September 20, 2024

Report Wire

News at Another Perspective

There is one thing extraordinarily ‘Phishy’ about Nidhi Razdan’s Harvard tragedy

4 min read

On Friday, it was revealed that former NDTV Executive Editor Nidhi Razdan was a sufferer of what she referred to as a subtle phishing assault. About six months in the past, Nidhi Razdan give up her 20-year lengthy affiliation with NDTV to supposedly be a part of the ranks of Harvard school as an Associate Professor of Journalism. However, as TFI reported yesterday, Harvard University by no means actually supplied any submit to Razdan, and regardless of her going round for the previous half-year claiming to be an Associate Professor on the Ivy League Institute, it has all turned out to be an enormous rip-off – one which has certainly embarrassed the journalist to an excellent extent.  The two-page assertion by Razdan actually appears to place all of it out within the public area. Yet, many questions stay unanswered, and Nidhi’s story continues to be replete with loopholes – a few of which we might be speaking about right here. With the journalist stating in no unsure phrases that she is not going to handle the difficulty any additional on social media, it appears that evidently the questions will most positively stay unanswered till the police probing the rip-off make disclosures. Checked right here – Master course listing for FAS: https://t.co/XVE9DRQVRyAnd right here – Harvard listing: https://t.co/jT5Jq7OAen— Suresh N (@surnell) September 4, 2020In September 2020 itself, a Twitter consumer had flagged the potential of Nidhi Razdan moving into murky waters, as he discovered that Harvard University supplied no full-fledged journalism programs. To add to it, Harvard University has no devoted school for instructing journalism. The Harvard Extension School does provide a level in liberal arts with a give attention to Journalism. However, there isn’t any full-time school for such programs as properly. Classes are taken by adjuncts and working-journalists. Read More: Nidhi Razdan give up NDTV to hitch Harvard University as Associate Professor. Turns out, it was all fauxThe query which now arises is that this – if Twitter customers can discover out such primary particulars concerning the programs supplied by Harvard, did Nidhi Razdan not care about to do a little analysis on what she was stepping into, or was she simply too elated to be allegedly chosen by Harvard to hitch its ranks?Yes, however the Extension School would not have any full-time professors of its personal — practically all of these programs are taught by adjuncts, working journalists who educate a category on the aspect— Joshua Benton (@jbenton) January 15, 2021Reportedly, Harvard University isn’t a very new venue for Nidhi Razdan, and the journalist has been down Boston earlier as properly. In 2018, Razdan was part of the ‘India Conference 2018’, which is a student-run convention held at Harvard Business School and Harvard Kennedy School. At the helm of organising the identical convention was Prateek Kanwal – brother of India Today journalist Rahul Kanwal. Prateek Kanwal, in December final yr even introduced that Nidhi Razdan, ‘Associate Professor’ at Harvard had joined his Kautilya School of Public Policy’s advisory board. Rahul Kanwal’s brother @prateekkanwal, a harvard alumni used to ask @Nidhi to Harvard conferences. He later appointed “Prof Harvard” Nidhi on the adviser board of his extremely costly faculty @KautilyaSPP. Kuch to gadbad hai daya! pic.twitter.com/EgYkudVA1w— Crime Master (@CrimeMasterV2) January 15, 2021Intriguingly, Nidhi Razdan additionally modified the situation settings of her Twitter deal with to incorporate Cambridge, Massachusetts as her alleged place of a brand new residence. This raises many questions. Did Nidhi Razdan journey to the United States totally primarily based on a phishing rip-off? If so, who facilitated such journey? Without Harvard University enjoying a significant function in serving to Razdan get a piece visa, how did the journalist land in Boston? Or have been the US Consulate officers in India additionally tricked by the phishers into granting Nidhi a piece visa? If not a piece visa, did Nidhi Razdan journey on a vacationer visa to the States, on the premise of working for at least Harvard? This in itself would quantity to critical visa violations, and Nidhi might doubtlessly be disbarred from coming into the U.S. in future. Of course, it is usually very doable that Nidhi up to date her location whereas being in India, successfully mendacity about her whereabouts.Hahaha somebody simply pointed this out on my fifth September 2020 wala Tweet. If @Harvard supplied you a job and positioned your self in Cambridge, MA 🤔 and you continue to by no means knew? Is there one thing else to this. Say, there was nothing within the first place. https://t.co/7hEPLYI3mz pic.twitter.com/mykN26Mm86— Suresh N (@surnell) January 15, 2021Harvard University sources, in the meantime, advised Boston Globe {that a} assessment had discovered “no record of, nor any knowledge of, an appointment involving Ms Nidhi Razdan,” and the names referenced as members of human assets within the paperwork Razdan shared usually are not in Harvard’s worker methods. The job settlement doc additionally had “a number of irregularities,” the college mentioned. Again, how did Nidhi Razdan give such a number of irregularities a miss for a complete eight months? While all of us really feel sorry for what Nidhi has gone by means of, there are various anomalies in her model itself. An neutral probe into the ordeal of Nidhi Razdan should be performed by the police, and findings of the identical should be shared publicly in order that Indians know what truly transpired in the whole fiasco.