KPM Basheer

2012

KPM Basheer (Mohammed Basheer) has been writing on development and environmental issues, human rights, social conflicts and mental health for The Hindu, a major English-language daily in India, for two decades. His home state of Kerala has had one of the highest suicide rates in Asia. Basheer reported extensively on ‘family suicide’ whereby entire families ended their lives, mainly due to economic distress, and ‘farmer suicide’ caused by indebtedness and the sharp fall in the prices of agricultural products. He has also reported on the poor conditions of psychiatric care homes and mental health rehabilitation centers in Kerala. Basheer has won the Sarojini Naidu national award for excellence in journalism, Asian Rice Journalist Award, Panos South Asia Fellowship, and the Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship of the US Government. He is currently a Special Correspondent with The Hindu and is based at Kochi, Kerala.