Lalit Shastri

Lalit Shastri is a senior journalist whose career has spanned more than four decades of reporting, public affairs and independent journalism. He headed the Madhya Pradesh Bureau of two of India's leading English-language newspapers, The Hindu and The Asian Age, bringing extensive ground-level reporting and political and social analysis to a national readership.

His journalism has included reporting from the ground on the persistent Naxalite-Maoist challenge in the Central Indian States, as well as extensive coverage of public affairs, governance and issues affecting ordinary citizens. His work has consistently been rooted in the belief that journalism's first responsibility is to place accurate, credible and meaningful information before the public.

His commitment to journalism took a decisive turn in the aftermath of the 1984 Bhopal gas disaster. He left behind a corporate career to investigate the causes and consequences of the world's worst industrial disasters, eventually becoming a full-time journalist and documenting the continuing human and environmental dimensions of the tragedy.

His engagement with the Bhopal disaster has continued over the decades. In November 2022, marking the 38th anniversary of the disaster, he addressed Italian lawmakers at the Chamber of Deputies in Rome on “Bhopal Disaster and Lessons”, reflecting on the tragedy and the lessons it holds for governance, corporate responsibility, public safety and institutional accountability.

Janata Ki Awaaz is an extension of that long-standing commitment to public-interest journalism: creating a space where citizens can speak, ideas can be examined and the conversation on systemic reform can take place in a constitutional, peaceful and constructive spirit.