shekhar gupta profile

8/4/2019 SHEKHAR GUPTA profile

1/22

Born January 11, 1951 (age 58)


2/22

Shekhar Gupta is the Group CEO of theIndian Express Group of Publications and theEditor-in-Chief of The Indian Express, often

touted as India's most independent nationalnewspaper. The paper that was traditionallyidentified with Journalism of Couragestanding up to cynical commercialism and

crude commoditization of news, anewspaper at the forefront of investigativeand public-affairs journalism. He leads thenations largest network of award-winning

journalists, whose work has effected change

in several areas, including government


3/22

His weekly column called NationalInterest, now in its ninth year, has

become a touchstone for new ideasin politics, governance, society,business and sports. He also hostsan interview-based programme Walkthe Talk on NDTV 24x7, Indias mostwatched and respected English newschannel.


4/22

He has, on account of his variedexperience as a journalist and hisanalytical writings, influenced public

opinion on important matters. He hasthe ability to write about the mostcomplex issue in a manner that readerscomprehend the crux of the matter andbegin to think about them. Through hiscolumn 'National Interest', he hasalways tried to highlight issues thatneed a national perspective in a non-partisan manner. He is a very balanced


5/22

Gupta began his career as a reporterat the Indian Express in 1977. Today

he edits The Indian Express and itsSunday edition, The Sunday Express,which he launched in 2002.

Known as a reporters editor, he hassome of the significant newsbreaksin contemporary Indian journalism tohis credit


6/22

Gupta's career has been marked by anunusual and unique combination in daily

journalism: excellence as an individual

with the highest professional and ethicalstandards in step with excellence as aleader who has brought aboutinstitutional changes in the professionand the industry.

In his years spent so far at the helm,The Indian Express, and its Sunday

edition, The Sunday Express (whichGupta launched four years ago) are

today at the forefront of investigative-


7/22

At 26, as a reporter with The IndianExpress, he exposed the horrific

Nellie massacre in Assam thatmarked a watershed in the North-Easts ethnic conflict (his work inAssam won him several awards andformed the basis of his first bookAssam: A Valley Divided, publishedin 1984). The Nellie massacre took

place in Assam during a six-hour


8/22

The massacre was one of manyviolent incidents during the infamous

1983 elections conducted in themidst of the Assam Agitation. Theelections were declared against thewishes of the Assam Agitationleaders who did not want an electiontill the electoral rolls were cleansedof illegal immigrants


9/22

Seven years before 9/11, travelledacross Afghanistan, Pakistan,Germany, the US and the UK, toreport extensively on the threat fromIslamic fundamentalism, including itslinks with Osama bin Laden.

In 1984, Gupta exposed LTTEtraining camps in India (promptingmany in the government to label himanti-national) and thereby showed

how New Delhi's policy of appeasing


10/22

After six years at the Express, Guptawent to India Today, the countrys

largest and premier newsmagazine.There, as Senior Editor, his

investigative journalism covered themost important newsbreaks in thecountry in recent times, from theinsurgency in Punjab that led to theassassination of Prime Minister Indira

Gandhi to the war in Sri Lanka.


11/22

The insurgency in the Indian state ofPunjab originated in the late 1970s.

The roots of the insurgency werevery complex. Punjab, after Indianindependence, had large Hindispeaking areas in the south and thewest. In the 1960s, many Akalileaders started agitating for aPunjabi-speaking state.


12/22

When a census was conducted todecide the division of Punjab, many

Punjabi-speaking Hindus decided toput Hindi as their native languageinstead of Punjabi. Many Sikhsviewed Punjabi Hindus as traitors forabandoning the cause of Punjab andPunjabi language. After the divisionof Punjab on linguistic purpose,

Punjab received a Sikh majority for


13/22

Gupta has also been instrumental intaking Express journalism to cities andstates left untouched by the national

media. In 1996, at the height of themilitant violence in Jammu and Kashmir,Gupta launched an edition of the paperin Jammu and Srinagar. The Expressteam in the state is now considered thebest of any news organisation there,winning the highest number of nationaland international awards than any othernews bureau in the state.


14/22

Under Gupta's leadership, The IndianExpress and its journalists have wonvirtually every national award in

journalism at every level of seniority.The Express News Service is the largestnetwork of reporters, editors andphotographers in the country today,bringing together the best of talent andexperience. Under Gupta's mentoring,many of the journalists have grown intopositions of leadership in the Expressand outside it in several newsrooms,

print and broadcast across the country.


15/22

Besides his book on Assam, Gupta hasauthored India Redefines Its Role,published by the Oxford University Press

under the Adelphi Paper Series of theInternational Institute of StrategicStudies, London, where Gupta workedas a Research Associate. He was also amember of its council. Besides TheIndian Express, Guptas writing hasbeen featured in several newspapersand magazines in India and abroad,including The Wall Street Journal,

International Herald Tribune, Newsweek


16/22

Recently, Gupta became the first Indianjournalist to insinuate the involvement

of "Hindu fanatics" in the twin bomb

blasts, in Delhi's Jama Masjid in anarticle in Newsweek International, whilegiving a clean chit to Islamicfundamentalists' involvement in theterror attacks in India which is widelydocumented. Because of this and otherpartisan work performed by him, he hasbeen dubbed as the Wheeler DealerEditor by a popular blog Spindian

Express.


17/22

His weekly column called NationalInterest, now in its ninth year, has

become a touchstone for new ideasin politics, governance, society,business and sports.

He is a regular guest and speaker atthe World Economic Forum in Davosand its India summits.


18/22

Gupta has been invited as a guestspeaker by several universities andinstitutions in India and overseas.

These include Stanford University,the John F Kennedy School ofGovernment at Harvard, the

Woodrow Wilson School ofInternational Affairs at PrincetonUniversity, Infosys Technologies inBangalore, the National Law

Institute, Defence Services Staff


19/22

Bharat Asmita Jana JagaranShreshta Award: THE Indian ExpressEditor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta has been

felicitated with the Bharat Asmita JanaJagaran Shreshta award 2007. This was

announced by city-based MAEERs MITSchool of Government and MIT School of

Management. Constituted in 2005, theawards are given to recognize andhonour people for their innumerablecontributions. Gupta has been awardedfor the best practitioner of mass media.


20/22

Padma Bhushan Award: ExpressGroup Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta hasbeen conferred the Padma Bhushan.

The award recognizes his famousnewsbreaks, beginning with the exposeof the Nellie massacre in Assam thatredefined the countrys engagement

with the North-east, and now his weeklycolumn National Interest, which havedefined the issues for contemporaryIndian politics, business, society and, ofcourse, journalism.


21/22

Fakhruddin Ahmed Award: Belongingto Assam, Shri Fakruddin Ali Ahmed wasthe President of our country from 1974

to 1977. The Fakhruddin Ali AhmedMemorial Award, instituted from theyear 2005 onwards by the Governmentof Assam for those who promotenational integration, is a deservingtribute to his memory. The 2006 awardwas given to Shekhar Gupta an eminent

journalist by the President of India, Smt.Pratibha Patil, at the Fakhruddin Ali

Ahmed memorialaward ceremony.


22/22

It is perhaps fitting, therefore,that it was at The Indian

Express, where Gupta began hiscareer as and since then,Guptas byline has had anenduring association with themost important news events inIndia.

shekhar gupta profile

Documents