Padma Shri. Kumar Ketkar is Currently the Rajya Sabha Member from Congress Party (for next 6 yrs). As a veteran & respected Josiurnalist for over 45 years, Mr. Ketkar held various positions such as in
The Economic Times, 1973 to 1990, Staff Correspondent
Resident Editor, 1990-1993, The Observer, Ambani Group
Chief Editor, Maharashtra Times, 1994-2001
Editor-In-Chief, Lokmat Group of Newspapers
Chief Editor: Loksatta, Indian Express Group, 2002-2011
Chief Editor: Divya Marathi, Dainik Bhaskar Group, 2011-14
His Assignments: from 2000 to 2018, TV channels: NDTV, CNN, Times Now
His International Assignments: All US presidential Elections from 1988-2016
Reporting from Moscow, collapse of USSR
Integration of two Germanys, Berlin, Munich
Parliamentary Elections in UK, 1987, 1992
China’s Economic Reforms: Beijing, Shanghai
Vietnam transformation: Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh
Four Conferences in Pakistan
His Representation include
South Asian Free Media Association
Strategic Future Initiatives
Maharashtra Foundation, USA
Shri Ketkar is a Visiting Faculty, FD University, New Jersey USA& University of Mumbai, Pune
Awards:
Padmashri, in 200, from Government of India
Lifetime Achievement Award, from Government of Maharashtra
Lifetime Achievement Award from Maharashtra Foundation USA
Giants Award for International Reporting
C D Deshmukh Award for Excellent Reporting in Financial Journalism
Publications:
Regular or Frequent columns in the Indian Express, NDTV, ThePrint
Ten books in Marathi: on history, politics, literature, science and sociology
Kumar Ketkar is an Indian journalist, writer and politician. He is the Chief Editor of Dainik Divya Marathi. He had started his journalistic career with The Economic Times. He has also been the editor in chief of Marathi newspaper Loksatta.He has also worked with The Observer and the Maharashtra Times. He is known for being a harsh critic of the BJP, RSS and Shiv Sena. On 12 March 2018 he was nominated to the Rajya Sabha on Congress ticket from Maharashtra. 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 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
