Geeta Dharmarajan

Indian writer, teacher, and editor

Geeta Dharmarajan

Born|

Geeta Krishnaswamy

(1948-09-19) 19 September 1948 (age 76)

Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India

Other names| K. Geeta
Awards| Padma Shri: 2012

Millinnium Alliance Innovator. Instituted by USAID, Government of India and FICCI, 2013[1]

Stockholm Challenge:[2] 2001
Website| www.katha.org

Geeta Dharmarajan (born 19 September 1948) is a writer, editor, educator and the executive director of Katha, a nonprofit organisation that she founded in 1988. Her work focuses on education, especially of children from poor families.

Katha[3][4] is a registered non-profit and non-governmental organisation based in Delhi in 1989. Katha works in teacher training, children's education and literature. Katha works in underprivileged areas across India. A teaching/learning tool that she devised, "story pedagogy", has been in use in Katha's learning centres since 2001.

Dharmarajan's professional editorial experience that began with Target, a children's magazine, and continued with The Pennsylvania Gazette, the award-winning alumni magazine of the University of Pennsylvania. Geeta's published works include more than 30 children's books and over 450 individual pieces in magazines and newspapers in India and abroad. The Government of India awarded her the civilian honour of Padma Shri in 2012.[5]

## Personal life

[edit]

Geeta Dharmarajan was born in Chennai in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu in 1948. She was introduced early to the diversity of India through the work of her father, N. Krishnaswamy[6] a doctor and allergist. Her mother was Kalyani Krishnaswamy,[7] a poet and composer of classical Carnatic padams.[8] She started learning classical Bharatanatyam and Carnatic music when she was seven years old. She was educated in Holy Angels' High School where she represented the school in dance and netball. She was elected Head Girl of the school and led the south Indian contingent to the Bharat Girl Guides Jamboree in her final year. She graduated from Stella Maris College in English Literature, standing fourth.

## Katha Books

[edit]

Geeta is the editor in chief of Katha's list which includes the Katha Prize Stories.[9] She has edited stories from more than 300 of India's best literary talents, writing in 21 Indian languages. Katha Books are a showcase of contemporary Indian fiction for adults and children.[10] Katha introduced an array of writings from India's many oral and written traditions to children, ages 0 – 17. Classy productions, child friendly layouts and illustrations go in tandem with excellent writing.[11][10] Her major activities include the institution of the Katha Awards for Literary Excellence,[12] and curating the Katha Festivals and utsavs that bring literature to the public. These create meeting places for writers, translators, scholars, critics, storytellers and contemporary artists and community activists.[13] Geeta led the writers workshop initiative for the central Board of Secondary Education,[14] with partnerships established in 500 schools in India [15]

## Katha Schools

[edit]

The Katha Lab School started in 1990 with five children.[16] Today it is a centre of creativity for the slum cluster it is situated in, producing professionals every year who become entrepreneurs who support their families, or go on to higher studies. More than 80% of Katha's children go to college. It was recently visited by The Prince of Wales.[17][18]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "U.S. and India Announce Innovation, Science, and Technology Awards". USAID. Archived from the original on 1 May 2015. Retrieved 15 August 2015.
2. ^ Stockholm Challenge Stockholm Challenge Archived 3 March 2014 at the Wayback Machine
3. ^ "Katha, Official website". Katha. Retrieved 29 January 2014.
4. ^ Sharma, Aditya (4 January 2007). "A Katha of success". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 5 November 2012. Retrieved 29 January 2014.
5. ^ "Padma Awards" (PDF). Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 October 2015. Retrieved July 21, 2015.
6. ^ "Dr KS Sanjivi Awards 2011 Presented". ciosa.org.in. Archived from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 15 August 2015.
7. ^ 11 VIRUTAM composition of Smt. Kalyani Krishnaswamy. YouTube. 19 March 2012. Retrieved 15 August 2015.
8. ^ "Naad Anunaad - RadioWeb Carnatic". radioweb.in. Archived from the original on 4 February 2016. Retrieved 15 August 2015.
9. ^ Katha. "Katha Prize Stories". kathaprizestories.blogspot.in. Retrieved 15 August 2015.
10. ^ a b "Katha Books For Children" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 November 2016. Retrieved 20 April 2014.
11. ^ "Amazon.com: Geeta Dharmarajan: Books". amazon.com. Retrieved 15 August 2015.
12. ^ "Publishing legend Katha celebrates its 10th year : YOUR WEEK - India Today". Archived from the original on 19 April 2014. Retrieved 20 April 2014.
13. ^ Barooah Pisharoty, Sangeeta (13 September 2013). "A Beautiful Story". The Hindu. Retrieved 29 January 2014.
14. ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20131210192608/http://www.cbseacademic.in/web_material/Circulars/2013/45_katha.pdf. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 December 2013. Retrieved 20 April 2014. `{{cite web}}`: Missing or empty `|title=` (help)
15. ^ Hansika Chopra (26 August 2013). "Budding writers". The Hindu. Retrieved 15 August 2015.
16. ^ "Teaching in the Asian century". unimelb.edu.au. Retrieved 15 August 2015.
17. ^ British Asian Trust President, HRH The Prince of Wales, visits ...
18. ^ "Prince Charles at the Katha Lab school in New Delhi - Prince Charles & Camilla Parker during nine-day visit to India - The Economic Times". The Economic Times. Retrieved 15 August 2015.

