
Articles by Nitin Jugran Bahuguna
Nitin Jugran Bahuguna is a senior freelance journalist with over 30 years of work experience who divides her time between Delhi and Dehradun. She has investigated and written extensively on human development issues pertaining to gender, health, child labour and environment. She worked for nearly 17 years with the United News of India (UNI) and also as a media consultant with several United Nations organizations on human development issues. She has authored her first novel, “Comet in the Village”, which is set in a remote mountain village in Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand. During 1996-97, with a financial grant from UNICEF, she undertook an in- depth study on the complex issue of child labour in India visiting industries having large concentration of child workers such as brassware in Moradabad, carpet-weaving in Mirzapur and Bhadohi (all in UP), the gem polishing industry in Jaipur, beedimaking and rope-making in Vellore, sari weaving in Kancheepuram, matchbox making industry in Sivakasi and in the stone quarries and steel industry in Chennai and its outskirts (all in Tamil Nadu). One of her stories on bonded child labour in sari-weaving industry in Kancheepuram captioned: “Kids mortgaged for loans” featured as a front page story in various major dailies and was followed up by two of India’s leading television channels and sparked off a national debate on the subject. Over the years she has highlighted several crucial issues with her investigative journalism. In 2001, her story entitled “Widowed by AIDS, they fight for survival”, based on a visit to Namakkal district in Tamil Nadu, was published in “Grassroots”, a monthly journal brought out by the Press Institute of India and was awarded the best feature of that issue. During 2002-3, working as a consultant for UNIFEM (Now known as U N Women), she visited several areas where women and girls had been trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation. Her feature, “A village with no adolescent girls”, based on a visit to a village near Mysore in Karnataka, also won best feature in Grassroots magazine. Currently, Ms Bahuguna is a Media Consultant with WWF – India at their Sustainable Agriculture Programme (SAP) Division.

Special series
Wetland Champions
- [Commentary] India establishes the largest network of Ramsar Sites in South Asia
- [Commentary] Wetland champions: Promise from the grassroots
- The story of Jakkur lake sets an example for inclusive rejuvenation projects
- Welcome to Tsomgo lake: Please don’t litter

Environment And Health
- As heatwaves projected to worsen across India, do vulnerability assessments and heat action plans suffice?
- Assam’s North Lakhimpur treats 40 years of legacy waste in just nine months
- Varying levels of microplastics detected in sea salt produced across India
- Decline in pollinators linked to half a million premature human deaths every year, shows study

Almost Famous Species
- The gharial attempts a second comeback with help from the Katarniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary
- Understanding the role of local communities in the conservation of critically endangered rhino rays
- Citizen scientists help discover a blind catfish species hidden inside Kerala’s aquifers
- Flying is riskier for female katydids, finds India’s first insect radio telemetry study

Eco Hope
- [Interview] Conservation scientist Joli Rumi Borah on integrating traditional knowledge in research
- [Interview] Scientist Ruth DeFries on deforestation: There isn’t one driver, there’s a different context in different places
- India budgets for mangroves and wetlands
- Working with biomaterials to add to the sustainable energy mix

India's Iconic Landscapes
- Experts call for coexistence, sustainable development as tiger population is close to saturation
- Ain’t no mountain high enough: alien invasive plants increasing in higher elevations
- Unplanned, faulty buildings tremble under weather events in the fragile Himalayan regions
- Nourishing soils of Kashmir’s karewas crumble under infrastructure

Beyond Protected Areas
- Call to save rare snake habitat follows red coral kukri sightings in Bangladesh
- Small cats in big trouble: Why we need to save these elusive endangered species
- Rising tiger population is said to aggravate human-tiger conflict in Chandrapur, Gadchiroli
- Questions arise about Project Cheetah as three cheetahs die in 45 days

Conserving Agro-biodiversity
- How a drought-prone village in Maharashtra attained agricultural success with millets
- Thirunelly’s seed festival celebrates traditional climate-resilient seeds and farm produce
- [Explainer] Why is 2023 the International Year of Millets? What do we achieve by celebrating such years?
- Nations adopt Global Biodiversity Framework amid concerns over watered-down targets

Just Transitions
- Bauxite mining in Jharkhand is impacting soil fertility, people’s health
- Incentives to boost demand, increase in e-buses in Tamil Nadu’s latest EV policy
- Electricity transition in India’s renewable-rich states needs to accelerate, says study
- [Interview] Ajay Kumar Rastogi on leading India’s first just transition task force
