User:ShravanthiRK/sandbox/Padma Rao

Padma Rao Sundarji aka. Padma Rao (born 17 June 1959 in Chennai, India) is an Indian author and journalist.

Early Life
Rao was born in Chennai, India. Her father was a doctor of medicine in the Indian Army and mother, a classical singer and music composer. She completed her schooling from Carmel Convent School, New Delhi and received her bachelor’s degree in English Literature from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi University, in 1979.

In 1982, she completed the the Grosses Deutsches Sprachdiplom (GDS/C-2) from the Goethe Institut and Ludwig-Maximilian University, Munich.

She completed an elementary French diploma at the Alliance Francaise de Delhi in 1986.

Career
In 1980-81, Rao trained as a teacher of German as a foreign language and taught at Max Mueller Bhavan, (Goethe Institut) New Delhi.

From 1982-1983, Rao worked as an editorial assistant in the communications department of Radio Deutsche Welle in Cologne, Germany.

From 1991 to 1993, Rao worked as a researcher and reporter for German Radio and Television’s South Asia bureau in New Delhi. (NDR/ARD ) She also co-authored a travel guide on South India for Merian Publishers, Germany, which was published in 1994, and was the India correspondent for GEO magazine (Germany)’s special issue on India in 1992/93.

From 1993-1994, Rao worked as a news editor, English desk, at the German Press Agency‘s South Asia desk in New Delhi. In 1995, Rao moved to New York as Outlook (India)’s New York correspondent.

There, she also worked briefly with GEO magazine’s pictures desk, before taking on a full-time position as a television producer and UN reporter for ARD/WDR First German Television.

In 1997, she worked as a producer with ZDF (Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen) for the duration of the Earth Summit plus 5 in New York

Rao returned to India and after a brief stint as Special Correspondent, Ministry of External Affairs with Indian daily The Pioneer

In April 1998, Rao joined German news magazine Der Spiegel as Chief of South Asia bureau in New Delhi.

During the next 14 years, Rao covered current affairs in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Maldives and, on several occasions, Mauritius, for the Hamburg-based magazine. The topics she covered included the Sri Lankan civil war, the Asian tsunami, the Kargil war, terror attacks in Mumbai, on Akshardham temple in Gujarat, the Gujarat riots of 2002, the Rajkot drought, the Bhuj earthquake, the Nepal palace massacre, and many other developments. Rao also interviewed nearly all heads of government and rebel leaders of the times, including the formerly underground Maoist leader Prachanda in Nepal and Velupillai Prabhakaran of the LTTE, exclusively for Der Spiegel. All her work can be found on the website of the magazine.

In 2007, Rao was invited as a keynote speaker on India and China to the European Futurists’ Conference in Lucerne, Switzerland.

In 2008, she was invited to Madrid, Spain as a keynote speaker on India by the Opti Foundation, of the Government of Spain.

In November 2008, Rao was invited to a closed-door workshop on the future of transportation jointly organized by the European Air Defence Systems (EADS) and others at a chalet-hotel outside Munich. However, she had to leave the conference a day earlier to return to Mumbai to cover the 26/11/2008 terror attacks in that city for Der Spiegel.

From April 2012-September 2016, Rao freelanced to many European and US publications like Die Welt, Handelsblatt, SonntagsZeitung, Wiener Zeitung, McClatchy DC, and others.

From September 2016 to April 2018, Rao worked as Senior International Correspondent and head of Input at Wion television India.

From November 2018 to June 2020, Rao worked as National Editor at Hindustan Times, India.

From June to November 2020, Rao worked as Associate Reports Officer at World Health Organization (WHO)’s South-east Asia office in New Delhi.

Lawsuit vs Der Spiegel
After Rao recovered from cancer in 2009/2010, Der Spiegel turned down her request to regularize her annually renewable freelance contract. Rao then approached a German court in Hamburg. The court did not pass a verdict but dismissed the case over a procedural lapse. In April 2012 and for the first time in 14 years, Der Spiegel did not extend Rao’s annual contract.

In 2012, Rao filed a status declaration suit against the publication in New Delhi’s labour court. In 2017, the court declared the non-extension of Rao’s contract by Der Spiegel as a violation and ordered Rao’s “reinstatement with consequential benefits.”  Der Spiegel appealed to the Delhi High Court. In 2019, the DHC upheld the labour court’s verdict, prompting the magazine to appeal to a double bench of the DHC again. In 2019, Rao declined the magazine’s offer of a reinstatement for a lower salary. Upon advice of the court, the matter was closed amicably with a compensation.

Books and Other Publications

 * Sri Lanka: The New Country, HarperCollins India, 2015. (P- ISBN: 978-93-5177-030-5, E-ISBN: 978-93-5177-031-2)
 * Essay on Diego Garcia in Foreign Correspondent: 50 years (Penguin India, 2009).
 * Essay on India-Germany relations in Rising India: Europe’s Partner? (Weißensee Verlag, Germany)
 * Translations of German poets Hans-Christoph Buch and Heinz-Magnus Enzensberger from German into English, for the Living Literature series, India office of South Asia Institute, Heidelberg, Germany.

Awards
Rajiv Gandhi Best Literary Personality award, 2015 (Pehchhan Foundation, New Delhi)

Personal Life
She was married to writer Vikram Sundarji and has a son.