Dr. Vartika Nanda is a prison reformer and media educator from India. She is the founder of Tinka Tinka, a movement targeted towards prison reforms. She is a recipient of Stree Shakti Puraskar, conferred by President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee. It is the highest civilian honour for women in India on women empowerment. This award was given to her in Rashtrapati Bhavan in 2014, in recognition of her contribution for creating awareness on women’s issues through media and literature. Her work in the field of prison reforms has been recognized by Limca Book of Records twice. Her three books on prisons, Tinka Tinka Tihar, Tinka Tinka Dasna and Tinka Tinka Madhya Pradesh are considered to be masterpieces on prison reforms.
Vartika Nanda is credited to have curated and created the concept of awards for inmates and prison staff for the first time in India. Two national awards exclusively for inmates – Tinka Tinka India Awards and Tinka Tinka Bandini Awards have been instituted by her as part of the effort.
She has conceptualized, trained and executed prison radio in the state of Haryana, India. Launched in 2021, Panipat Jail Radio is the first prison radio of the state, followed by District Jail, Faridabad and Central Jail, Ambala. 7 radio stations in Haryana are operational. Vartika Nanda has also created, produced and released 6 songs from different jails. She is also playing key role in introducing prison radio in the state of Uttarakhand.
Jail Radio in District Jail, Agra in Uttar Pradesh, was coceptualised and executed by her in 2019. Uttar Pradesh is the largest state in India. Prison Radios have helped inmates immensely, especially during Covid 19.
Vartika Nanda has curated Tinka Prison Radio Podcasts, which are the only podcasts in India, solely dedicated to prison reforms. Started in 2020, these podcasts are based on original voices from different prisons. These are scripted and voiced by Vartika Nanda and are broadcast regularly on her YouTube Channel.
With a doctorate in Journalism on the issues of coverage of rape cases by Indian print media, she is currently the head of the Department of Journalism in Lady Shri Ram College, Delhi University.