Our People

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Pitara Kids Network people — Authors, Contributors, Editors

Over the years many wonderful people have worked with us, influenced us, supported us, and partnered with us. Some have moved on. While others continue to be part of the journey. See a list of all authors we have ever published.

Ajay Jaiman (Founder)

Pitara was founded by Ajay Jaiman in 1998. He led the company through the tumultuous, yet exciting, times of start-up, VC funding, rapid growth and down-time survival, ensuring that, while the ship stayed afloat, the company’s commitment to a safe media environment for children was never compromised. Ajay also runs a digital incubator and web consulting company.

Arti Jaiman (Co-Founder)

Arti Jaiman has spent nearly 30 years as a journalist and independent writer exploring the various dimensions of art and education. She has studied journalism at Indiana University, Bloomington and worked for many years with the Arts Pages of The Economic Times (India’s leading financial daily), writing on art, culture, design and gender issues before co-founding Pitara. In 2008, Arti formally took on the responsibility of setting up the only civil society-run community radio station in Gurugram, a suburb of Delhi. Gurgaon Ki Awaaz Samudayik Radio reaches over 500,000 listeners, most of whom are local villagers and migrant workers. However, she continues to devote some time on Pitara.

Chitra Padmanabhan (Honorary Editor)

Chitra Padmanabhan has spent over 35 years with leading Indian newspapers like The Economic Times, The Hindustan Times, The Pioneer and Tehelka, writing on issues ranging from culture, cinema, history, arts, women’s issues and more. Chitra was formerly the Editorial Head of Pitara and continues to be an honorary advisor on all matters editorial.

Team Pitara

The team has singly and jointly worked extensively with and for children, be it technology initiatives for children in far flung areas of India, curriculum textbooks that make learning interactive and enjoyable, and collaborative projects that brought together more than 20,000 children from across India to create a montage of “their India.” Besides creating over 15,000 pages of extremely rich content for Pitara, the Pitara editorial team has written a social studies curriculum book for SCERT, Delhi, a 100,000-page manuscript documenting the child development and rights scenario in India for the last 50 years, and news stories written for a dedicated child audience.

Acknowledgements

We are thankful for the support, encouragement and material provided by:

  • National Book Trust (NBT)
  • National Centre for Children’s Literature (NCCL)
  • Safdar Hashmi Memorial Trust (SAHMAT)
  • Arvind Gupta - science educator and author
  • Paro Anand
  • Kamala Bhasin – Jagori
  • Dr. Smita Desai – Drishti
  • Sadanand Menon

Our authors

See a list of all authors we have ever published.