Achala Sharma

BBC Hindi Service in London as Producer

Achala Sharma worked with the BBC Hindi Service in London as producer, senior producer and deputy head for about 13 years and then she went on to become the Head of the service for another 11 years. Her career as a broadcaster spans over three decades. During this period she worked with BBC World Service in London, Voice of America in Washington DC and All India Radio in New Delhi. A graduate of Lady Shriram College with PhD in Hindi literature from the Delhi University, she has authored and published three collections of short stories- Bardasht Bahar, Sookha Hua Samudra, Madhyanatar- and two volumes of radio plays- Jaren and Passport- aired, earlier, by the BBC. She has also edited a book on New Age of Mass Communication and Hindi. At the All India Radio, Achala Sharma supervised the national broadcasts such as the President’s and Prime Minister’s national address and running commentaries on India’s Independence and Republic days. She travelled with late PM Rajiv Gandhi’s entourage to his official visit to the USA and filed daily reports for national programmes on AIR. In her early years at the BBC, Achala Sharma established herself as a successful broadcaster of news and current affairs. As a producer and presenter, she won a major international award ABU for her radio programme ‘Rajiv Assassinated’. In her role as the head of the Service, she managed a team of about 40 producers and correspondents spread all over the South Asia region and in London. She was honored for her contribution in Hindi broadcasting by the government of India at the 7th World Hindi Conference held in Surinam. Based in London, Achala has also been the Secretary of the Indian Journalists’ Association in the UK and Europe.