Kumar Ketkar is an Indian writer, politician and former journalist. He is the Chief Editor of Dainik Divya Marathi. He had started his journalistic career with ''

The Economic Times ''The Economic Times'' is an Indian English-language business-focused daily newspaper. It is owned by The Times Group. ''The Economic Times'' began publication in 1961. As of 2012, it is the world's second-most widely read English-language bus ...

''. He has also been the

editor in chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The highest-ranking editor of a publication may also be titled editor, managing ...

of Marathi newspaper ''

Loksatta ''Loksatta'' (''Lōksattā'') is a Marathi daily newspaper in Maharashtra, India. It is published by The Indian Express Group and was launched on 14 January 1948. ''Loksatta'' is published out of Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Thane, Palghar, Ahmednag ...

.'' He has also worked with The Observer and the ''

Maharashtra Times ''Maharashtra Times'' ( mr, महाराष्ट्र टाइम्स), colloquially referred to as 'Ma Ta' (मटा) from its Marathi initialism, is a Marathi newspaper based in Mumbai, India. It is one of the largest selling daily ...

''. He is known for being a harsh critic of the

BJP The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Modi ...

RSS RSS ( RDF Site Summary or Really Simple Syndication) is a web feed that allows users and applications to access updates to websites in a standardized, computer-readable format. Subscribing to RSS feeds can allow a user to keep track of many di ...

and

Shiv Sena Shiv Sena ( IAST: ''Śiva Sēnā'') () was a right-wing to far-right Marathi regionalist and Hindu ultranationalist political party in India founded in 1966 by cartoonist Bal Thackeray. Originally emerging from nativist movements in Bom ...

. On 12 March 2018 he was nominated to the

Rajya Sabha The Rajya Sabha, constitutionally the Council of States, is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of India. , it has a maximum membership of 245, of which 233 are elected by the legislatures of the states and union territories using si ...

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of a ...

ticket from

Maharashtra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...

. He is also a Member of Parliamentary Committee on External Affairs. Upon accepting the Rajya Sabha ticket, he faced severe criticism on the grounds that journalists should be independent and not support any mainstream political organisation. However, responding to such criticism, he said that his last assignment was in 2013 so 'technically' he was not a journalist. He even admitted that he was earlier offered a RS ticket by

Bal Thackeray Bal Thackeray (; 23 January 1926 – 17 November 2012), also known as Balasaheb Thackeray, was an Indian politician who founded the Shiv Sena, a right-wing pro-Marathi and Hindu nationalist party active mainly in the state of Maharashtra. ...

in 1998, but declined it due to ideological differences. He has written on various topics over the years and also has provided media coverage to (i) eight presidential elections in US since 1988, (ii) collapse of Soviet Union in 1991, (iii) integration of Germany in 1992 and (iv) integration of Hong Kong with China in 1997. He was India co-ordinator for South Asian Free Media Association (Mumbai-Karachi Forum); Founder of Literacy movement, Granthali, along with other literary activists. Awards Ketkar received the prestigious award for journalistic excellence as "Indian Affairs Transformational Journalist of the Decade” at 9th Annual India Leadership Conclave & Awards 2018 in Mumbai, founded by journalist Satya Brahma. Honoured with (i) 'Padma Shri' in the year 2001, (ii) Special recognition award for journalism by State of Maharashtra in the year 2010 and (iii) Maharashtra Foundation (U.S.A.) Award (Life Time Achievement) in the year 2014; Chief Editor, (i) Maharashtra Times and (ii) Loksatta Books Published In Marathi, (i) Jwalamukhichya Tondawar, 1980, (ii) Katha Swatantryachi, 1985, (iii) Vishwamitrache Jag, 2000-2017 and (iv) Badalte Vishwa, 2006 and (v) Trikalvedh, 2008; Editor's Choice, 2005 (in English)

References

Indian communists Indian male journalists Living people 1946 births Recipients of the Padma Shri in literature & education {{india-journalist-stub