* v
* t
* e

Recipients of Padma Shri in Literature & Education

1950s|

* K. Shankar Pillai (1954)
* Krishna Kanta Handique (1955)
* Surya Kumar Bhuyan (1956)
* Sukhdev Pande (1956)
* Nalini Bala Devi (1957)
* S. R. Ranganathan (1957)
* Ram Chandra Varma (1958)
* Magan Lal Tribhuvandas Vyas (1958)
* K. S. Chandrasekharan (1958)

1960s|

* B. S. Kesavan (1960)
* Artaballabha Mohanty (1960)
* N. D. Sundaravadivelu (1961)
* Vinayaka Krishna Gokak (1961)
* Vishnukant Jha (1961)
* Jinvijay (1961)
* Evengeline Lazarus (1961)

1970s|

* Ananda Chandra Barua (1970)
* Sulabha Panandikar (1971)

1980s|

* Krishan Dutta Bharadwaj (1981)
* Abid Ali Khan (1981)
* Ram Panjwani (1981)
* Vaikom Muhammad Basheer (1982)
* R. V. Pandit (1982)
* Sher Singh Sher (1982)
* Gaura Pant Shivani (1982)
* Ahalya Chari (1983)
* Amitabha Chaudhuri (1983)
* Saliha Abid Hussain (1983)
* Komal Kothari (1983)
* Hundraj Lial Ram Dukhayal Manik (1983)
* Raghuvir Sharan Mitra (1983)
* Attar Singh (1983)
* Mayangnokcha Ao (1984)
* Kshem Suman Chandra (1984)
* Lakshmi Kumari Chundawat (1984)
* Shanta Gandhi (1984)
* Sadhu Singh Hamdard (1984)
* Qurratulain Hyder (1984)
* Ganpatrao Jadhav (1984)
* Syed Abdul Malik (1984)
* John Arthur King Martyn (1984)
* Sooranad Kunjan Pillai (1984)
* Syed Hasan Askari (1985)
* Jamesh Dokhuma (1985)
* Kaka Hathrasi (1985)
* Bharat Mishra (1985)
* Harishankar Parsai (1985)
* Ashangbam Minaketan Singh (1985)
* Anil Agarwal (1986)
* Binod Kanungo (1986)
* Chitra Naik (1986)
* Abdur Rahman (1986)
* Nuchhungi Renthlei (1986)
* Raghunath Sharma (1986)
* Abdul Sattar (1987)
* Nazir Ahmed (1987)
* Vanaja Iyengar (1987)
* Khawlkungi (1987)
* Badri Narayan (1987)
* Debi Prasanna Pattanayak (1987)
* Sant Singh Sekhon (1987)
* N. Khelchandra Singh (1987)
* Madaram Brahma (1988)
* Nissim Ezekiel (1988)
* K. M. George (1988)
* Mario Miranda (1988)
* Vidya Niwas Mishra (1988)
* Ali Jawad Zaidi (1988)
* Kalim Aajiz (1989)
* Barsane Lal Chaturvedi (1989)
* Anita Desai (1989)
* Moti Lal Saqi (1989)
* Rongbong Terang (1989)
* V. Venkatachalam (1989)

