Ajit Bhattacharjea
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Ajit Bhattacharjea (8 May 1924 – 4 April 2011) was a veteran Indian journalist,
newspaper editor An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The editor-in-chief heads all departments of the organization and is held account ...
and campaigner for democratic rights, and the
Right to Information Act Rights are legal, social, or ethical principles of freedom or entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people according to some legal system, social convention, or ethical theor ...
. In a career spanning nearly 60 years, he remained the editor of the ''
Hindustan Times ''Hindustan Times'' is an Indian English language, English-language daily newspaper based in Delhi. It is the flagship publication of HT Media Limited, an entity controlled by the Birla family, and is owned by Shobhana Bhartia, the daughter o ...
'', ''
The Times of India ''The Times of India'' (''TOI'') is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by the Times Group. It is the List of newspapers in India by circulation, third-largest newspaper in India by circulation an ...
'' and ''
The Indian Express ''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932 by P. Varadarajulu Naidu. It is headquartered in Noida, owned by the ''Indian Express Group''. It was later taken over by Ramnath Goenka. In 1999, eight y ...
'' and after his retirement in 1983, was the director of the Press Institute of India till 2004. A fellow of the
Indian Institute of Advanced Study The Indian Institute of Advanced Study (IIAS) is a research institute located in Shimla, India. It was set up by the Ministry of Education, Government of India in 1964 and started functioning from 20 October 1965. History and establishment The ...
, he also edited the journal, ''Transparency Review'', published by Centre for Media Studies (CMS) in Delhi.


Early life and education

Born in Shimla, Bhattacharjea did his B.A. and M.A. from St. Stephen's College, Delhi.


Career

Bhattacharjea started his career as an apprentice sub—editor and reporter with the ''
Hindustan Times ''Hindustan Times'' is an Indian English language, English-language daily newspaper based in Delhi. It is the flagship publication of HT Media Limited, an entity controlled by the Birla family, and is owned by Shobhana Bhartia, the daughter o ...
'' in 1946. Here, in 1947, he first covered the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947, and went there again as war spilled on to 1948. He remained associated with Kashmir related issue for the majority of his career. He joined '' The Statesman'' in New Delhi, in 1951, though he returned to the ''Hindustan Times'' in 1961 as its Washington correspondent and at the United Nations. This was followed by his move back to Delhi in 1967, when he assumed the editorship of Delhi edition. A few years later in 1971, he changed path again as he became the resident editor of ''
The Times of India ''The Times of India'' (''TOI'') is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by the Times Group. It is the List of newspapers in India by circulation, third-largest newspaper in India by circulation an ...
'' in Bombay (now Mumbai). This was the period he also came close to socialist leader
Jayaprakash Narayan Jayaprakash Narayan Srivastava (; 11 October 1902 – 8 October 1979), also known as JP and ''Lok Nayak'' (Hindi for "People's leader"), was an Indian politician, theorist and Indian independence activist, independence activist. He is mai ...
; this led to him leaving his job and editing ''Everyman's Weekly'', a short lived weekly published Narayan. However, soon the weekly was closed during the
Emergency An emergency is an urgent, unexpected, and usually dangerous situation that poses an immediate risk to health, life, property, or environment and requires immediate action. Most emergencies require urgent intervention to prevent a worsening ...
imposed by Indira Gandhi. Nevertheless, he was appointed the editor of ''
The Indian Express ''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932 by P. Varadarajulu Naidu. It is headquartered in Noida, owned by the ''Indian Express Group''. It was later taken over by Ramnath Goenka. In 1999, eight y ...
'', where he continued to offer vocal opposition to the government policies and censorship. He was one of the first journalists to bring to light the issue of farmers being dispossessed of their land in the name of development. In 1983, post his retirement, Bhattacharjea served as Editorial Adviser of ''The Democrat'' in Nigeria, and subsequently of ''
Deccan Herald ''Deccan Herald'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper published from the Indian state of Karnataka. It was founded by businessman K. N. Guruswamy and launched on 17 June 1948. It is published by The Printers Mysore, a privately hel ...
'' in Bangalore. He became the Director of the Press Institute of India in 1995, where he edited the institute's journal ''Vidura'' and also launched, a monthly journal ''Grassroots'', on the reportage of local development issues from English and Indian-language press. In the 1980s, he opposed the infamous Defamation Bill proposed by then Rajiv Gandhi union government, and which was later withdrawn in 1988. He was long associated with RTI movement in Rajasthan and civil liberties movement of Kashmir and Chhattisgarh. Hence at age 80, when he retired from the Press Institute of India, he went on to join the Centre for Media Studies (CMS) in New Delhi as the editor of its journal, ''Transparency Review'', which focusses on the issue of the right to information. A Fellow of the
Indian Institute of Advanced Study The Indian Institute of Advanced Study (IIAS) is a research institute located in Shimla, India. It was set up by the Ministry of Education, Government of India in 1964 and started functioning from 20 October 1965. History and establishment The ...
, Shimla for three years, he was also a founder member of Editors' Guild of India. Through his career, he wrote and edited numerous books, like ''Dateline Bangladesh'', ''Kashmir: The Wounded Valley'', ''Countdown to Partition'', ''Tragic Hero of Kashmir: Sheikh Abdullah'' and ''Social Justice and the Constitution''. He also published a biography of Jayaprakash Narayan titled, ''Jayaprakash Narayan: A Political Biography''. At age 87, he died on 5 April 2011 at his home in Panchsheel Park, New Delhi, after a six-month illness due to brain tumour, having refused any surgery or chemotherapy. He was survived by his son Aditya, daughters Suman and Nomita, and three grandchildren.


References


Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bhattacharjea, Ajit 1924 births 2011 deaths Indian male journalists Indian newspaper editors St. Stephen's College, Delhi alumni Journalists from Delhi Indian magazine editors Indian activist journalists Indian civil rights activists Freedom of information activists 20th-century Indian journalists