Express staff get awards for Bihar flood loot, missing tiger investigation

His series of reports exposed how crores meant for the poor were allegedly siphoned off by officials and contractors. The reports prompted the Government to crack down on the accused and finally led to the arrest of then Patna DM Gautam Goswami and several others.

The Prem Bhatia award for excellence in reporting on environmental issues has gone to The Indian Express Senior Assistant Editor Jay Mazoomdaar for his ongoing series on the vanishing tigers.

His coverage—from Sariska and Ranthambhore to Champaran and Indravati national parks—got the Government to set up a high-level task force that is expected to submit a blueprint to the Prime Minister on what needs to be done.

The Trust has also awarded two scholarships for research in media-related subject for young journalists Jaideep Hardikar of Hitavada, Nagpur, for his project on the agrarian crisis in Vidarbha and Jupinderjit Singh of the Tribune, Chandigarh, for his project on Punjab’s changing demography.

The awards and scholarships will be presented on August 11 at the 10th Prem Bhatia Memorial Lecture to be delivered by Ashok Desai, former Attorney General of India, on ‘‘Dangers to Indian Democracy’’.