1990s|

* M. Aram (1990)
* Vijay Kumar Chopra (1990)
* Behram Contractor (1990)
* Radha Mohan Gadanayak (1990)
* Madhav Yeshwant Gadkari (1990)
* Yashpal Jain (1990)
* Sharad Joshi (1990)
* Kanhiyalal Prabhakar Mishra (1990)
* Gopi Chand Narang (1990)
* Dagdu Maruti Pawar (1990)
* Nilmani Phookan Jr (1990)
* Shyam Singh Shashi (1990)
* Ram Nath Shastri (1990)
* Bharat Bhushan (yogi) (1991)
* Kapil Deva Dvivedi (1991)
* B. K. S. Iyengar (1991)
* Satish Chandra Kakati (1991)
* Vishnu Bhikaji Kolte (1991)
* Madan Lal Madhu (1991)
* Namdeo Dhondo Mahanor (1991)
* Keshav Malik (1991)
* Surendra Mohanty (1991)
* P. T. Narasimhachar (1991)
* V. G. Bhide (1992)
* Gulabdas Broker (1992)
* Krishna Chaithanya (1992)
* Rajammal P. Devadas (1992)
* Vasant Shankar Kanetkar (1992)
* V. C. Kulandaiswamy (1992)
* R. S. Lugani (1992)
* Shovana Narayan (1992)
* Nisith Ranjan Ray (1992)
* Moirangthem Kirti Singh (1992)
* B. K. Thapar (1992)
* Mark Tully (1992)
* B. N. Goswamy (1998)
* O. N. V. Kurup (1998)
* Lalsangzuali Sailo (1998)
* Gurdial Singh (1998)
* Narayan Gangaram Surve (1998)
* Ruskin Bond (1999)
* Shayama Chona (1999)
* G. P. Chopra (1999)
* Namdeo Dhasal (1999)
* Kanhaiya Lal Nandan (1999)
* Satya Vrat Shastri (1999)
* Rajkumar Jhalajit Singh (1999)

