SHAMIM ZAKARIA, is a journalist, writer and blogger hailing from the northeast Indian state of Assam's Guwahati. A post-graduate in International Journalism from University of Sussex, United Kingdom; his journalistic experiences include contributing bountiful political, socio-political and investigative stories, and penning commentaries for a plethora of regional, national and international publications, disseminating in print and web-based medium.
Born and brought up in Guwahati, Shamim's father is a functionary with the Government of Assam and his mother works as a marketing executive. His siblings include a younger sister. Before going on to study for an undergraduate degree in Bachelor of Journalism and Mass Communication from Sharda University, Delhi, he completed schooling from Shrimanta Shankar Academy- a city based private school and went on to do his Higher Secondary in Arts stream from Cotton College, Guwahati - one of the most prestigious colleges of India established in 1901.
Bragging rights:
Choosing a career in news reporting and journalism isn't something that has happened abruptly, but it is the only thing I live and breathe! I have been in this arena since the age of 17. While I was still in school, I used to contribute articles and news stories for locally published print and online outlets. While pursuing higher secondary I worked part timely as a stringer for a fortnightly newspaper 'Breaking News Today' published from New Delhi. Thereafter during my graduation and after its completion I went on to work for various news magazines and newspapers.
In my stint of journalistic experience, I contributed numerous political, socio-political, investigative stories and interviewed many India politicians. While pursuing my post graduation in United Kingdom I penned analytic commentary for numerous print and online publications.
Snippets of my experiences working in India may include, having worked for the national daily Eastern Chronicle as a desk editor which was my recent assignment before leaving India. I have pioneered the launch of a news website (www.netrailblazer.com) and a news magazine INSIDE FACT published from Guwahati, serving as an honorary editorial member for the both.
I had been instrumental in bringing to light a matter of racial discrimination against a group of college girls from Guwahati, Assam (a city in northeast India) visiting the Taj Mahal, through the news story ‘Northeast Students fall prey to discrimination at historic Taj’. The news managed to create uproar across the length and breadth of Assam, further leading to the demand in the parliament for an enquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) enquiry. Following an exclusive investigative story that exposed a multi-million irregularities by National Mission in Bamboo Technology (NMBT) and National Bamboo Mission (NBM), a high-level enquiry headed by an Additional Chief Secretary was ordered by the Industries and Commerce Minister.
Had contributed regular columns for the weekly tabloid ‘Panorama Guwahati’ eliciting about the socio-political sphere. I am also a regular contributor to www.countercurrents.com, writing about politics and issues pertaining to the national security. I have been contributing Op-Ed pieces to leading Indian publications like Kashmir Times and Kashmir Monitor.
Once of the most erudite experience for me was participating as a panellist on international live radio news discussion program BBC World Have Your Say broadcast by BBC World Radio, where I spoke on ‘freedom of expression in India in the field of arts, literature and legislating books’. Few of my articles has also been published in the famed online platform Youth Ki Awaaz which is an United Nations awardee.
While working for the national daily Eastern Chronicle I did an investigative story about a rare breed of turtle found in northeast India's Tripura, which was on the verge of extinction due to detrimental practices and dearth of proper care. As an impact of it, few months later the High Court of Tripura sought report from the Chief Secretary and Principal Secretary, Government of Tripura to initiate necessary steps for demolishing the concrete and cemented embankment, which as per experts is one of the reasons behind deterrence of this turtle.
As a correspondent of the news magazine The Northeast Trailblazer, I also covered the 2014 Indian general elections focusing the Northeast India contributing many cover stories.
Among my volunteering experience include being a founding and core team member of the non-government organisation Stop Acid Attack- a campaign against acid violence on women and working for the rehabilitation of the victims. My responsibility here was handling the blog section of the campaign website thus writing and editing articles for it.
While pursing my undergrads I was a student editor of my university newspaper ‘The Shardans.’ My task was covering stories, idea generation, finalizing the layout design, editing articles and leading a team of student journalists.
Few of the recognitions to my work includes being enlisted as one of the top 10 contributors by the British magazine, Kettle and conferred as Raftaar Live Writer of the Year 2013 by a Delhi based magazine Raftaar Live.
