59.97.139.253: /* Career */

2021-07-15T14:21:11Z

Career

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{{short description|Human rights activist from India}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2020}}
{{Use Indian English|date=July 2018}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Tongam Rina
| image = Tongam Rina at TEDxGEC 2019.jpg
| caption = Tongam Rina in 2019
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| occupation = Journalist
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| credits = ''The Arunachal Times''
}}
'''Tongam Rina''' (born 1979) is an Indian journalist and human rights activist. She is currently (2020) the Deputy Editor of ''The Arunachal Times'' and former president of the Arunachal Pradesh Union of Working Journalists. She has been repeatedly threatened, and in 2012, was near-fatally shot outside her office after she wrote critical articles about corruption, militants and dam projects in [[Arunachal Pradesh]].<ref name="DNA">{{cite web | url=http://www.dnaindia.com/analysis/comment-tongam-rina-the-girl-who-wouldn-t-give-in-1715948 | title=Tongam Rina, the girl who wouldn't give in | work=[[Daily News and Analysis]] | first=Saikat |last=Datta | date=17 July 2012 | access-date=25 May 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.deccanherald.com/specials/amnestys-edit-thon-profile-women-activists-wikipedia-670612.html | title=Amnesty's 'edit-a-thon' to profile women activists on Wikipedia | newspaper=Deccan Herald | date=18 May 2018 | access-date=25 May 2018}}</ref><ref name="HinduActivist2018">{{cite web | url=http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/bangalore/putting-women-human-rights-activists-on-the-world-map/article23931227.ece | title=Putting women human rights activists on the world map | work=The Hindu | first=Sarumathi |last=K | date=19 May 2018 | access-date=25 May 2018}}</ref>

== Career ==
Rina started as a journalist in 2003. She has been writing about the [[Insurgency|insurgent]] group [[National Socialist Council of Nagaland]] (IM), corruption, hydropower projects, and the injustices that the tribals face.<ref name="DNA" /> Some of the topics covered include corruption in kerosene and food distribution. She also led the Siang People's Forum as its vice-president, campaigning against the plans to construct dams across the [[Brahmaputra River|Siang River]].<ref name="RWBReportShot">{{cite web | url=https://rsf.org/en/news/woman-journalist-critically-injured-shooting-attack-northeast | title=Woman journalist critically injured in shooting attack in northeast | publisher=[[Reporters Without Borders]] | date=16 July 2012 | access-date=25 May 2018}}</ref>

== Assassination attempt ==
Rina was shot at by three gunmen on the evening of 15 July 2012, outside the [[Itanagar]] office of ''The Arunachal Times''. She was immediately taken to the nearby Rama Krishna Mission Hospital, where the doctors' prognosis revealed that she had sustained serious injuries to her intestines and spinal cord, and she was rushed into surgery. After repeated demands from the press, the state's police department handed over the case to the [[Central Bureau of Investigation]], which turned it down. More than a year later, the police identified one Yumlang Achung as having planned the attack. His accomplices, Ajit Pegu and Raju Gurung revealed that they were upset at Rina for not reporting about Achung or his group's activities in her newspaper.<ref name="BSItanagarShootout">{{cite web | url=http://www.business-standard.com/article/news-ani/itanagar-police-solve-shootout-case-involving-arunachal-times-associate-editor-tongam-rina-113071100129_1.html | title=Itanagar Police solve shootout case involving Arunachal Times Associate Editor Tongam Rina | work=Business Standard | date=11 July 2013 | access-date=25 May 2018}}</ref> Achung was later arrested and released, and Rina recovered from her injuries, as the bullet had simply grazed her spinal cord.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://rsf.org/en/hero/tongam-rina | title=INFORMATION HERO Tongam Rina | publisher=[[Reporters Without Borders]] | access-date=25 May 2018}}</ref>

== Awards and accolades ==
For her journalistic work covering the unsuitability of hydropower projects, she received "Wind under the Wings Award" presented in 2017 by The Sanctuary Nature Foundation.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.sanctuaryasia.com/events/sanctuary-wildlife-awards-2017.html|title=Sanctuary Wildlife Awards 2017|website=sanctuaryasia.com|access-date=25 May 2018}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-mumbai/scarcity-of-resources-will-make-headlines/article21377823.ece|title=Scarcity of resources will make headlines|last=Bakshi|first=Harsharan|date=9 December 2017|work=The Hindu|access-date=25 May 2018|issn=0971-751X}}</ref> She has also been awarded the CNN-IBN Indian of the Year in Public Service, for the year 2015,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.news18.com/videos/india/ioty-2014-4-974369.html|title=Tongam Rina wins Indian of the Year in public service category|website=News18|access-date=10 February 2019}}</ref> the Laadli Media Award 2011–12 for Gender Sensitivity, and was honoured by the [[Reporters Without Borders]] in 2014. In 2013, she was chosen for the 'Prize for the Freedom and Future of the Media', awarded by the Media Foundation of [[Leipzig]], Germany.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/reporters-sans-frontier-honours-journalist-tongam-rina/articleshow/34830031.cms|title='Reporters Sans Frontier' honours journalist Tongam Rina|date=8 May 2014|work=The Economic Times|access-date=10 February 2019}}</ref>

==References==
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Rina, Tongam}}
[[Category:Indian human rights activists]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Indian women journalists]]
[[Category:Journalists from Arunachal Pradesh]]
[[Category:Women human rights activists]]
[[Category:Women writers from Arunachal Pradesh]]
[[Category:21st-century Indian women writers]]
[[Category:21st-century Indian journalists]]
[[Category:1979 births]]

Tongam Rina - Revision history

59.97.139.253: /* Career */