Rani Singh

Rani Singh is a UK-Based broadcast journalist. She commenced serious training in broadcast journalism with the BBC when she was commissioned to present a documentary on BBC R4, “The Living Ramayana,” about the significance of the Hindu epic. This was her first documentary commission after she won a place on a BBC R4 producer’s course.

This led to a commission for an investigative documentary which she originated and produced called “The Lord, the Sword and the Guru” presented by Mark Tully. The subject was the location of the swords of Guru Gobind Singh, tenth Guru or teacher of the Sikhs, and the programme was recorded in London, Scotland, and Punjab, India. Lord Dalhousie, Governor General of India in 1848, had obtained items from a treasury in Lahore and brought them back to England for Queen Victoria and for himself. The whereabouts of the swords was never known. The programme made a finding about a holy book found in a castle, thought to be a holy Sikh text, but which turned out to be a special edition of the Bhagavad Gita, according to Punjabi scholar Jeevan Deol.

50TH Anniversary Independence Season

Singh was made BBC R4 consultant and co-ordinator for the 1997 50th Anniversary Season of Indian and Pakistani independence. She was responsible for deciding content and personnel selection and she worked with Sian Kevill, Jeremy Mortimer, and Richard Bannerman.

For the 1997 Season Rani Singh originated, researched and presented the documentary “Women of Pakistan,” for R4, for which she interviewed Benazir Bhutto, former Prime Minister of Pakistan and at that time Leader of the Opposition, distinguished human rights lawyer Asma Jahangir, Bibi, a model, designers and politicians.She produced a series of stories written by some of India’s finest writers including Amit Chaudhuri, also for R4.

Rani is part of the cast of BBC’s Silver Street.

Transfer to News

During this time Singh commenced broadcasting for BBC radio news programmes for R5 Live and R4. She made two special reports on ethnic violence in Karachi, for “The World Tonight” on R4.She undertook the BBC’s hostile environment training alongside Jonny Dymond and Richard Galpin.

Her broadcasting career continued with reports for all English language and News programmes on the World Service, including Business and Science. Through Unique Broadcasting, she has also produced and presented “Pause for Thought” on R2.

Kashmir specialist

Singh speaks Hindi, Urdu and Punjabi and has made frequent visits to Kashmir covering different angles. She was embedded with the Border Security Force and gained special access in order to report on and high-technology wireless warfare in this alpine conflict zone.

She has also visited and reported from Kashmir from the Pakistani side. She interviewed the then Prime Minister of “Azad” or “free” Kashmir, also known as Pakistan-held Kashmir, Barrister Sultan Mahmud Chaudhury, in addition to visiting front-line villages and posts. She reported on the problems faced by hospitals and doctors in these areas. For R5 Live, she delivered an exclusive report from both sides of the Line of Control.

On one visit to Kashmir, Singh went undercover as a Kashmiri citizen and was smuggled into Central Jail without any equipment at all in order to meet with the senior most militant leaders. She survived this visit to report and her story appeared in the Spectator www.spectator.co.uk My audience with a Hezbullah Commander.

Singh also writes for print and her portfolio includes aviation business stories, F1 and motor racing, and reports on the victims of Italian mafia.

She is often invited to be the television studio analyst on News 24, CNBC, and Sky News.

Print

For Lloyds List, she has covered the Tamil Tigers, Altaf Hussein, the MQM, and their influence on Pakistan’s largest port and commercial Hub, Karachi, business links between Moscow and London, and the Star Alliance Summit in Istanbul, Turkey 2006.Singh’s articles appear in The Guardian, Asia Intelligence, Asiaweek, and the Guardian and Observer News Service.

Awards

She has sat on various panels, and been nominated for journalistic prizes. She recently won the TMG Alliance Prize for News and Presenting 2006/2007 awarded at Leicester University School of Law.She represents various charities and is Ambassador for the Prince’s Trust.