On the sidelines, I have a keen interest in photography; love writing poems; an avid debater, a reclusive traveller and a voracious reader.
Born and brought up in Guwahati, Shamim's father is a functionary with the Government of Assam and his mother works as a marketing executive. His siblings include a younger sister. Before going on to study for an undergraduate degree in Bachelor of Journalism and Mass Communication from Sharda University, Delhi, he completed schooling from Shrimanta Shankar Academy- a city based private school and went on to do his Higher Secondary in Arts stream from Cotton College, Guwahati - one of the most prestigious colleges of India established in 1901.
Bragging rights:
Choosing a career in news reporting and journalism isn't something that has happened abruptly, but it is the only thing I live and breathe! I have been in this arena since the age of 17. While I was still in school, I used to contribute articles and news stories for locally published print and online outlets. While pursuing higher secondary I worked part timely as a stringer for a fortnightly newspaper 'Breaking News Today' published from New Delhi. Thereafter during my graduation and after its completion I went on to work for various news magazines and newspapers.
In my stint of journalistic experience, I contributed numerous political, socio-political, investigative stories and interviewed many India politicians. While pursuing my post graduation in United Kingdom I penned analytic commentary for numerous print and online publications.
Snippets of my experiences working in India may include, having worked for the national daily Eastern Chronicle as a desk editor which was my recent assignment before leaving India. I have pioneered the launch of a news website (www.netrailblazer.com) and a news magazine INSIDE FACT published from Guwahati, serving as an honorary editorial member for the both.
I had been instrumental in bringing to light a matter of racial discrimination against a group of college girls from Guwahati, Assam (a city in northeast India) visiting the Taj Mahal, through the news story ‘Northeast Students fall prey to discrimination at historic Taj’. The news managed to create uproar across the length and breadth of Assam, further leading to the demand in the parliament for an enquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) enquiry. Following an exclusive investigative story that exposed a multi-million irregularities by National Mission in Bamboo Technology (NMBT) and National Bamboo Mission (NBM), a high-level enquiry headed by an Additional Chief Secretary was ordered by the Industries and Commerce Minister.
Had contributed regular columns for the weekly tabloid ‘Panorama Guwahati’ eliciting about the socio-political sphere. I am also a regular contributor to www.countercurrents.com, writing about politics and issues pertaining to the national security. I have been contributing Op-Ed pieces to leading Indian publications like Kashmir Times and Kashmir Monitor.
Once of the most erudite experience for me was participating as a panellist on international live radio news discussion program BBC World Have Your Say broadcast by BBC World Radio, where I spoke on ‘freedom of expression in India in the field of arts, literature and legislating books’. Few of my articles has also been published in the famed online platform Youth Ki Awaaz which is an United Nations awardee.
While working for the national daily Eastern Chronicle I did an investigative story about a rare breed of turtle found in northeast India's Tripura, which was on the verge of extinction due to detrimental practices and dearth of proper care. As an impact of it, few months later the High Court of Tripura sought report from the Chief Secretary and Principal Secretary, Government of Tripura to initiate necessary steps for demolishing the concrete and cemented embankment, which as per experts is one of the reasons behind deterrence of this turtle.
As a correspondent of the news magazine The Northeast Trailblazer, I also covered the 2014 Indian general elections focusing the Northeast India contributing many cover stories.
Among my volunteering experience include being a founding and core team member of the non-government organisation Stop Acid Attack- a campaign against acid violence on women and working for the rehabilitation of the victims. My responsibility here was handling the blog section of the campaign website thus writing and editing articles for it.
While pursing my undergrads I was a student editor of my university newspaper ‘The Shardans.’ My task was covering stories, idea generation, finalizing the layout design, editing articles and leading a team of student journalists.
Few of the recognitions to my work includes being enlisted as one of the top 10 contributors by the British magazine, Kettle and conferred as Raftaar Live Writer of the Year 2013 by a Delhi based magazine Raftaar Live.
On the sidelines, I have a keen interest in photography; love writing poems; an avid debater, a reclusive traveller and a voracious reader.