Rahul Pandita

Journalism career

Rahul Pandita's recent job was the Opinion and Special Stories editor of The Hindu, one of India's leading newspapers. He quit The Hindu citing frequent and childish interventions in edit pages by Malini Parthasarathy, the owner-editor of the paper. He was one of the founding members of the much-acclaimed Open magazine and has also previously worked with the Indian Express and the TV Today group. He is a conflict writer, who has reported extensively from war zones, including Iraq and Sri Lanka. His vast experience in reporting on India's Maoist insurgency has resulted in two books: "Hello, Bastar: The Untold Story of India's Maoist Movement" and "The Absent State". He is also the author of the best-selling memoir on Kashmir, "Our Moon has Blood Clots". He is the recipient of the International Red Cross Award for conflict reporting. Pandita has worked as a war correspondent, and is known for his brilliant journalistic despatches from the war hit countries like Iraq and Sri Lanka. However, in the recent years, his focal point has been the Maoist movement in India's red corridor. He has also reported from North-Eastern India. In 2009, he became the first ever journalist to have interviewed the Maoist supreme commander, Ganapathi.

Literary career

Pandita has written several books including the best-seller "Our Moon has Blood Clots" based on the brutal ethnic cleansing of Kashmiri Hindus. Other books include The Absent State: Insurgency as an Excuse for Misgovernance, co-authored with Neelesh Misra, Hello Bastar – The Untold Story of India's Maoist Movement,

Awards

Pandita was awarded the International Red Cross award for his reportage from the Maoist-affected areas in central and east India, in 2010.