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Tag: Hindustan Times

  • Khushwant Singh: The man with good-intentioned malice towards all, signs off

    Khushwant Singh: The man with good-intentioned malice towards all, signs off

    NEW DELHI: ‘With Malice towards one and all’ was a rare title for a weekly column. He had seen India grow from being a country ruled by the British to a freedom tainted by corrupt politicians and technocrats. Only he could have had the courage to speak out so bluntly.

     

    Renowned author and columnist Khushwant Singh, who is remembered not only for his weekly knife-edged columns but also his ability to laugh at himself, passed away Thursday morning, aged 99.

     

    He was married to Kawal Malik. He is survived by his son Rahul Singh and daughter Mala. Actress Amrita is the daughter of his brother Daljit Singh and Rukhsana Sultana.

     

    He stayed in “Sujan Singh Park” near Khan Market, New Delhi’s first apartment complex built by his father in 1945 and named after his grandfather.

     

    He founded the Planning Commission journal Yojana, and also served as the editor of the Illustrated Weekly of India, the National Herald, and the Hindustan Times.

     

    Apart from his columns and poems, he is remembered for one of the best novels based on the partition of the country –Train to Pakistan – which was converted into a very moving and poignant film years later. 

     

    Not surprisingly, he titled his autobiography as “Truth, Love, and a Little Malice” and this was published in 2002.

     

    Singh was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1974, an award he returned in 1984 to voice his protest against the siege of the Golden Temple in Amritsar. Later in 2007, he received the Padma Vibhushan, the second highest civilian honour in the country.

     

    He also served as a member of the Rajya Sabha from 1980 to 1986 and

     

    Even though he could be very pungent and acidic in his criticism, he never gave up humour in his writings. His comparisons of social and behavioral characteristics of Westerners and Indians are laced with acid wit.

     

    Singh was born on 2 February 1915 in Hadali in District Khushab in the then undivided Punjab, which is now known as Sargodha district and is in Pakistan. His father Sir Sobha Singh was a prominent builder and is credited with the design of the present-day Connaught Place and many parts of Lutyens’ Delhi. His uncle Sardar Ujjal Singh (1895–1983) was Governor of Punjab and Tamil Nadu.

     

    He was educated at Modern School, New Delhi, Government College, Lahore, St. Stephen’s College in Delhi and King’s College London, before reading for the Bar at the Inner Temple.

     

    During his tenure, The Illustrated Weekly (now extinct) became India’s pre-eminent newsweekly with its circulation rising from 65,000 to 4,00,000 copies. Known for his penchant criticisms, he was asked to leave the journal on 25 July 1978, a week before his retirement, after working for nine years in the weekly. This led to a major drop in readership of the weekly.

     

    His works ranged from political commentary and contemporary satire to outstanding translations of Sikh religious texts and Urdu poetry. Despite the name, his column “With Malice Towards One and All” regularly contained secular exhortations and messages of peace. In addition, he is one of the last remaining writers to have personally known most of the stalwart writers and poets of Urdu and Punjabi and profiled his recently deceased contemporaries in his column.

     

    He had often been accused of favoring the ruling Congress and was known to be close to the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. His faith in the Indian political system had been shaken by events such as the anti-Sikh riots that followed Indira Gandhi’s assassination. But he has remained resolutely positive on the promise of Indian democracy and worked via Citizen’s Justice Committee floated by H. S. Phoolka who was a senior advocate of Delhi High Court.

     

    His many books include The Mark of Vishnu and Other Stories (1950), The History of Sikhs (1953 with a revised edition in the early sixties and a second edition in the late sixties),Train to Pakistan (1956), The Voice of God and Other Stories (1957), I Shall Not Hear the Nightingale (1959), The Sikhs Today (1959), The Fall of the Kingdom of the Punjab (1962), Ranjit Singh: The Maharajah of the Punjab (1963), Ghadar 1915: India’s first armed revolution (1966), A Bride for the Sahib and Other Stories (1967), Black Jasmine ( 1971), Tragedy of Punjab (1984) Women and Men in My Life (1995), Uncertain Liaisons; Sex, Strife and Togetherness in Urban India (1995), Why I Supported the Emergency: Essays and Profiles ( 2009) and Delhi: A Novel (1990). In addition, he had several anthologies of short stories, and wrote the television documentary Third World – Free Press for a British channel in 1982.

     

    Apart from the Rockfeller Grant, he had received the Honest Man of the Year award from Sulabh International, the Punjab Rattan award from the Punjab Government, and the Sahitya academy fellowship of the Sahitya Akademi.

     

    Often a butt of jokes for his attitude towards women and sex, Khushwant did not lose his sense of humour even after he had stopped actively writing or socialising. He will remain an icon for the modern Indian writers who often emulate his style to gain popularity.

  • Yahoo India gets a new MD in Gurmit Singh

    Yahoo India gets a new MD in Gurmit Singh

    MUMBAI: There’s a top level change in the Yahoo India management. Gurmit Singh has been appointed as the Managing Director for Yahoo India. As MD, Singh will oversee Yahoo’s business in India and will be responsible for its growth in the country. He will report to Yahoo  VP & Head of India and South East Asia Yvonne Chang.

