Ravish Kumar is a reputed Indian news and television journalist, anchor and author who is best known for his work at the New Delhi Television Limited (NDTV) news channel, where he serves as a Hindi language news anchor and reporter, dealing with Indian Political stories. Kumar also serves in the capacity of NDTV India’s senior executive editor which is the Hindi language arm of NDTV news network. Kumar hosts some of the most popular shows on NDTV India including ‘Prime Time’ and ‘Hum Log’ and is also the host of his own show ‘Ravish Ki Report’.
Kumar is one of the most popular television news reporters in India. He has been felicitated with several awards including the prestigious ‘Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi Award’, for excellence in Hindi Journalism in 2010, the Ramnath Goenka Award in broadcasting journalism in 2013 and the Journalist of the Year award by the Mumbai press club in 2015. Kumar was named by the Indian Express in their list of Top 100 influential Indians in 2016. He received the first ever Kuldip Nayar journalism award for his contribution to journalism in 2017.
Early Life and Education
Kumar was born on 5 December 1974 in the Indian village of Jivatpur in historic East Champaran, Motihari district, Bihar, to his parents in a conventional, orthodox family. He was raised as a Hindu along with his two siblings, a brother named Brajesh Pandey, also a Hindi news journalist and a sister named Nita Kumari Pandey.
Kumar completed his matriculation from Loyola high School, Patna, Bihar and later attended Deshbandhu College, University of Delhi, from where he graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Arts. Kumar aspired to serve in the Indian Administrative Services for which he appeared for the UPSC Civil Services Examination but the newly proposed Mandal Commission of India proposed to give preference to the OBC classes which resulted in Kumar not being selected for the IAS. He later attended the Indian Institute of Mass Communication, Delhi earning a post-graduate diploma in journalism
Career Rise
Kumar started his career in journalism in 1996 and was one of the earliest employees of the NDTV network founded by ace journalist Prannoy Roy and his wife Radhika Roy. He started off in the capacity of a news correspondent and was later promoted to the studio, where he served as a news reporter. In the early years of his career at NDTV, Kumar claims to have struggled with speaking in English and being intimidated by computers. He started gaining recognition for his non-assuming stance as a Hindi language news reporter, dealing mostly with stories of political significance.
Kumar became a household name after he started hosting his own show ‘Ravish Ki Report’ which deals with several different news stories from politics to human interest stories. He continues to serve as the host of the Hindi language debate-cum-current-affairs-talk- show ‘Hum Log’, while its English version ‘We, The People’ is hosted on NDTV24X7 by Sarah Jacobs. Kumar also serves as the host of NDTV show ‘Prime Time’ on which he covers the big stories of the day, often concentrating on the breaking news stories for which he received great acclaim. Additionally, Kumar is a Hindi language writer, having authored three books, ‘Ishq Mein Shahar Hona’, ‘Dekhate Rahiye’ and ‘Ravishpanti’
Wife
Kumar met Nayana Dasgupta while the two were studying at University of Delhi and soon developed a close bond with her. The couple started off as good friends and eventually got married after seven years of courtship. Kumar’s family was opposed to the match since Dasgupta belonged to the Bengali cast, so the couple eloped and married. Kumar and Dasgupta have two daughters together.
Dasgupta currently serves as a professor of history at Lady Shri Ram College, Delhi University.
Ravish Kumar – Salary
His salary is an estimated Rs. 5 -6 lakh per month, not inclusive of employee stock options and perks. His monthly-take home is an approximate Rs. 17 lakhs, making his annual salary at around Rs. 2.1 crore.