Bharati Chaturvedi

Founder

Founder of Chintan Environmental Research and Action Group

Bharati Chaturvedi is the founder of Chintan Environmental Research and Action Group [1], an Indian non-profit working on environment, livelihood and human rights from New Delhi.

Bharati Chaturvedi is an Indian environmentalist and writer who founded the Chintan Environmental Research and Action Group in Delhi in 2002 and directs it. Chintan works on waste, air pollution and climate change with a focus on the informal recycling sector, and on the livelihoods and rights of waste pickers.

She began the organisation as its only volunteer. She has written a weekly column, Greenpiece, for the Hindustan Times, and has contributed to Scroll.in, India Today, Down To Earth, Business Standard and Dainik Jagran.

Early life and education

Chaturvedi holds a master's degree in modern Indian history from the University of Delhi and a master's in international public policy from the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University in the United States.

Career

While a student at Delhi University she was among the founders of Srishti, an environmental group formed by students.

She founded Chintan in 2002. The organisation combines research and advocacy with programmes that place waste pickers at the centre of urban waste management, arguing that the informal sector already performs much of India's recycling and should be recognised and protected rather than displaced. Chintan also works on air pollution and on green livelihoods, and sits on the boards of several Indian non-profit bodies through its director.

She has been a Leadership in Environment and Development (LEAD) Fellow, a recipient of a Sarai Urban Fellowship, and a Senior Fellow of Synergos.

Recognition

In 2012 she received the United States Secretary of State's Innovation Award for the Empowerment of Women and Girls, presented by Hillary Clinton; it was the first year the award was given.

In 2009 she received the Johns Hopkins Alumni Knowledge for the World Award.[2][3][4][5]

Chintan Environmental Research and Action Group

Chintan is an environmental research and action group working on the circular economy, air pollution and climate change. Much of its work concerns the livelihoods and working conditions of waste workers in Delhi NCR and Lucknow.

Chintan Environmental Research and Action Group reports the following, on its own site: