Nikhil Chakravartty (1913–1998) was an Indian journalist.

Biography

Chakravartty was born on 3 November 1913 in India's northeastern state of

Assam Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...

. He was the founder-editor of the respected current affairs weekly ''Mainstream''. He graduated from the

University of Calcutta The University of Calcutta (informally known as Calcutta University; CU) is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate State university (India), state university in India, located in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Considered ...

and went on to study at

Merton College, Oxford Merton College (in full: The House or College of Scholars of Merton in the University of Oxford) is one of the Colleges of Oxford University, constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the ...

. Chakravarty taught history at Calcutta University in the 1930s before taking to journalism. Before plunging into active journalism, he was special correspondent of the

Communist Party of India Communist Party of India (CPI) is the oldest Marxist–Leninist communist party in India and one of the nine national parties in the country. The CPI was founded in modern-day Kanpur (formerly known as Cawnpore) on 26 December 1925. H ...

’s People’s War'' and ''People’s Age''. ''In 1959, he set up the India Press Agency and immediately broke the story on the alleged espionage activities of the then Prime Minister's personal assistant, M. O. Mathai. The story rocked parliament and Mathai was forced to resign. He then founded Mainstream with which he was associated, first as editor then as adviser until his death. Between 1975 and 1977 he played a key role in press freedom and with other senior journalists fought against

Rajiv Gandhi Rajiv Gandhi (; 20 August 1944 – 21 May 1991) was an Indian politician who served as the sixth prime minister of India from 1984 to 1989. He took office after the 1984 assassination of his mother, then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, to beco ...

's Anti-Defamation Bill and forced its withdrawal. Chakravartty was a member of the Second Press Commission, and of the

National Integration Council The National Integration Council (NIC) is a group of senior politicians and public figures in India that looks for ways to address the problems of communalism, casteism and regionalism. Council members include cabinet ministers, entrepreneurs, ce ...

, as well as the Indo-US Sub Commission on Education, Culture and Media. When the

Prasar Bharati Prasar Bharati (abbreviated as PB; Hindi: ''Praśar Bharati'', lit. Indian Broadcaster) is India's State media, state-owned public broadcaster, headquartered in New Delhi. It is a Statutory corporation, statutory autonomous body set up by an A ...

board was constituted in 1997, Chakravartty was appointed as its first Chairman.

Death

Chakravartty died on 27 June 1998.

Notes

External links

A Towering journalist
Indian male journalists Indian editors 1913 births 1998 deaths Indian communists Journalists from Assam 20th-century Indian journalists Alumni of Merton College, Oxford Communist Party of India politicians from Assam {{india-journalist-stub