     

    With over 20 years of experience, Gurmit brings with him a deep understanding of the media and entertainment industry in India. Prior to joining Yahoo, Singh was the CEO of Forbes India at Network 18.

     

    Chang said, “Gurmit comes to Yahoo with a strong track record of delivering growth. His understanding of users and advertisers will be a great asset for Yahoo as we bring a number of product innovations to India. Yahoo is a loved brand in India, and we are very happy to have a leader of Gurmit’s caliber leading the team.” 

     

    Gurmit Singh, who took up his new role at Yahoo today, said “An Internet industry pioneer, Yahoo is now at a very exciting point in its journey. It truly reflects the energy and spirit of the world’s largest startup. Working together with an extraordinary team in India and colleagues across the world, I am looking forward to unlocking the full potential of Yahoo products and services in India.”

     

    During his career Gurmit has held leadership roles across Consumer Products, Music & Entertainment and Media sectors, working for companies such as Sony Music, Hindustan Times, India Today Group, Rajshri Media, Marico Industries and most recently at Network 18.

     

    Gurmit received his Masters in Business Administration from the Faculty of Management Studies (FMS) at the University of Delhi. He is also a University Gold Medalist in Mechanical (Production) Engineering from Osmania University, Hyderabad.

  • Mindshare appoints John Thangaraj as head – strategy (North)

    Mindshare appoints John Thangaraj as head – strategy (North)

    MUMBAI: Mindshare has appointed John Thangaraj as the head of strategy for the Northern region. In his new role, John will be responsible for the Mindshare strategy product across Delhi clients.

    Commenting on what he hopes to achieve at Mindshare John said, “First and foremost, I hope to future proof myself. I have a strong belief in the fact that ‘advertising‘ as is currently practiced in India does not have a shelf life of more than a decade (at the very most).”

    Announcing the appointment, leader – strategy (South Asia) Alok Sinha said, “We are glad to welcome John to Mindshare and the extended GroupM family. He’s got category and industry experience, and is a great team leader. I am confident he will be able to lead the strategy division to even greater heights.”

    John will be responsible for the Mindshare strategy product across Delhi clients

    Mindshare leader South Asia Ravi Rao said, “I am pleased to welcome John. He has the combination between being imaginative, strategic and entrepreneurial that our strategy community and clients need. Consumption of information and entertainment is rapidly moving screens and I feel that Mindshare is on the cutting edge of optimizing and leveraging this. ‘Digital‘ has become a buzz word we all love to throw around, and I am looking to Mindshare to help me make the journey from ‘thinking about digital‘ to ‘thinking digitally‘. Perhaps most of all, Mindshare represents a new journey for me- new skills to acquire, new people to meet and new challenges to deal with. Which is what excites me the most about it.” 

    John has over 12 years of work experience spanning a marketing role at Adidas, a research role at Quantum and as head of strategic planning for Redifffusion Y&R. In his last role John was vice president – strategic planning at Lowe, where he was responsible for the product planning on a cluster of brands that included Wills Lifestyle, Nestle Confectionary, Hindustan Times, Dabur Real, Shine.com, Woodland, Expedia.co.in and OLX.in.

    John is extremely proud of the Effie’s and Cannes that he has worked hard to win over the years. These include – Effie 2010 for Hindustan Times‘ ‘It Is Time‘ brand campaign, Effie 2012 for Hindustan Times‘ ‘You Read, They Learn‘ campaign, and Media Lion at Cannes 2013for Best Use of Print for Hindustan Times‘ ‘You Read, They Learn‘.

    He is also very proud of the work that he did when he led a global strategic project for LG Korea in 2009 on understanding the super affluent consumers in India.

  • DGM India appoints Himanshu Nagrecha as national sales head

    MUMBAI: DGM, a performance marketing network, has appointed Himanshu Nagrecha as the national sales head for all its businesses.
    Nagrecha joins DGM from Mediamind where he was vice president-sales, India and MENA regions.

    DGM India recently forayed into brand advertising space after the launch of dgMatix in July 2012. In 2013, DGM plans to scale up its performance and brand advertising business and foray into selected overseas markets.

    DGM India MD Anurag Gupta said, “Currently, DGM‘s business is at an interesting juncture, with our performance business scaling up and dgMatix getting a great response and gaining traction in the market. Himanshu‘s association with DGM is the perfect impetus to our expansion plans. I am pleased to have Himanshu in our team and certain that his extensive experience and expertise will help take DGM‘s growth curve much higher making us one of most formidable players in the Indian digital marketing ecosystem.”

    Nagrecha added, “I am delighted to be a part of one of the largest online performance networks of India. DGM is well poised for next giant leap in the digital space with dgMatix reaching almost 30 per cent of the online population. Advertisers have accepted and appreciated the value created by dgMatix in defining and delivering their goals. I am looking forward to an exciting tenure at DGM.”

    Nagrecha has 11 years experience in media sales with over six years experience in the digital space. In his 11-year career, he has been associated with organisations like Mediamind, NDTV Media, Yahoo! India, Hindustan Times and Tata Infomedia.

