Kumar Ketkar is an Indian writer, politician and former journalist. He was the Chief Editor of Dainik Divya Marathi. He had started his journalistic career with ''

The Economic Times ''The Economic Times'' is an Indian English-language business-focused daily newspaper. Owned by The Times Group, ''The Economic Times'' began publication in 1961 and it is sold in all major cities in India. As of 2012, it is the world's secon ...

''. He has also been the

editor in chief 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 ...

of Marathi newspaper ''

Loksatta ''Loksatta'' is an Indian newspaper. It was established on 14 January 1948. ''Loksatta'' gained notability through its coverage of Mahatma Gandhi's assassination and subsequent developments; the founder of the Indian Express Group, Ramnath Goen ...

.'' He has also worked with The Observer and the ''

Maharashtra Times ''Maharashtra Times'' (), colloquially referred to as 'Ma Ta' (मटा) from its Marathi initialism, is a Marathi newspaper based in Mumbai, India.https://www.mediawire.in/user/corporate/Maharashtra-Times992 It is one of the largest selling d ...

''. He is known for being a harsh critic of the BJP,

RSS RSS ( RDF Site Summary or Really Simple Syndication) is a web feed that allows users and applications to access updates to websites in a standardized, computer-readable format. Subscribing to RSS feeds can allow a user to keep track of many ...

and

Shiv Sena Shiv Sena (1966–2022) (; ; SS) was a right-wing Marathi regionalist Hindutva-based political party in India founded in 1966 by Bal Thackeray, who was later succeeded by Uddhav Thackeray. The party is split into two parties: the Uddha ...

. On 12 March 2018 he was nominated to the

Rajya Sabha Rajya Sabha (Council of States) is the upper house of the Parliament of India and functions as the institutional representation of India’s federal units — the states and union territories.https://rajyasabha.nic.in/ It is a key component o ...

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

ticket from

Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...

. He is also a Member of Parliamentary Committee on External Affairs. Upon accepting the Rajya Sabha ticket, he faced severe criticism on the grounds that journalists should be independent and not support any mainstream political organisation. However, responding to such criticism, he said that his last assignment was in 2013 so 'technically' he was not a journalist. He even admitted that he was earlier offered a RS ticket by

Bal Thackeray Bal Thackeray (; 23 January 1926 – 17 November 2012), also known as Balasaheb Thackeray, was an Indian cartoonist and politician who founded the original Shiv Sena, a far-right, a pro- Marathi and a Hindu nationalist party active mainly in ...

in 1998, but declined it due to ideological differences. He has written on various topics over the years and also has provided media coverage to (i) eight presidential elections in US since 1988, (ii) collapse of Soviet Union in 1991, (iii) integration of Germany in 1992 and (iv) integration of Hong Kong with China in 1997. He was India co-ordinator for South Asian Free Media Association (Mumbai-Karachi Forum); Founder of Literacy movement, Granthali, along with other literary activists. Awards Ketkar received the prestigious award for journalistic excellence as "Indian Affairs Transformational Journalist of the Decade” at 9th Annual India Leadership Conclave & Awards 2018 in Mumbai, founded by journalist Satya Brahma. Honoured with (i) 'Padma Shri' in the year 2001, (ii) Special recognition award for journalism by State of Maharashtra in the year 2010 and (iii) Maharashtra Foundation (U.S.A.) Award (Life Time Achievement) in the year 2014; Chief Editor, (i) Maharashtra Times and (ii) Loksatta Books Published In Marathi, (i) Jwalamukhichya Tondawar, 1980, (ii) Katha Swatantryachi, 1985, (iii) Vishwamitrache Jag, 2000-2017 and (iv) Badalte Vishwa, 2006 and (v) Trikalvedh, 2008; Editor's Choice, 2005 (in English)

References

Indian communists Indian male journalists Living people 1946 births {{india-journalist-stub