Bahar Dutt is an Indian television journalist, environmental editor and columnist for CNN-IBN.
Wiki/Biography
Bahar Dutt is an Indian TV journalist. He earned a bachelor’s degree in social work from the University of Delhi, later pursuing wildlife conservation at the Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology from the University of Kent. He is deeply inspired by his love for the environment and his desire to do something for nature.
Family
parents and siblings
Bahar Dutt is the second child of AIR India officer SP Dutt and Hindustan Times journalist Prabha Dutt. He has an elder sister Barkha Dutt; Leading Journalist. Both siblings, Barkha and myself are raised by their mother, a leading journalist. His father was affectionately called (Soon Singh) because of his initials. Bahar had recently lost his father to Covid.
Bahar Dutt’s parents
His mother was one of the first to report on the war. Bahar has an elder sister Barkha Dutt.
Bahar Dutt’s sister Barkha Dutt
husband and children
Bahar Dutt is married to famous wildlife photographer Vijay Bedi. He has been awarded Best Non-Feature Film and won Best Non-Feature Cinematography as well. He and his twin Ajay Bedi are the youngest Asians to win a Green Oscar for their film The Policing Langur. The couple has a daughter together.
Bahar Dutt with husband and daughter
livelihood
Bahar Dutt is one of a kind environmental journalist, writer. He is often described as a lion-hearted passionate journalist who has revolutionary exposes to his credit. Along with this, he has written a book called Green Wars, which has received appreciation from critics like Sujata Sen (Director of East India) British Council.
“The book does not read like a first attempt. It is so beautifully written,” said Sujata Sen.
Dutt says that she grew up with a desire to do something for nature and the wild. She jokingly wanted to be Mother Teresa to nature. He has done some incredible work in trying to save the natural resources as he has a keen interest in the same. Dutt set out to cover the story of snake charmers at the young age of 22 after the government banned it in 1972 in lieu of animal cruelty. Here she remembers that the snakes in her bag had driven her away. She persisted and eventually convinced those people to speak to her, where she came to know about the loss of their livelihood. Dutt wanted to do something for them, as she says, if we want people to follow the law then it is necessary for people to have an alternative occupation. Soon Dutt had devised a way to form a band called 100 Charmers, involving a theater director and others with expertise. The band not only provided livelihood to the community but helped revive their culture as children also started learning to play. The band has performed in Scotland, at a cultural festival in Rome, they have gone global, saying Dutt is particularly pleased,
We have received half a dozen offers to present this show. Each presentation will cost around Rs 1 lakh,” says Dutt. The snake charmer entertained people for centuries. The time has come for the society to pay its dues – by nurturing the rare musical talent of the community.
After the success in restoring the livelihood of the Delhi snake charmers, came Dutt’s first story which became the biggest story of his life, the story of Saras Saras. She remembers being met with complete resilience. Mulayam Singh Yadav, the then Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh had proposed to build an airport on the wetland; Globally, it is home to 2/3 of the total population of stork cranes. Dutt shares that when a Supreme Court committee came, people deployed by Mulayam Singh drove away the birds and covered the wetlands with mud. She remained flexible and the airport expansion was cancelled. It was his effort that Mulayam Singh Yadav had set aside an amount of Rs 10 lakh for the crane crane, the state bird. His most dramatic exposures involved a cement company of global repute operating illegally from the forests of Meghalaya along the India-Bangladesh border. Another disclosure by Dutt, immediately backed by the RIT, by the Goa Foundation, on an operation in Goa by a miner who illegally destroyed forest land, leading to the closure of the mine. He remembers receiving many threats, so too does his team. He has traveled extensively across the river Ganges from the source to the mouth of the river for an elaborate journey of 4 to 6 months. As a conclusive statement, Dutt says that we need to go easy on the number of hydroelectric projects already installed, which are going to be set up on the river as all this adversely affects the ecological balance.
Map of the hydrological basin of the Ganges river filled with hydroelectric projects
His career is one of raising and raising awareness about the environment. Although having no formal education in journalism, he has brought environmental journalism to prime time and into our homes. He has started the Mitti Project site set up in Manoli village of Sonipat, which provides an experimental form of environmental education.
Bahar Dutt talks about motherhood in an interview, appreciating how calm the Indian landscape is compared to elsewhere. She adds, that we have help at almost all points, be it domestic help which is affordable in India or our parents and in-laws. Dutt says he is aware that getting help from parents and in-laws has its problems. She is seen saying further, I think a happy mother is a better mother, so it is important not to quit her job and describes herself as a full time writer and part time mom.
Bahar Dutt with daughter
- travel with your child
Dutt and her husband Vijay, an ace wildlife photographer, decided to take their two-year-old child on a traveling expedition to show him the migration of animals from one place to another, from one region to another. She narrates how the joy she saw in her daughter’s eyes seeing flocks of sea lions, butterflies, made her long journey worth it. When asked why she wouldn’t wait for her little ones to grow up before seeing all this, she explains that nature is moving at a very different pace than humans and says,
For humans, travel is mostly a matter of entertainment. For the animal world, it is one of reproduction and survival.
She is seen accepting that she will have no other way as the journey is exhausting and financially exhausting. He is thrilled to be able to share his passion with his two-year-old daughter.
Bahar Dutt traveling with daughter
controversies
- Bahar Dutt was accused of plagiarism by environmental writer Janaki Lenin, later accused of lifting paragraphs from his book. To reflect the same, he tweeted excerpts from his book comparing Dutt’s work. Dutt, however, denied the allegations, saying that whatever he wrote was credited at the end of the book and given to Dutt via email and was on record, by Romulus Whitaker, who was Janaki’s husband. There are. The latter had asked Dutt to share the emails claimed by him.
Benefit of three endangered Indian crocodiles-magar, saltwater crocodile and gharial. It delineated 20,000 square kilometers as sanctuaries and established several captive rearing projects.”
Compare with- pic.twitter.com/vdeig3viqs
— Janaki Lenin (@JankiLenin) December 23, 2019
Awards, Honors, Achievements
- She is the recipient of Green Oscar for reporting on environmental issues related to India.
- Dutt Receives Wings Award for Elevating Environmental Journalism (2009)
- He has also been honored with Sanskriti Puraskar (2009).
- He is the recipient of the Ram Nath Goenka Award for Excellence in Environmental Reporting for Last Dance of the Saras (2006), an investigative news story about wetland drainage in eastern India.
- He has been awarded the Young Journalist Award. (2007)
Facts / Trivia
- Bahar Dutt is an animal lover.
Bahar Dutt’s Pets
- She recalled, in her book Green Wars, that she helped a helpless Hoolock gibbon find love.
