Bharati Chaturvedi

Bharati Chaturvedi is the founder and director of Chintan Environmental Research and Action Group. Her idea of founding Chintan was an attempt to engage in a partnership between the urban poor in the informal sector and people like herself (English speaking, urban elite, with community organizing, policy advocacy and research interests). The objective was to find ways to foster a sustainable city, but also one that could put the poor at the centre of its decision making. Bharati felt the need for a Chintan-like space because it would allow her intellectual freedom, and offered her freedom from the rhetoric of received wisdom and politically correct constructs.

Apart from her daily involvement with Chintan, Bharati also writes on environmental and development issues. You can read her weekly column, Earthwatch, published every Monday, in the Hindustan Times. She talks about these issues widely, in India and internationally, as part of her advocacy and outreach. Previously, Bharati was one of the founders of Srishti, an environmental group that that finds its origins in Delhi University, formed by students to address various environmental concerns. This enabled her to research and address issues of the urban environment and toxics when they were relatively new in the Indian context.

Bharati has a Masters Degree in History from Delhi University as well as a Masters in International Public Policy from the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), John Hopkins University.