Durga Das

Durga Das (23 November 1900 – 17 May 1974) was an Indian journalist.[1][2][3][4] He was the founding president of the Press Club of India.[5] A longtime parliamentary correspondent and editor with the Associated Press of India,[6] he worked in several newspaper publications, including The Statesman, The Times of India and lastly the Hindustan Times,[7][8] serving as its editor-in-chief from 1957 till 1959 before he went on to establish his own news agency, India News and Feature Alliance (INFA) in late 1959.[9]

Not to be confused with Durga Das Basu.

Durga Das
Born(1900-11-23)23 November 1900
Aur, Punjab Province, British India
(present-day Punjab, India)
Died (aged 73)
New Delhi, India
NationalityBritish Indian (1900–1947)
Indian (1947–1974)
Alma materDayanand Anglo Vedic College
Occupations
  • Journalist
  • author
  • social worker
Years active1918–1966
Notable workRam Rajya in Action (1956)
India and the World (1958)
India From Curzon to Nehru and After (1969)
SpouseRatan Devi

Early life and education

Durga Das was born on 23 November 1900 in Aur, a village in present-day Jalandhar district in the Indian state of Punjab. He attended an Arya Samaj-run school in Jalandhar[10] and graduated with a bachelor's degree from Dayanand Anglo Vedic College (now Government Islamia College) in late 1910s.[11]

Career

After graduating from Dayanand Anglo Vedic College, he joined the Associated Press of India in 1918 and served as its Parliamentary Correspondent till 1937. He later joined the Calcutta-based The Statesman as its Special Representative[4] and worked there till 1943. In 1944, he joined the Hindustan Times[12] and went on to serve as its editor-in-chief from 1957 till 1959, before taking temporary retirement to establish organisations like the Press Club of India and India News and Feature Alliance (INFA).

During his five decades long journalistic career, he interacted with numerous political figures, including Viscount Chelmsford, Louis Mountbatten, Bal Tilak, Mahatma Gandhi, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Jawaharlal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri and Indira Gandhi.[1]

He is said to have preferred Vallabhbhai Patel, not Nehru, to become the first Prime Minister of India.[13] He had authored three books, Ram Rajya in Action (1956), India and the World (1958) and India From Curzon to Nehru and After (1969).[14][15] The book India From Curzon to Nehru and After has been described as "reporter's fiction" and that it relies "on gossip, not history".[16]

Personal life

Das was married to Ratan Devi,[17] and they had four sons and two daughters. He liked playing tennis and enjoyed swimming.[18]

Death and legacy

Durga Das died on 17 May 1974 due to cardiac arrest in New Delhi, India. The then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi sent condolences to his family. President V. V. Giri sent also sent condolences and described him as "one of my best friends in life" and a "great journalist".[19]

In 2003, nearly 29 years after his death, the Indian government led by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee released a commemorative stamp in his honour.[20]

His apparent bias in favour of Vallabhbhai Patel continues to be noted by the authors who have reviewed his work.[21][22]

References
  1. "DUNA DAS DEAD; INDIAN NEWSMAN". The New York Times. 18 May 1974. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 31 March 2022.
  2. Times, Bernard Weinraub Special to The New York (17 December 1973). "India's Journalists Worry They Have Become Timid and Dependent on the Government". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 3 April 2022.
  3. Vadukut, Sidin (27 June 2014). "Déjà View | A Nehruvian tragedy". mint. Retrieved 31 March 2022.
  4. Assembly, Meghalaya (India) Legislative (1974). Meghalaya Legislative Assembly Debates. Meghalaya Legislative Assembly.
  5. "Shams Tabrez Qasmi is Felicitated with Amar Shaheed Molvi Baqar Award 2021 | Millat Times | Multilingual Digital Media House". Retrieved 31 March 2022.
  6. Famous India, Nation's Who's who. Famous India Publications. 1975.
  7. "EDITOR SAYS INDIA IS FOR DEMOCRACIES". The New York Times. 6 June 1950. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 3 April 2022.
  8. "Leading the change, again". Hindustan Times. 14 July 2009. Retrieved 31 March 2022.
  9. "India News and Features Alliance (INFA) - INFA". www.infa.in. Retrieved 31 March 2022.
  10. Sethi, Devika (23 May 2019). War over Words: Censorship in India, 1930-1960. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-108-48424-4.
  11. "A Superior Person, Thorough Professional". Prem Bhatia Memorial Trust. 18 July 2016. Retrieved 31 March 2022.
  12. "Lessons from 1952, 1967, 1977". The Indian Express. 17 March 2019. Retrieved 4 April 2022.
  13. Lars Blinkenberg (1998). India-Pakistan: An analysis of some structural factors. Odense University Press. p. 155. Durga Das, who was an admirer of Sardar Patel and who together with some other witnesses of that period - would have preferred a Patel government to a Nehru one
  14. Das, Durga (1985). Eminent Indians who was Who, 1900-1980, Also Annual Diary of Events. Durga Das Pvt. Limited.
  15. Das, Durga (1956). Ram Rajya in action. Coronation Print. Works.
  16. Virender Grover (1993). Political Thinkers of Modern India: Jawaharlal Nehru. Deep & Deep Publications. ISBN 9788171002535.
  17. The Illustrated Weekly of India. Published for the proprietors, Bennett, Coleman & Company, Limited, at the Times of India Press. 1975.
  18. Personalities: A Comprehensive and Authentic Biographical Dictionary of Men who Matter in India [Northern India and Parliament]. Arunam & Sheel. 1950.
  19. "India News and Features Alliance (INFA) - INFA". infa.in. Retrieved 3 April 2022.
  20. Khanduri, Ritu Gairola (2 October 2014). Caricaturing Culture in India: Cartoons and History in the Modern World. Cambridge University Press. p. 317. ISBN 978-1-107-04332-9 – via Google Books.
  21. The post - centenary volumes of Patel's miscellaneous writings which are now being brought out are free from the bias which Durga Das and others invested in the main volumes on Patel. Triveni Publishers. 1981. p. 79 – via Google Books.
  22. M. Chalapathi Rau (1980). Magnus & Muses: Off the Record Musings of "MC" (M. Chalapathi Rau). Academic Press. p. 38. Till the day of his death, he was on the side of Patel. The ten volumes of Patel's Correspondence edited by him were evidence of his devotion to Patel.
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