Kanak Dixit

Kanak Mani Dixit is a Nepali publisher, editor and writer. He is the founder of the news magazine Himal Southasian which is published in South Asia.

Life

Dixit was born on January 27, 1956, in Lalitpur. He studied at the Tri Chandra College in Kathmandu and obtained there his Bachelor of Arts in 1975. He studied at the University of Delhi, where he obtained his Bachelor of Laws. Afterwards he continued his study at the Columbia University, where he obtained two Master's degrees, one in 1981 in international relations and one year later one in Journalism.[1]

After his study, he worked for eight years, until 1990, at the secretary of the United Nations in New York City. During his position here, in 1987, he founded the bimonthly magazine Himal. In 1996 changed the name to Himal Southasian and he enlarged the area to, as he calls it: "from Afghanistan to Burma and from Tibet to the Maldives." Furthermore, it has become a monthly magazine since then. Since 1998 he also publishes the biweekly news magazine Himal Khabarpatrika in Nepali language.[1][2]

Furthermore, he is writer of children's stories, and he founded Film South Asia (FSA), a film festival for documentary films.[1][2]

For his role in cultural development, he was honored with a Prince Claus Award from the Netherlands in 2009.[2]

Controversy

In August 2013, Royal Norwegian Embassy, Kathmandu, Nepal awarded NOK 3892000 (NRs 60 Million) to The Southasia Trust, where Kanak Mani Dixit is an Executive Director, to use “Media to Promote Regional Peace and Development”. [3] Maoist lawmaker Shakti Basnet accused Mr. Dixit of misusing granted fund to campaign against the ongoing peace process and using funds without accountability,[4] triggering a debate on the support of foreign diplomatic missions for Nepali media.[5][6] Dixit refuted the accusations, claiming that the Maoist lawmaker in question was misusing his parliamentary platform in order to damage his credibility through personal targeting.[7]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Mountains to Mountains, resume
  2. 1 2 3 Prince Claus Fund biography
  3. ↑ "GRANT LETTER FOR 13/0015 - Using media to promote regional peace and development]" (PDF). Norway, the Official site in Nepal. 22 August 2013.
  4. ↑ "Donor funds used without accountability: Lawmakers]". The Kantipur Online. 14 April 2014. The trust, which has been granted Rs 60 million by Royal Norwegian Embassy, has misused the fund to campaign against the ongoing peace process and has misused the funds in his disposal without accountability, said Nepali Congress and Maoist lawmakers. They have demanded that the government investigate the case. "There has been regular anti-peace activities through the Trust fund which should be investigated," Maoist lawmaker Shakti Basnet said in parliament.
  5. ↑ "मिडियामा विदेशी लगानीको प्रश्न]]". Kantipur Daily. 20 April 2014.
  6. ↑ "विदेशी दूतावासको पैसामा पत्रिका निकाल्न पाइन्छ?]]". My Sansar. 19 April 2014.
  7. ↑ "UCPN (Maoist) stalls house proceedings yet again]]". República English Daily. 17 April 2014.


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