S. Anil Radhakrishnan Development Journalism Fellowship

S. Anil Radhakrishnan, renowned journalist, passed away recently after a three decade-long career in journalism. A bright student academically, he acquired his Masters' Degree in Journalism from the Department of Journalism, University of Kerala, in 1990, standing first in his class.

He joined The Hindu in 1996 after a five-year stint in the Press Trust of India (PTI) in Mumbai. While at The Hindu, he covered a variety of stories, spanning tourism, public transport, airline industry, ports, roads, railways and allied infrastructure. He also branched into financial journalism in his later years.

Anil was known in The Hindu for his passion and dedication for work. Scarcely a newsday passed without one of Anil’s reports on The Hindu’s Kerala pages. He relentlessly tracked his beat and was abreast of the latest developments. His vast and deep sources in the areas he covered, high domain knowledge and an infallible work ethic kept Anil on the top of his expansive beat.

He had authored several breaking and nuanced articles on public finance and Centre-State fiscal relationship and human interest and nature stories. His contribution to landmark infrastructural projects in Kerala like the Kochi Metro, Thiruvananthapuram International Airport and the Vizhinjam International Container Trans-shipment Terminal (VICTT), will forever be remembered. During his time as head of the city bureau, Anil had proved his leadership skills as well. Quite active in public life, he also served as the Thiruvananthapuram District Secretary of the Kerala Union of Working Journalists (KUWJ) and the head of the Kesari Memorial Journalists' Trust, Thiruvananthapuram. He was one of the special invitees to a fortnight-long programme for journalists in Washington in mid-2000.

He was also the winner of awards, prominent among them being the State Governments' Award Excellence in Tourism-related Reporting (which he won twice), and the K. Madhavan Kutty for Excellence in English Journalism. Outside work, Anil was a devoted son, husband and father. He had a vast circle of friends who remember him fondly for his positive interventions that contributed to the State’s development in such key areas as infrastructure and tourism.

Anil is survived by his mother Sathi Devi, wife S.S. Sindhu and son S.A. Narayanan.

Anils' family has decided to institute a fellowship to perpetuate his memory and encourage the brand of positive journalism that he pursued all his career. On a request from the family, the Keasri Memorial Jouranlists’ Trust, with which he was closely associated, has consented to associate with the Fellowship programme and administer it in collaboration with Anil’s family.

To be known as the S. Anil Radhakrishnan Development Journalism Fellowship, the annual fellowship will be given as detailed below:

The S. Anil Radhakrishnan Development Journalism Fellowship will be given annually to one person for authoring an insightful book on Kerala development relating to, but not limited to, areas such as infrastructure, tourism, public transport systems, transportation management and State finances.

The Fellowship will comprise an amount of Rs. 50,000 (Rupees Fifty Thousand Only).

The book can be published either in Malayalam or in English or both.

The book should have minimum 120 pages in print form in Demy1/8th size or crown 1/4th size with pictures, graphs and tables, as required, and the letter font size having 10 points.

The Fellowship programme will be continued for a period of 5 consecutive years.

The Fellowship is open to any person, aged 45 years or below on the date of Fellowship notification, with genuine interest in the topic chosen.

Each year, proposals for books will be invited by the Kesari Memorial Journalists' Trust from eligible and interested candidates during the month of August.

There will be a 30-days gap between the Fellowship notification and the last date for submission of Fellowship proposals.

A 5-member committee that includes representatives of S. Anil Radhakrishnans' immediate family and the Kesari Memorial Journalists' Trust, Thiruvananthapuram, and two experts will be constituted each year to select the best Fellowship proposal.

The proposal should contain details of the subject chosen, its relevance to Keralas' development, its possible impact in the sector chosen, research work to be conducted, as well as a definitive schedule for completing the book.

The committee will examine the proposal positively within 15 days of the last date for submission of the proposals.

The proposal will be put to rigorous review and plagiarism check.

The decision of the selection committee regarding eligibility of the proposals will be final and not subject to any legal dispute.

The person chosen as the Fellow of the year would be given an amount of Rs. 15,000 (Rupees Fifteen Thousand Only) initially, Rs. 15,000 (Rupees Fifteen Thousand Only) in the fourth month and the remaining amount at the time of formal release of the book under the joint auspices of the Kesari Memorial Journalists' Trust and S. Anil Radhakrishnans' family.

An agreement would be signed between the Fellowship awardee and the Kesari Memorial Journalists' Trust to the effect that the book would be completed within the stipulated time and that failure to comply with the terms of the agreement would result in the awardee being legally obliged to return the Fellowship amount received with an interest of 12 per cent per annum.

The schedule for completion of the book should be strictly adhered to and the monthly progress report of the work should be submitted to the Expert member/s of the Selection Committee.

The authoring should be completed by 1st May of the following year and should be submitted to the Kesari Memorial Journalists' Trust for vetting by experts on or before that day. After vetting, with the permission of the Trust, the book can be published. If any modification is suggested to meet the required standard of the book, it should be done within the next three weeks. It should be released at a function to be held on June 23rd, the death anniversary of S. Anil Radhakrishnan.

The authority to grant final approval for publication of the book will rest with the 5-member committee mentioned above and the same shall not be subject to any legal dispute.

For any dispute on any other matter, the jurisdiction will be Thiruvananthapuram.

The book should be published under the name of the Kesari Memorial Journalists' Trust and 25 copies of the book should be given to theTrust for records and other purposes. Distribution can be entrusted with any firm to be selected by the author.

 

Sd/

Secretary

Kesari Memorial Journalists' Trust

How to Apply?