Hailing from Jitwarpur village near Areraj, East Champaran district of Bihar, Ravish Kumar was born on 5th December 1974. He is an Indian Journalist, an author, as well as a TV anchor and is considered one of the most famous Hindi journalists in the country.
Ravish Kumar has authored for his various publications, such as The Free Voice in English, and Ishq Mein Sheher Hona in Hindi. Recently, he has been conferred with the Ramon Magsaysay award for Giving voice to the voiceless. Famous for his monologues in Prime Time, NDTV India. Ravish Kumar had recently quit NDTV on 30th November 2022. Along with him, two other journalists had quit their posts under NDTV, who was Prannoy Roy and Radhika Roy. Apart from Prime Time, he also hosted a number of programs like Hum Log, Ravish ki Report and Desh Ki Baat aired on weekdays.
Early life:
Ravish Kumar Pandey, famously referred to as Ravish Kumar; was born to a Brahmin family, in the East Champaran District of Bihar. His father was Baliram Pandey, but his mother’s name is still unknown. Also, he had a brother named Brajesh Kumar, who is an active politician in the state of Bihar, and has participated in elections representing the Indian National Congress. However, he left Congress, after he was busted in a sex scandal as reported by the media.
Education:
Ravish Kumar Pandey completed his schooling at a convent school in Patna, and he shifted to Delhi in 1990, in order to pursue his future studies at Deshbandhu College. After getting a degree in History, Ravish started to make preparations for the Civil Service Examination, but he couldn’t pass the test and had to drop the idea. Later, he pursued his masters in History from Deshbandhu College, with M.Phil. from Delhi University. After that, he got enrolled in a Post-graduate diploma in Journalism from the Indian Institute of Mass Communication. During his under graduation days at Deshbandhu College, Ravish stated some facts about his lecturers like Anil Sethi and Rana Bahal, whom he considered to be his mentors. Ravish stated about his lecturers that, they had taught him to speak English properly, manners while eating at the table, confidence to talk with girls and how to properly tie-a-tie! During the days of his M.Phil. Studies, Ravish met his future wife, Nayana Dasgupta. At that time, Nayana was pursuing her degree at Indraprastha College, Delhi.
Career:
Ravish Kumar joined NDTV India in 1996, starting his journey as a reporter. Gradually, he was promoted to a senior post, as a senior executive director. Shows like Desh Ki Baat and Prime Time to name a few were mainly focused on covering socio-political issues in the country. Interestingly, the first episode of ‘Ravish ki Report’ was hosted at Paharganj. However, being an excellent and dedicated journalist, who put his efforts in enlightening the masses about the events occurring, he had been frequently receiving death threats in the past. Contributing his 15 years of dedication and service to NDTV India, he finally resigned from the post of Senior Executive Editor on 30th November 2022.
Awards:
With the dedication and handwork that Ravish Kumar had put into his service in Journalism, he had been able to achieve various awards for his work. In 2019, Ravish had been awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award because of his contributions to discussions which were based upon balanced and fact-based reporting and his proper background research about the issues. Also, he has been awarded twice the Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Award in 2017, followed by 2013. Interestingly, the list of awards achieved by him continues to grow, with him being awarded Gauri Lankesh Award for Journalism and Kuldip Nayar Journalism Award in 2017, Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi Award for his Hindi journalism, and creative literature for 2010, awarded in 2014. Ravish Kumar was able to make it into the list of 100 most influential Indians in 2016, prepared by The Indian Express, and had also bagged the title of ‘Journalist of the Year' by Mumbai Press Club.
Failures and controversies:
Recently news broke out regarding the resignation filed by Ravish Kumar from NDTV India. Being one of India’s most famous TV journalists, he resigned from the post of Senior Executive Editor from NDTV, as the network was recently acquired by the Adani Group, whose owner is considered to have close relations with the BJP and this particular event has sparked concerns about the freedom of the press in the country.
The Adani Group started to acquire an additional 26% stake in the NDTV on 22nd November 2022. This was followed by the 29.18% stake acquisition which was announced in August of this year. Thus, this has provided the Adani group with 55% share control of NDTV India.
As stated by Suparna Singh, president of NDTV Group; there are very few journalists who have impacted people, as much as Ravish. This can be observed in the heartfelt feedback he used to receive, be it the crowd which he draws everywhere, the prestigious awards and recognition conferred to him both in India and internationally, or his dedication in the daily reports, Ravish never fails to acknowledge the rights and needs of the under-served.
Ravish Kumar had been an integral part of the newsgroup for decades, where he completed about 26 years in the organisation. Suparna acknowledged Ravish’s efforts and stated that his efforts and contributions have been immense and also, she wishes him luck on his new beginning.
Future plans of Ravish Kumar
Right after the resignation filed by Ravish Kumar from NDTV India, he uploaded a heartfelt video on his own YouTube channel, where he briefly explained the motive behind his resignation from the post of Senior Executive Editor. He was concerned about the fate of his show, after the media group fell into the hands of the Adanis.
Ravish requested for immediate actions supporting the effectiveness of his resignation, and this was right after the resignation of Prannoy Roy and Radhika Roy, who were the directors of the board of NDTV or simply referred to as the RRPR Pvt. Ltd., a day before.
Right after he resigned, he posted a video on his YouTube channel “Ravish Kumar Official” on the very next day. The senior journalist stated that there exist many channels with names in the country, but basically, they are all ‘Godi Media’. The term ‘godi’ refers to that section of the media, which basically broadcasts news in favour of the Modi government and BJP.
Ravish Kumar has promised his followers regarding the fact that he would frequently post videos on his YouTube channel. He has praised and pleaded people of the country to keep supporting the journalists, who had confronted the powerful people at the time when it was speculated that there has been a severe threat to the democracy of the country. At the time when the country’s judiciary became unstable, there were many people who suppressed the voice of the mass with their power. That time, Ravish Kumar tried his best to spread the good news, and because of this many people supported him because of his efforts and dedication. He stated that ‘I wouldn’t have been able to do anything without the audience’. Therefore, after reassignment Ravish has requested his audience to keep supporting his works, which will be available via his YouTube channel and Facebook page.
Also, Ravish had tweeted, ‘ You are all being included in my being. Your love and support are my wealth. You have a one-sided and lengthy dialogue with the audience on your YouTube channel. This is my new address. Everyone must fight against the slavery of the Godi media’.
No matter what future beholds of Ravish Kumar, the dedicated journalist will make sure to work hard to provide his audience with correct and unbiased news, irrespective of whether he had lost his reputed post in NDTV India, or the influence of the powerful people over the media.
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