2000s|

* Grigoriy Lvovitch Bondarevsky (2000)
* P. S. Chawngthu (2000)
* Piloo Nowshir Jungalwalla (2000)
* Mandan Mishra (2000)
* Rehman Rahi (2000)
* K. P. Saxena (2000)
* Nabaneeta Dev Sen (2000)
* Elangbam Nilakanta Singh (2000)
* Bala V. Balachandran (2001)
* Jeelani Bano (2001)
* Manoj Das (2001)
* Javare Gowda (2001)
* Chandrashekhara Kambara (2001)
* Gnanananda Kavi (2001)
* Kumar Ketkar (2001)
* Ravindra Kumar (2001)
* Kalidas Gupta Riza (2001)
* Padma Sachdev (2001)
* Bhabendra Nath Saikia (2001)
* Vachnesh Tripathi (2001)
* Munirathna Anandakrishnan (2002)
* Gopal Chhotray (2002)
* Gyan Chand Jain (2002)
* Madhu Mangesh Karnik (2002)
* Ashok Ramchandra Kelkar (2002)
* V. K. Madhavan Kutty (2002)
* Turlapaty Kutumba Rao (2002)
* Kim Yang-shik (2002)
* Manzoor Ahtesham (2003)
* Jagdish Chaturvedi (2003)
* Motilal Jotwani (2003)
* Yarlagadda Lakshmi Prasad (2003)
* Tekkatte Narayan Shanbhag (2003)
* Shailendra Nath Shrivastava (2003)
* Pritam Singh (2003)
* Vairamuthu (2003)
* Hamlet Bareh (2004)
* Kumarpal Desai (2004)
* Tatyana Elizarenkova (2004)
* Anil Kumar Gupta (2004)
* Gowri Ishwaran (2004)
* Leeladhar Jagudi (2004)
* Sunita Jain (2004)
* Prithvi Nath Kaula (2004)
* Ayyappa Paniker (2004)
* P. Parameswaran (2004)
* Bal Samant (2004)
* Kanhaiyalal Sethia (2004)
* Ramesh Chandra Shah (2004)
* Heinrich von Stietencron (2004)
* Sudhir Tailang (2004)
* Dalip Kaur Tiwana (2004)
* Amiya Kumar Bagchi (2005)
* Shobhana Bhartia (2005)
* Manas Chaudhuri (2005)
* Darchhawna (2005)
* J. S. Grewal (2005)
* Amin Kamil (2005)
* Gadul Singh Lama (2005)
* Mammen Mathew (2005)
* S. B. Mujumdar (2005)
* Bilat Paswan Vihangam (2005)
* Ajeet Cour (2006)
* Sucheta Dalal (2006)
* Laltluangliana Khiangte (2006)
* Lothar Lutze (2006)
* Mrinal Pande (2006)
* Sugathakumari (2006)
* Sitanshu Yashaschandra (2006)
* Temsüla Ao (2007)
* Vijaydan Detha (2007)
* Bakul Harshadrai Dholakia (2007)
* Amitav Ghosh (2007)
* Meenakshi Gopinath (2007)
* Giriraj Kishore (2007)
* Shekhar Pathak (2007)
* Pratibha Ray (2007)
* Rostislav Rybakov (2007)
* Vikram Seth (2007)
* Vaali (2007)
* Sivanthi Adithan (2008)
* Bina Agarwal (2008)
* Vellayani Arjunan (2008)
* Nirupam Bajpai (2008)
* Surjya Kanta Hazarika (2008)
* Vinod Dua (2008)
* M. Leelavathy (2008)
* Amitabh Mattoo (2008)
* Bholabhai Patel (2008)
* Rajdeep Sardesai (2008)
* Sukhadeo Thorat (2008)
* Srinibash Udgata (2008)
* Suresh Amonkar
* Abhay Chhajlani
* Birendra Nath Datta
* Shashi Deshpande
* Bannanje Govindacharya
* Panchapakesa Jayaraman
* Mathoor Krishnamurty
* Jayanta Mahapatra
* Laxman Mane
* John Ralston Marr
* Alok Mehta
* A. Sankara Reddy
* Lalthangfala Sailo
* Ngawang Samten
* Ranbir Chander Sobti
* Ram Shankar Tripathi

