Rajat Sharma (born 18 February 1957) is an Indian journalist and businessperson who is the chairman and Editor-in-chief of

India TV India TV is a Hindi news channel based in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India. The channel was launched on 20 May 2004 by Rajat Sharma and wife Ritu Dhawan. The channel is a subsidiary of Independent News Service, which was co-founded by Sharma and Dha ...

, an Indian news outlet. Sharma is known for his show ''

Aap Ki Adalat ''Aap Ki Adalat'' () is an Indian television show that is hosted by journalist Rajat Sharma. The show began in 1993, was broadcast on the television channel Zee TV until 2004, moved on from Zee News in 2004, and now airs on India TV. It is the l ...

'' in which he is seen interviewing politicians and celebrities in a courtroom-like setting.

Early life

Sharma was born 18 February 1957 in Sabzi Mandi, Delhi. He grew up with his 6 brothers and 1 sister. He did his schooling from Ramjas School. He did his higher studies from the

Shri Ram College of Commerce Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC) is a constituent college of the University of Delhi. Founded in 1926 by industrialist Lala Shri Ram, it is widely regarded as the most prestigious college for commerce and economics in India. SRCC was ranke ...

(SRCC) and joined Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad. He was elected as General Secretary in

Delhi University Students Union Delhi University Students Union, generally abbreviated as DUSU, is a students' union at the Delhi University, University of Delhi. It is primarily responsible for building and preserving a healthy political culture and an atmosphere of open deb ...

in 1977. In 1997, he married Ritu Dhawan.

Career

After having completed his Master's degree (M Com), he was hired as a researcher by Janardan Thakur, a journalist who had just quit

Ananda Bazar Patrika ''Anandabazar Patrika'' (Bengali: আনন্দবাজার পত্রিকা, ) is an Indian Bengali-language daily newspaper owned by the ABP Group. According to the Audit Bureau of Circulations, it has a circulation of 1 million c ...

to start a new syndicate column. Subsequently, he joined the Onlooker Magazine as a trainee and then went on to become its editor in 1985. By this time, Rajat Sharma had shifted base to

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' fin ...

. After having spent three years at Onlooker, he joined

Sunday Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...

as an editor and later on The Daily again as the editor. It was in 1992 that he bumped into Zee TV’s

Subhash Chandra Subhash Chandra Goenka (born 30 November 1950) is an Indian billionaire media baron. He is the chairman of the Essel Group, an Indian media conglomerate and founded Zee TV in 1992. He was also the chairman of Zee Media but resigned as Directo ...

during a flight to

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders ...

and it was in the midst of a casual conversation that the concept of ''

'' took shape. In 1993, the first episode of ''Aap Ki Adalat'' was shot for Zee TV with

Lalu Yadav Lalu Prasad Yadav (born 11 June 1948) is an Indian politician and president of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). He is a former List of Chief Ministers of Bihar, Chief Minister of Bihar (1990-1997), a former Ministry of Railways (India), Railway ...

, the former- Chief Minister of Bihar. Rajat Sharma has interviewed more than 750 guests on his show and recently ''Aap Ki Adalat'' celebrated 21 years of broadcast thereby making it the longest running show in India’s television history. He also hosts the prime time show ''Aaj Ki Baat'' on

. He was President of Delhi Cricket Association. He, however resigned only one month into his job citing corruption and various "pulls and pressures"

Awards

Padma Bhushan The Padma Bhushan is the third-highest civilian award in the Republic of India, preceded by the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan and followed by the Padma Shri. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is given for "distinguished service ...

(2015) by the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, ...

for his contributions through Journalism.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sharma, Rajat 1957 births Living people Indian broadcast news analysts Indian television executives Indian television news anchors Indian television talk show hosts Indian television journalists Indian television presenters People from New Delhi Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in literature & education 20th-century Indian journalists Indian male television journalists Journalists from Delhi Punjabi people