US government offers prestigious IVLP to two Assam journalists

Guwahati, Jun 22:Two journalists from Assam, Barasha Das and Sumir Karmakar, have been offered the prestigious International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) by the US government’s Department of State on the project entitled “Call to Climate Action: Building Public Awareness through Media Advocacy.”

The journalists are presently visiting the United States from June 15 to July 6, including stops in Washington DC, Detroit city in Michigan, Idaho in Boise and Boulder in Colorado State.

Through the professional exchange programme, they will be assessing the US national, state and local progress in achieving climate change goals. They will also observe how environmental policy-making and media campaigns can be integrated with practical solutions, and develop media strategies to enhance public engagement in environmental conservation.

On June 18, Das and Karmakar, along with four other members of the group, visited the US Department of State to understand how US climate and environmental diplomacy aims to achieve economic growth, energy security, and a healthy planet.

Sumir Karmakar is a journalist with 17 years of experience in newspapers and digital media and Barasha Das has been writing on the issues of climate change and environment as a freelance journalist in Assam. As a Special Correspondent of the Deccan Herald newspaper at present, Sumir Karmakar has been covering the Northeastern states. He had earlier successfully completed two media fellowships in Assam with focus on climate change and climate resilience of communities in the river island Majuli, Bodoland and Dhubri region. 

Barasha Das is an independent journalist who focuses on environmental concerns and climate change issues in Northeast India. She was a fellow of the QoC-CANSA (Question of Cities-Climate Action Network South Asia) Fellowship on Cities and Climate Change in 2023.

Both are accompanied by Isabella Nawodita Gurung (Gangtok), Jaideep Deogharia (Ranchi), Pooja Mehta Batavia (Kolkata), and Sabita Kumari (Patna). They represent Sikkim Express, The Times of India, Times Now and Dainik Bhaskar, respectively.