2010s|

* Lalzuia Colney (2010)
* Maria Aurora Couto (2010)
* Romuald D'Souza (2010)
* Bertha Gyndykes Dkhar (2010)
* Surendra Dubey (2010)
* Sadiq-ur-Rahman Kidwai (2010)
* Hermann Kulke (2010)
* Ramaranjan Mukherji (2010)
* Govind Chandra Pande (2010)
* Mrs YGP (2010)
* Sheldon Pollock (2010)
* Arun Sarma (2010)
* Jitendra Udhampuri (2010)
* Granville Austin (2011)
* Mahim Bora (2011)
* Urvashi Butalia (2011)
* Pullella Sriramachandrudu (2011)
* Mamang Dai (2011)
* Pravin Darji (2011)
* Chandra Prakash Deval (2011)
* Deviprasad Dwivedi (2011)
* Balraj Komal (2011)
* Krishna Kumar (2011)
* Rajni Kumar (2011)
* Devanur Mahadeva (2011)
* Barun Mazumder (2011)
* Ritu Menon (2011)
* Avvai Natarajan (2011)
* Bhalchandra Nemade (2011)
* Karl Harrington Potter (2011)
* Koneru Ramakrishna Rao (2011)
* Devi Dutt Sharma (2011)
* Nilamber Dev Sharma (2011)
* Geeta Dharmarajan (2012)
* Eberhard Fischer (2012)
* Kedar Gurung (2012)
* Surjit Patar (2012)
* Sachchidanand Sahai (2012)
* Allan Sealy (2012)
* Pepita Seth (2012)
* Vijay Dutt Shridhar (2012)
* Ralte L. Thanmawia (2012)
* Anvita Abbi (2013)
* Nida Fazli (2013)
* Radhika Herzberger (2013)
* Noboru Karashima (2013)
* Salik Lucknawi (2013)
* J. Malsawma (2013)
* Devendra Patel (2013)
* Christopher Pinney (2013)
* Mohammad Sharaf-e-Alam (2013)
* Rama Kant Shukla (2013)
* Jagdish Prasad Singh (2013)
* Akhtarul Wasey (2013)
* Naheed Abidi (2014)
* Ashok Chakradhar (2014)
* Keki N. Daruwalla (2014)
* G. N. Devy (2014)
* Kolakaluri Enoch (2014)
* Ved Kumari Ghai (2014)
* Manorama Jafa (2014)
* Rehana Khatoon (2014)
* P. Kilemsungla (2014)
* Sengaku Mayeda (2014)
* Waikhom Gojen Meitei (2014)
* Vishnunarayanan Namboothiri (2014)
* Dinesh Singh (2014)
* Huang Baosheng (2015)
* Bettina Bäumer (2015)
* Lakshmi Nandan Bora (2015)
* Jean-Claude Carrière (2015)
* Gyan Chaturvedi (2015)
* Raj Chetty (2015)
* Bibek Debroy (2015)
* Ashok Gulati (2015)
* George L. Hart (2015)
* Sunil Jogi (2015)
* Usha Kiran Khan (2015)
* Narayana Purushothama Mallaya (2015)
* Lambert Mascarenhas (2015)
* Taarak Mehta (2015)
* Ram Bahadur Rai (2015)
* J. S. Rajput (2015)
* Bimal Kumar Roy (2015)
* Annette Schmiedchen (2015)
* Gunvant Shah (2015)
* Brahmdev Sharma (2015)
* Dhirendra Nath Bezbaruah (2016)
* S. L. Bhyrappa (2016)
* Kameshwar Brahma (2016)
* Jawahar Lal Kaul (2016)
* Sal Khan (2016)
* Ashok Malik (2016)
* Haldhar Nag (2016)
* Pushpesh Pant (2016)
* Dahyabhai Shastri (2016)
* Prahlad Chandra Tasa (2016)
* Anant Agarwal (2017)
* Eli Ahmed (2017)
* Michel Danino (2017)
* Narendra Kohli (2017)
* Akkitham Achuthan Namboothiri (2017)
* Kashi Nath Pandita (2017)
* Vishnu Pandya (2017)
* V. G. Patel (2017)
* H.R. Shah (2017)
* Chamu Krishna Shastry (2017)
* Bhawana Somaaya (2017)
* Punam Suri (2017)
* Harihar Kripalu Tripathi (2017)
* G. Venkatasubbiah (2017)
* Prafulla Govinda Baruah (2018)
* Shyamlal Chaturvedi (2018)
* Arup Kumar Dutta (2018)
* Arvind Gupta (2018)
* Digamber Hansda (2018)
* Anwar Jalalpuri (2018)
* Piyong Temjen Jamir (2018)
* Joyasree Goswami Mahanta (2018)
* Zaverilal Mehta (2018)
* Tomio Mizokami (2018)
* Habibullo Rajabov (2018)
* Vagish Shastri (2018)
* Maharao Raghuveer Singh (2018)
* A Zakia (2018)
* Narsingh Dev Jamwal (2019)
* Nagindas Sanghavi (2019)
* Mohammed Hanif Khan Shastri (2019)
* Devendra Swarup (2019)

