Samudra Gupta Kashyap- The Journalist With A Vision Skeleton found in Assam pond; police fear its missing

whistleblower: The body of a youth was fished out from a pond located in the compound of a Forest Department office (Indian Express, Wednesday, Aug 3, 2011) The above article goes on to portray, in very clear and concise terms, the gruesome yet heartrending tale of a young man who died fighting against the corruption in the Forest Department of Assam. The title of the article itself is indicative of the writers literary bent of mind as well as his compassion with the fate of victim. The writer, the journalist who investigated the case for the Indian Express and brought out this sad story to the masses, is Samudra Gupta Kashyap. Samudra Gupta Kashyap is a Special Correspondent of the esteemed national daily Indian Express, who covers Assam and the other north-eastern states of India. After 30 years of being in the field of journalism, reporting and writing on the Northeast, he is now an expert on the various contemporary subjects related to the media such as society, national security, insurgency, demography and the youth. He is particularly concerned with various socio-political and economic issues of the Northeast, especially Assam and closely follows them. After 20 years with the Indian Express, he has earned a name for himself among the other noted journalists of the Northeast and is often invited by various institutions to deliver talks and attend discussions on various issues pertaining to that region. Born in Assam in 1960, Samudra Gupta Kashyap is an alumnus of the prestigious Cotton College of Guwahati, an institution which is known for having counted among its students a host of literary geniuses, notable journalists and great statesmen. He completed his post-graduation in English from the same institution and later did a post-graduate diploma course in journalism from the Indian Institute of Mass Communication, New Delhi. He had previously worked in Prantik, a renowned Assamese fortnightly magazine and Dainik Asom, the oldest Assamese daily newspaper, for a decade between 1981 and 1991. He joined the Indian Express in the year 1991. In 2007, Mr. Kashyap was one of the two journalists from Indian Express (the other being Varghese K.George) to win the Rai Bahadur M S Oberoi Media Award for exposing corruption, initiated by Transparency International India, an international NGO which is committed to fighting corruption, supported by the Oberoi Group. Mr. Kashyap won the silver award for his series of reports in the Indian Express, on how some Rs 170 crores which were meant for the supply of food grains for the tribals of Arunachal Pradesh, was swindled by ministers, MLAs, government and FCI officials, leading to the infamous PDS (Public Distribution System) scandal during 2005. The expose resulted in a PIL, a CBI inquiry, suspensions and arrests of many high-profile politicians, ministers and bureaucrats. Such was the impact of this journalistic ingnue by Mr. Kashyap that the Arunachal Pradesh authorities were compelled to change the very system of PDS in the hilly state. He was also conferred an Award Excellence in Journalism for 2008-09 by DY-365, a leading TV channel of Guwahati. He has also won a Sahitya Academy Award for his translation work. Samudra Gupta Kashyap has covered all the major events and catastrophes that have occurred in the northeastern region for the past 20 years, for the Indian Express. His

courage and presence of mind have come in handy during his reporting and investigation of various insurgency and counter-insurgency movements such as the Daboka massacre (a reprisal of the post Babri Masjid riots of 1992), the Dhemaji I-day blasts of 2004, elections between 1991 and 2011, floods and other natural catastrophes, visits of dignitaries etc. He is also very well-known as a developmental reporter for the Northeast, having reported and written on various socio-economic developmental matters of this region and is a noted broadcaster and a media and socio-political analyst. He has conceptualized, researched, written and scripted a 26-episode TV mega serial called Brahmaputra: An Endless Journey, for Dr. Bhupen Hazarika, a famous singer, composer and film director from Assam. A bilingual author and a translator, he has wrote and co-authored several books. Kaziranga- The Rhino Century, an official history of the Kaziranga National Park of Assam, and Legal Protection to Illegal Migrants, are two of the most significant. He has co-written the Kaziranga with Nitin A Gokhale from NDTV. He also has released a collection of satirical essays in the Assamese language called Kitapor Pora Savadhan (Eng- Be Careful of Books). He is also listed among accredited journalists and is a representative of national media in the print category, as released by Janasanyog Assam, Directorate of Information and Public Relations, Government of Assam. Personally, Mr. Kashyap has a sober, good-natured and a witty personality, according to sources. He is also a very good listener. These qualities of Mr. Kashyap enable him in building a network of sources in each place that he visits during the course of his reporting assignments. He also has made it a habit to check out the place, its residents and customs, before going there for reporting. Soft-spoken, he listens to each and every person with empathy and compassion. As such he draws out answers from them, and in turn acquaintances himself with them, thus collecting a whole databank of sources. He also builds a network of local journalists from each place that he visits, who looks up to him with respect. A literary person, he is a member of the North East Writers Forum, a body of writers in English from the northeast region. Through this organization, he maintains a link with various writers and authors across the Northeast. Because of his familiarity with the Northeast and his local connections, he is often recruited as a research person and a lecturer for the probationary IAS officers posted in this region. According to a source, Mr. Kashyap is apparently a supporter of regional politics, and has fixed viewpoints on issues of national and cultural importance. He is also good friends with Nitin A Gokhale, according to the source, with whom he has coauthored a book as mentioned before. Mr. Gokhale, a Defence Editor for NDTV, is also from Assam and an expert on various issues related to the Northeast, like Mr. Kashyap. A family person, Samudra Gupta Kashyap is married to Dr. Tapati Baruah Kashyap and has two daughters. His wife is a poet of some repute and sometimes writes columns for newspapers of Assam. Mr. Kashyap resides with his family in Juripar, Panjabari, a quiet locality near the Srimanta Sankardeva Kalakshetra, an arts and cultural complex, in Guwahati, Assam. He can be contacted at sg_kashyap@rediffmail.com and phone(0)9435048049. By Arijit Bharali Express Institute Of Media Studies