Sahu Shanti Prasad Jain was an Indian industrialist and philanthropist. He was the son-in-law of Ramkrishna Dalmia and former chairman of Bennett, Coleman. His family, Sahu Jains, owns 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 ...

newspaper group.

Early age and education

He was born in the Sahu Jain Family at

Najibabad Najibabad is a town in the Bijnor district of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, located near the city of Bijnor. It is a major industrial centre and has national transport links via rail and roadways such as NH 119 and NH 74. History Nawab ...

in what is now

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 22 May 1911.

Career

He founded

Bharatiya Jnanpith Bharatiya Jnanpith a literary and research organization, based in New Delhi, India, was founded on February 18, 1944Encyclopaedia of Indian literature vol. 1, p. 298 1987, Sahitya Akademi, by Sahu Shanti Prasad Jain of the Sahu Jain family and h ...

on 18 February 1944 at the suggestion of many scholars who had gathered at Varanasi for the All India Oriental Conference. Since 1965 Bharatiya Jnanpith has been awarding an annual literary award, the

Jnanpith Award The Jnanpith Award is the oldest and the highest Indian literary award presented annually by the Bharatiya Jnanpith to an author for their "outstanding contribution towards literature". Instituted in 1961, the award is bestowed only on Indian ...

, for the best creative Indian literary work of a specified period.

Bennett Coleman

In 1947, Ramkrishna Dalmia engineered the acquisition of Bennett, Coleman by transferring moneys from a bank and an insurance company of which he was the Chairman. In 1955, this came to the attention of the socialist parliamentarian

Feroze Gandhi Feroze Jehangir Gandhi (12 September 1912 – 8 September 1960) was an Indian freedom fighter, politician and journalist. He served as a member of the provincial parliament between 1950 and 1952, and later a member of the Lok Sabha, the Lower ...

who was part of the ruling Congress party headed by his estranged father-in-law

Jawaharlal Nehru Jawaharlal Nehru (14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat, and statesman who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20th century. Nehru was a pr ...

. In December 1955, he raised the matter in parliament, documenting extensively the various fund transfers and intermediaries through which the acquisition had been financed. The case was investigated by the Vivian Bose Commission of Inquiry.Auletta. Page 55. In the court case that followed, where Dalmia was represented by the leading British attorney Sir Dingle Mackintosh Foot, he was sentenced to two years in

Tihar Jail Tihar Prisons, popularly known as Tihar Jail, are a prison complex in India and are one of the largest complexes of prisons in India. There are 9 functional prisons spread over more than 400 acres. Run by Department of Delhi Prisons, the prison ...

. Upon his release, Ramkrishna approached his son-in-law Sahu Shanti Prasad Jain to whom he had entrusted running of Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd for taking back the command. But Sahu rebuffed Ramkrishna's efforts to resume command of the company.

FERA violation charges

During Nehru's regime, the trade with other countries and the foreign currencies were strictly regulated. Jain was caught, and subsequently arrested, at Palam airport (in latter day Delhi) for bringing in foreign currency. The event was blacked out by the Times of India, even though other newspapers carried the story.

Legacy

He died on 27 October 1977, two years after the death of his wife. His work was continued by his brother Shreyans Prasad Jain and also his son Ashok Kumar Jain. Today, the Times Group that runs Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. is a large media empire, still run by his descendants.

References