S. M. Khan (15 June 1957 – 17 November 2024) was an

Indian Information Service The Indian Information Service (IIS) () is the central civil service under Group A and Group B of the Central Civil Services of the executive branch of the Government of India. Indian Information Service officers are the media managers of the ...

officer of

Government of India The Government of India (ISO 15919, ISO: Bhārata Sarakāra, legally the Union Government or Union of India or the Central Government) is the national authority of the Republic of India, located in South Asia, consisting of States and union t ...

. Khan, a 1982-batch IIS officer, had a long tenure with

Central Bureau of Investigation The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is the domestic crime investigating agency of India. It operates under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions. Originally set up to investigate bribery and gover ...

as its spokesperson and Press Secretary to then President of India A P J Abdul Kalam, and served as Director of Jamia Hamdard Residential Coaching Academy.

Early life and education

Khan was born in the town of

Khurja Khurja is a city (and a municipal board) in Bulandshahr district in the Indian States and territories of India, state of Uttar Pradesh. It is situated around 20 km from Bulandshahr and 85 km from Delhi. Khurja supplies a large portion of th ...

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh ( ; UP) is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. With over 241 million inhabitants, it is the List of states and union territories of India by population, most populated state in In ...

on 15 June 1957. He belonged to a family of lawyers. Khan studied law for his graduation and pursued LLM from Aligarh University. He was awarded the Chancellors Gold Medal for topping the entire University. He later went to University of Wales for a degree in economics.

Important postings

During his nearly 13 years service in

, Khan was the face of the agency appearing regularly on national and international media, which at that time had been handling several high-profile cases, including the

1992 Indian stock market scam The 1992 Indian stock market scam was a market manipulation carried out by Harshad Mehta with other bankers and politicians on the Bombay Stock Exchange. The scam caused significant disruption to the stock market of India, defrauding investors of ...

, the

assassination of Rajiv Gandhi The assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, former prime minister of India, occurred as a result of a suicide bombing in Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu, India on 21 May 1991. At least 14 others, in addition to Gandhi and the assassin, were killed. It w ...

, and

Bofors AB Bofors ( , , ) is a former Swedish arms manufacturer which today is part of the British arms manufacturer BAE Systems. The name has been associated with the iron industry and artillery manufacturing for more than 350 years. History Locate ...

. Khan served as Press Secretary to A. P. J. Abdul Kalam,

President of India The president of India (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the head of state of the Republic of India. The president is the nominal head of the executive, the first citizen of the country, and the commander-in-chief, supreme commander of the Indian Armed ...

(2002 to 2007). He dealt with national and international media, acting as chief spokesman. Khan also served government of India's Directorate of Film Festival (DFF) as director for two years and headed the India International Film Festival. As director of the DFF, Khan was responsible for the National Film Awards and Dada Saheb Phalke Awards. He also represented India at the

Cannes Cannes (, ; , ; ) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a communes of France, commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions Internatio ...

and

Berlin Film Festival The Berlin International Film Festival (), usually called the Berlinale (), is an annual film festival held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festival has been held every February since 1978 and is one of Europ ...

s. Khan also served at the Press Information Bureau as a director general, and later as the Press Registrar of India. Along with Minister of Information & Broadcasting Shri

Prakash Javadekar Prakash Keshav Javadekar (born 30 January 1951) is an Indian politician and former parliamentarian. He served as the Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change two times, from May 2014 to July 2016 and from May 2019 to July 2021. Java ...

, Khan released ''Press in India'' in .

On 12 January 2014, Khan was elected trustee of the India Islamic Cultural Center, which was established to promote mutual understanding and amity amongst the people of the country. On 7 January 2019, Khan was elected as the organisation's vice president. Khan was a member of the

Aligarh Muslim University Aligarh Muslim University is a Collegiate university, collegiate, Central university (India), central, and Research university, research university located in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India, which was originally established by Sir Syed Ahmad Kh ...

and was also appointed by the President of India as his nominee in the executive council. Khan started the webcasting of news bulletins of Doordarshan News from the regional news centers.

Author

Khan wrote his debut book on the ''People's President Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam'', in which he shares his experiences with Kalam during and post presidency. The book has been published by

Bloomsbury Publishing Bloomsbury Publishing plc is a British worldwide publishing house of fiction and non-fiction. Bloomsbury's head office is located on Bedford Square in Bloomsbury, an area of the London Borough of Camden. It has a US publishing office located in ...

and was released in January 2017 by the

Vice President of India The vice president of India (ISO: ) is the deputy to the head of state of the Republic of India, i.e. the president of India. The office of vice president is the second-highest constitutional office after the president and ranks second in t ...

Shri

Hamid Ansari Hamid refers to two different but related Arabic given names, both of which come from the Arabic triconsonantal root of Ḥ-M-D (): # (Arabic: ''ḥāmed'') also spelled Haamed, Hamid or Hamed, and in Turkish Hamit; it means "lauder" or "one ...

and

Finance Minister of India The minister of finance (Vitta Mantrī ) (or simply, the finance minister, short form FM) is the head of the Ministry of Finance of the Government of India. One of the senior most offices of the Union Cabinet, the finance minister is r ...

Shri

Arun Jaitley Arun Jaitley (28 December 1952 – 24 August 2019) was an Indian politician and attorney. A member of the Bharatiya Janata Party, Jaitley served as the Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs of the Government of India from 2014 to 2019. Jait ...

. The first copy of the book was presented to the Prime Minister of India Shri

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician who has served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India since 2014. Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Par ...

Death

Khan died after a brief illness on 17 November 2024, at the age of 67.

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Khan, S. M. 1957 births 2024 deaths Aligarh Muslim University alumni Alumni of the University of Wales Indian civil servants People from Bulandshahr district