2020s|

* Abhiraj Rajendra Mishra (2020)
* Binapani Mohanty (2020)
* Damayanti Beshra (2020)
* H. M. Desai (2020)
* Lil Bahadur Chettri (2020)
* Meenakshi Jain (2020)
* N. Chandrasekharan Nair (2020)
* Narayan Joshi Karayal (2020)
* Prithwindra Mukherjee (2020)
* Robert Thurman (2020)
* S. P. Kothari (2020)
* Shahabuddin Rathod (2020)
* Sudharma (2020)
* Vijayasarathi Sribhashyam (2020)
* Yeshe Dorjee Thongchi (2020)
* Yogesh Praveen (2020)
* Benichandra Jamatia (2020)
* Carlos G. Vallés (2021)
* Dadudan Gadhvi (2021)
* Imran Shah (2021)
* Mangal Singh Hazowary (2021)
* Mridula Sinha (2021)
* Namdeo Kamble (2021)
* Rangasami L. Kashyap (2021)
* Srikant Datar (2021)
* Solomon Pappaiah (2021)
* Asavadi Prakasarao (2021)
* Lalbiakthanga Pachuau (2021)
* Najma Akhtar (2022)
* T Senka Ao (2022)
* J K Bajaj (2022)
* Sirpi Balasubramaniam (2022)
* Akhone Asgar Ali Basharat (2022)
* Harmohinder Singh Bedi (2022)
* Maria Christopher Byrski (2022)
* Khalil Dhantejvi (Posthumous) (2022)
* Dhaneswar Engti (2022)
* Narasimha Rao Garikapati (2022)
* Girdhari Ram Gonjhu (Posthumous) (2022)
* Shaibal Gupta (Posthumous) (2022)
* Narasingha Prasad Guru (2022)
* Avadh Kishore Jadia (2022)
* Tara Jauhar (2022)
* Rutger Kortenhorst (2022)
* P. Narayana Kurup (2022)
* V L Nghaka  (2022)
* Chirapat Prapandvidya (2022)
* Vidyanand Sarek (2022)
* Kherwal Soren (2022)
* Dilip Shahani (2022)
* Vishwamurti Shastri (2022)
* Tatiana Lvovna Shaumyan (2022)
* Siddalingaiah (Posthumous) (2022)
* Vidya Vindu Singh (2022)
* Raghuvendra Tanwar (2022)
* Badaplin War (2022)
* Radha Charan Gupta (2023)
* C. I. Issac (2023)
* Rattan Singh Jaggi (2023)
* Anand Kumar (2023)
* Prabhakar Bhanudas Mande (2023)
* Antaryami Mishra (2023)
* Ramesh Patange (2023)
* B. Ramakrishna Reddy (2023)
* Mohan Singh (2023)
* Prakash Chandra Sood (2023)
* Janum Singh Soy (2023)
* Vishwanath Prasad Tiwari (2023)
* Dhaniram Toto (2023)
* Raghuveer Chaudhari (2024)
* Joe D'Cruz (2024)
* Pierre-Sylvain Filliozat (2024)
* Rajaram Jain (2024)
* Yashwant Singh Kathoch (2024)
* Zahir I Kazi (2024)
* Surendra Kishore (2024)
* Sridhar Makam Krishnamurthy (2024)
* Pakaravur Chithran Namboodiripad (2024)
* Harish Nayak (2024)
* Fred Negrit (2024)
* Muni Narayana Prasad (2024)
* Bhagwatilal Rajpurohit (2024)
* Navjivan Rastogi (2024)
* Kethavath Somlal (2024)
* Aswathi Thirunal Gowri Lakshmi Bayi (2024)
* Kurella Vittalacharya (2024)
* Anil Kumar Boro (2025)
* Arunoday Saha (2025)
* Arvind Sharma (2025)
* Chandrakant Sheth (Posthumous) (2025)
* David R. Syiemlieh (2025)
* Ganeshwar Shastri Dravid (2025)
* Gita Upadhyay (2025)
* Hriday Narayan Dikshit (2025)
* Hugh and Colleen Gantzer (Posthumous)(Duo) (2025)
* Jagadish Joshila (2025)
* K. L. Krishna (2025)
* Lakshmipathy Ramasubbaiyer (2025)
* Lalit Kumar Mangotra (2025)
* Maruti Bhujangrao Chitampalli (2025)
* Nagendra Nath Roy (2025)
* Nitin Nohria (2025)
* Pratibha Satpathy (2025)
* Ramdarash Mishra (2025)
* Renthlei Lalrawna (2025)
* Sant Ram Deswal (2025)
* Seeni Viswanathan (2025)
* Sheen Kaaf Nizam (2025)
* Stephen Knapp (2025)
* Syed Ainul Hasan (2025)
* Tushar Durgeshbhai Shukla (2025)
* V. R. Panchamukhi (2025)

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