Media Fellows for Reporting on Energy Efficient Building Program

Archana Jyoti is a Special Correspondent for The Pioneer newspaper in New Delhi. She has over sixteen years of experience in various beats and social welfare sector for media houses such as Press Trust of India (PTI), Asian Age and The Pioneer. During her fellowship, she will write on how the builders of the half-constructed buildings across the country will take steps to adopt new norms given that they had been already reeling under the cash and material shortage. She will also do in -depth story about the fate of the jhuggis and janta flats post COVID-19 in the slums and clusters areas which are considered to be the hotbeds of the virus and other deadly diseases. Her another feature story will focus on lightning and better air quality at home on the basis of detailed discussion with the architect and environmentalists on how to make the houses more livable and virus free.

Athar Parvaiz is an independent journalist from Srinagar and writes for the Down to Earth Mongabay India and IndiaSpend. As part of his fellowship he will do a story on the prevailing housing infrastructure in urban areas of Kashmir especially in Srinagar city and would also find out what the government plans to do for future housing planning keeping in view the pandemics such as COVID-19. His stories will also look into the aspect of migrant labourers and their congested rented accommodations and how these would change in wake of COVID-19 ?Athar is also planning to see whether buildings in Kashmir region have some supporting infrastructure(or architecture) to minimize energy consumption for keeping the buildings warm and cold without consuming too much energy.

Faysal Bakili is a Senior Correspondent with Gujarati Weekly Chitralekha. He will be writing on housing design and planning which would be related to affordability, environment friendly, energy efficient in post COVID-19. He is planning to highlight that how architects and engineers have revised their strategies in designing the buildings to make them affordable, energy efficient and having good source of light and ventilation for a pandemic situation like COVID.

Kumkum Dasgupta is Associate Editor with Hindustan Times, New Delhi. As part of her fellowship, she will be covering affordable housing segment which is a key thrust of the government. She will also look into why design is more important now (with Covd-19 experience) and what should be the design of new properties so that they are not just affordable but also green. In addition, she also wants to delve into front-runner states that have already dovetailed green norms into their affordable housing sector. She also wants to explore that how private sector is keeping to the norms of green buildings and how they are selling the idea to the buyers.

Rakesh Kumar Malviya is a Bhopal based freelancer. He writes for News 18 digital(Hindi). He wants to write about how safe our buildings are to face a pandemic like COVID-19 and how these will be designed in the future which won’t contribute to spread such kind of viruses. He also wants to focus on new innovations and initiatives in the building sector to have safe and environment friendly buildings.

Pradeep Kumar Dwivedi is a senior correspondent in Dainik Jagran, Meerut. His fellowship stories will be on a range of topics from government interventions on affordable housing in the times of COVID- 19 to kind of houses being constructed for migrant students and workers under PPP by the government. He will also write that how the designs of houses arecontributing factors in spreading the viruses and what could be best ways to address them. He also wants to write a story about different kind of construction material which reduce the consumption of the energy, provide adequate light, ventilation and thermal comfort required for living in a house.

Amit Baijnath Garg is currently working as Senior Sub Editor in Rajasthan Patrika, Jaipur. Amit, who has been in journalism and writing for the last 12 years, will write about energy efficient buildings in Rajasthan and the schemes being run by the state government in the area during his fellowship. Along with this, he will also cover about the changes and impacts in the life of the common man due to government schemes related to energy conservation. As energy efficient pumps are being distributed to farmers in Rajasthan, he wants to report on how much the farmers have benefited from the scheme. Apart from this, he also wants to focus on what is being done in the private sector in energy efficiency and what kind of buildings are being built.

Jasjeev Singh Gandhiok is a Correspondent with the Times of India, New Delhi. Through his fellowship stories, he wants to look at how much more electricity is being consumed by a building during the summers and what leads to more power consumption, which will be highlighted through numbers - both in terms of power consumed and money spent. His stories will also look at solutions to how buildings can improve their designs through a mix of artificial as well as natural options that exist in place. In addition to this, Jasjeev will also be highlighting world’s best examples about how countries are improving older buildings and designing newer ones in such a manner that they remain cool through a wide variety of ways.

Lachmi Deb Roy is working as Assistant editor for Outlook magazine and web. She covers the lifestyle beat and entertainment beat. When not churning out lifestyle stories, she likes to come out with stories which impact the society at large. As a part of her fellowship, she will utilize this opportunity to explore that the viewpoint of hotel industry in regard to make hotels energy-efficient without compromising on the amenities offered to the guests? She plans to interview and take inputs from tourists, environmentalists, builders, scientists and others who are into energy-efficiency, sustainable architecture and sustainable living. Apart from this, she also wants to write on the use of bamboo for making energy efficient buildings and sustainable living while talking about the overall aspects of design, construction and costs of such buildings.

Madan Mohan Jaira is currently working in Hindustan newspaper as Bureau Chief. He has more than 20 years of experience in journalism and has covered diverse topics ranging from environment, climate change, and health education to gender equality. As a part of his fellowship, his overall focus would be on how to convert existing buildings into energy efficient buildings, i.e. Energy Retrofitting. His first story will deal with possibilities and implementations of Energy Audit system of existing building and retrofitting planning. The second story will be on how effective is retrofitting in old buildings in other countries, its costs and other related issues. He also wants to explore that if retrofitting becomes a part of ECBC, then how it will be implemented. He will approach these stories with the help of talking to experts, government officials, ministers and other parties.

Mukesh Rawat is a Chief Sub Editor with the India Today Group in Noida. Previously he was with the Hindustan Times in Chandigarh and Dehradun. During the fellowship, he will explore ways in which the traditional building styles in the Kumaon-Garhwal Himalayas can be customised to meet present-day needs of achieving energy efficiency, both in the construction stage and post occupancy. He will also be working on research-based informative articles on how people who already own a house, which hasn't been constructed in accordance with green norms, can still make their houses more energy efficient without having to rebuild them from scratch again. The third area that he will be working on is data-driven analysis of heat and energy consumption in general residential buildings and the impact it has on the local and global environment.

Sazzad Hussain is an independent journalist from North Lakhimpur, Assam. He has previously worked in The Assam Tribune before turning into and independent journalist and researcher in 2011. He has been awarded media fellowships by National Foundation of India, Reach-Lilley MDR-TB and Centre for Science and Environment. During his fellowship at CMS, he intends to focus on the possibility of opting for the traditional Assam Type houses for energy efficient buildings in hot and humid conditions like India’s North East and the possibility of inter-ministerial cooperation for energy housing. He wants to explore traditional housing patterns which involves using locally available and eco-friendly materials from nature like bamboos and their sustainable growth for development and climate resilience.