Pramod Ranjan (born in February 1980) is an Indian author, social worker and journalist. He has worked for ''Bharatendu Shikhar (
Shimla
Shimla (; ; also known as Simla, List of renamed Indian cities and states#Himachal Pradesh, the official name until 1972) is the capital and the largest city of the States and union territories of India, northern Indian state of Himachal Prade ...
)'', ''Gram Parivesh'', ''Dhramshala based
Divya Himachal
''Divya Himachal'' () is a Hindi Newspaper of Himachal Pradesh, having circulation in Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Uttarakhand and Chandigarh (UT). The newspaper was launched on 29 December 1997 and now has four editions namely ''Dharam ...
'', ''
Punjab Kesari'', ''
Dainik Bhaskar
''Dainik Bhaskar ''is India's largest Hindi-language daily newspaper owned by the Dainik Bhaskar Group. According to Audit Bureau of Circulations, it is ranked 3rd in the world by circulation and is the largest newspaper in India by circula ...
'', ''
Amar Ujala
''Amar Ujala'' is a Hindi-language daily newspaper published in India which was founded in 1948. It has 21 editions in six states and two union territories covering 180 districts. It has a circulation of around two million copies. The 2017 Ind ...
'' He is managing editor of the
Forward Press
''Forward Press (फारवर्ड प्रेस)'' is an English-Hindi bilingual monthly magazine covering issues relevant to India's backward classes (the masses) and regions. The editor-in-chief is Ivan Kostka. Its management decided ...
monthly magazine.
Early life
Pramod Ranjan was born on 22 February 1980 in
Patna
Patna (
), historically known as Pataliputra, is the capital and largest city of the state of Bihar in India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Patna had a population of 2.35 million, making it the 19th largest city in India. ...
, Bihar. He attended government primary and secondary schools in
Nalanda district. Ranjan did
M.Phil.
The Master of Philosophy (MPhil; Latin ' or ') is a postgraduate degree. In the United States, an MPhil typically includes a taught portion and a significant research portion, during which a thesis project is conducted under supervision. An MPhil m ...
(Social concerns of Phaniswarnath Renu's journalism) and PhD Scholar at
JNU, New Delhi where he wrote dissertations titled "Social Concerns of Phaniswarath Renu's Journalism" and "The Question of Liberation from Caste in Novels by Non-Dwij Hindi Authors". He is known for his engaging, writings on society, politics and internal democracy in the media in northern India.
Career in journalism
Literary and cultural contributions
Pramod Ranjan's journalistic focus has been the rights of the
Backward Classes
The Other Backward Class is a collective term used by the Government of India to classify castes which are educationally or socially backward. It is one of several official classifications of the population of India, along with General castes, S ...
,
Adivasi
The Adivasi refers to inhabitants of Indian subcontinent, generally tribal people. The term is a Sanskrit word coined in the 1930s by political activists to give the tribal people an indigenous identity by claiming an indigenous origin. The term ...
s,
Dalit
Dalit (from sa, दलित, dalita meaning "broken/scattered"), also previously known as untouchable, is the lowest stratum of the Caste system in India, castes in India. Dalits were excluded from the four-fold Varna (Hinduism), varna syste ...
s and other oppressed communities. He has tried to bring the discourse on OBC-Dalit issues from the margins of
Hindi literature to the mainstream. He is credited with the misinterpretation of many
Hindu
Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
legends in the name of
Bahujan angle. He has also justified it by claiming it as the Bahujan cultural movement by glorified it by presenting it as "lies" fed to the media regarding the Mahishasur Martyrdom Day celebrations organized by
JNU students. He tried to show that the
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 di ...
discredit this movement by attributing it to the organizations of the Far Left and terming it
anti-national.
He also worked as one of the two editors of socio- political monthly ''Jan Vikalp'' published from
Patna
Patna (
), historically known as Pataliputra, is the capital and largest city of the state of Bihar in India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Patna had a population of 2.35 million, making it the 19th largest city in India. ...
. since January 2007 to March 2008. He was Senior Correspondent in Patna Bureau of ‘Prabhat Khabar’ March 2008 to January 2010. He joined ''
Forward Press
''Forward Press (फारवर्ड प्रेस)'' is an English-Hindi bilingual monthly magazine covering issues relevant to India's backward classes (the masses) and regions. The editor-in-chief is Ivan Kostka. Its management decided ...
'' as Managing Editor from May 2011– to November 2013 and appointed its Consulting Editor from November 2013. Pramod Ranjan completed seven years with ''Forward Press''. Now it is currently published under the supervision of Mr. Ranjan.
Books
* Hindi Sahityotihas Ka Bahujan Paksha (Edited) Ananya Prakashan, New Delhi (2016)
* Mahishasur: Ek Jannayak (edited), ''The Marginalised Prakashan'',
Wardha
Wardha is a city and a municipal council in Wardha district in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the administrative headquarters of Wardha district. Wardha gets its name from the Wardha River which flows at the north, west and south bounda ...
(2016). Also available in English under the title ''Mahishasur: A People's Hero''
* Bahujan Sahitya ke Prastavna (edited), ''The Marginalised Prakashan'',
Wardha
Wardha is a city and a municipal council in Wardha district in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the administrative headquarters of Wardha district. Wardha gets its name from the Wardha River which flows at the north, west and south bounda ...
(2016). Also available in English under the title The Case for Bahujan Literature
* Periyar ke Pratinidhi Vichar (edited), ''The Marginalised Prakashan'',
Wardha
Wardha is a city and a municipal council in Wardha district in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the administrative headquarters of Wardha district. Wardha gets its name from the Wardha River which flows at the north, west and south bounda ...
(2016)
* Bhagana Ki Nirbhayaein (Edited with H. L. Dusadh & Jitendra Yadav) Dushadh Prakashan, Lucknow (2014)
* Bahujan Rajniti Ki Nai Umeed: Jitan Ram Manjhi (Edited with H. L. Dusadh & Jitendra Yadav) Dushadh Prakashan, Lucknow (2014)
* Media Main Hissedari (Writer) Pragya Samajik Sodha Sansthan,
Patna
Patna (
), historically known as Pataliputra, is the capital and largest city of the state of Bihar in India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Patna had a population of 2.35 million, making it the 19th largest city in India. ...
, Bihar (2009)
* Baad: Ek Ankahi Kahani, Freethinkers, Patna, Bihar (2008)
Controversies
* Famous Dalit writer
Kanwal Bharti posted a comment on Facebook wall against about him.
*In 2014, Delhi Police raided Forward Press office and seized print magazines after an FIR by two fanatics. The action of Delhi police was criticized by many scholars, organizations than as Forward Press Magazine, a Hindi-English bilingual monthly of Dalits and Bahujans, and forcibly seized copies of their October special issue on Bahujan Sramana Tradition'बहुजन-श्रमण परंपरा विशेषांक' along with arresting four employees. Dalit magazine in its October issue published an article derogatory to Hindu Goddess Durga and Delhi Police raided the office of Forward Press and reportedly confiscated copies of the magazine's October issue,
who is being maliciously targeted and threatened with arrest has stated in a press release that the October issue of the magazine has attempted a Bahujan reading of the story of Mahishasur and Durga through the medium of pictures and essays.
AIBSF celebrated Mahisasur's birthday at
JNU campus on the same day 9 October
References
External links
Pramod Ranjan's website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ranjan, Pramod
Indian male journalists
Living people
1980 births
Journalists from Bihar
Jawaharlal Nehru University alumni
Indian male writers
Hindi-language writers