike aired on 4 November 2010 and it marks ten years of Irom Sharmila's hunger strike in India, explores fresh perspectives on AFSPA and looks at how insurgency has changed its dynamics over the last one decade, and exclusive correspondent on wildlife crime and human animal conflict have been steadily increasing across the country and it has been one of his key areas of reportage In 2012,Mr. Kishalay Bhattacharjee reported on continuous coverage of Assam on havoc flood which displaced millions of people violent ethnic clashes that left several hundred thousands of people displaced in Assam, A special report on West Bengal as the human trafficking hub of the country from where children and women are trafficked in large numbers. The story had an immediate impact in New Delhi and 22 children were rescued in less than twenty four hours from the capital and An exclusive report of how we rescued an Italian hostage from the armed Maoist rebels in India's Odisha state. The story drew international attention and was nominated by the Association of International Broadcasting Award(AIB) for best current affairs report. In 2013, Few Recent articles on the state of Indian media in context to internal security, National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) may declare 22 encounters in Manipur as 'fake', Why women join India's Maoist groups published in BBC News. In 2014, Mr. Bhattacharjee's exclusive piece on The Anatomy of Assam Violence is published on The Huffington post. And last but not the least his first ever documentation of Hepatitis C and HIV co-infection in the eastern Indian state of Manipur was selected for international festivals in Goa and Barcelona.

Awards and recognition

Nominated by Association of International Broadcasting AIB Awards, London for best current affairs programme, 2013
Ramnath Goenka Award for Excellence in Journalism, 2006 -2007
Panos Fellowship for HIV/AIDS, 2007
Edward Murrow Fellow for Journalism, 2006
Best Journalist Award, Assam and Meghalaya 2004
Videocon Award for Television Excellence, 1994
Presented papers at Heildelberg University, Germany 2013, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Singapore 2011, Jamia Millia Islamia 2011 and 2013 and University of Southern California, 2006. Moderated several roundtables in India and the US on media, strategic studies and writing He was Chair of Internal Security and a Senior Fellow at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA) in 2011.