  • The Integer Group Asia appoints Ketan Desai as MD of India operations

    MUMBAI: Promotional, retail and shopper marketing agency The Integer Group has appointed Ketan Desai as managing director of The Integer Group India. Desai will be assuming his new role immediately.

    Desai will work alongside TBWAGroup India chief executive officer Shiv Sethuraman and The Integer Group Asia Pacific regional managing director Dan Paris. He will be responsible for managing the existing network client shopper marketing programmes and will help in to developing The Integer Group‘s clinet base in India.

    Before joining the Integer Group, Desai was with Grey Global Group for 14 years where he led major client relationships in India and Sri Lanka. He has worked with both global and local clients such as Procter & Gamble, Marico, Hindustan Times, Audi and GSK. He also has retail and shopper marketing experience after leading the ITC and GSK shopper business for Grey Group.

    Desai said, “I am extremely excited to join the team. The Integer Group is a top promotional, retail and shopper marketing agency, and for me, it is the opportunity to develop winning solutions for world class brands at the point of purchase. Retail and shopper marketing is my passion and there is no question for me that it represents the future of industry.”

    Sethuraman said “Ketan has considerable experience in many retail categories across our industry, demonstrating the leadership essential to drive growth for some of the biggest brand owners in the world. His addition to the senior team here in Mumbai is a huge asset as our business grows and continues to diversify into the fast-growing space of shopper marketing.”

    Paris added, “Ketan has rare expertise in our industry, combining a wide brand portfolio with experience in the growing Indian market and sub-continent region, whilst demonstrating the granular insight critical to driving powerful and effective creative work for the brands under his stewardship.”

  • CNN-IBN, Hindustan Times to present ‘Mumbai Makeover’

    CNN-IBN, Hindustan Times to present ‘Mumbai Makeover’

    MUMBAI: CNN-IBN, in association with Hindustan Times, is launching a special series – Mumbai Makeover on 8 March at 8:30 pm. The special series will take a look at the five biggest civic projects presently underway in Mumbai and how they are expected to change the face of the city over the next few years.

    Mumbai Makeover is an extension of the The Mumbai Project, initiated recently by the Hindustan Times. It explores the hurdles, progress and anticipated benefits of five large-scale municipal assignments presently underway across Mumbai.

    CNN-IBN and IBN 7 editor-in-chief Rajdeep Sardesai said, “A rapidly growing population and limitations of space are problems faced by metropolises across the country, especially Mumbai. Mumbai Makeover looks into some of the major development projects planned by the city to ease the encumbrance faced by Mumbaikars on a daily basis. It is a series that will be of interest and relevance to all who consider Mumbai home.”

    Hindustan Times, Mumbai editor Samar Halarnkar said, “We, at HT, believe we live in a time of hope and great change. So it’s time to hope, certainly, that we can transform our city. It’s also time to understand the change that is upon us.”

  • Veteran journalist and ex-editor of ‘TOI’ Sham Lal is dead

    Veteran journalist and ex-editor of ‘TOI’ Sham Lal is dead

    NEW DELHI: Renowned journalist and former editor of The Times of India Sham Lal passed away this morning. He was 95.

    Lal is survived by his wife, two daughters and a son. One of his daughters Neena Vyas is a journalist, working with the Hindu.

    For the last several years, Lal had been writing regularly for The Telegraph and occasionally for the literary journal Biblio: A Review of Books.

    Information and broadcasting minister Priyaranjan Dasmunsi condoled Lal’s passing away in a message: “I am deeply pained to learn about the sudden demise of veteran journalist Sham Lal. He was a thorough professional who would never compromise on the quality of his ‘report’ and was highly respected for his upright writing. Widely read and incredibly lucid, Sham Lal had a deep understanding of a wide range of subjects varying from politics to education to neo-liberalism. His sterling qualities of heart, endeared him to all who came in contact with him. His demise is a great loss for the country.”

    Born in 1912, Lal took a master’s degree in English Literature in 1933. He joined the Hindustan Times in 1934 and moved to The Times of India early in 1950. He became the editor of TOI in 1967 and retired in 1978.

  • Veteran journalist and ex-editor of ‘TOI’ Sham Lal is dead

    Veteran journalist and ex-editor of ‘TOI’ Sham Lal is dead

    NEW DELHI: Renowned journalist and former editor of The Times of India Sham Lal passed away this morning. He was 95.

    Lal is survived by his wife, two daughters and a son. One of his daughters Neena Vyas is a journalist, working with the Hindu.

    For the last several years, Lal had been writing regularly for The Telegraph and occasionally for the literary journal Biblio: A Review of Books.

    Information and broadcasting minister Priyaranjan Dasmunsi condoled Lal’s passing away in a message: “I am deeply pained to learn about the sudden demise of veteran journalist Sham Lal. He was a thorough professional who would never compromise on the quality of his ‘report’ and was highly respected for his upright writing. Widely read and incredibly lucid, Sham Lal had a deep understanding of a wide range of subjects varying from politics to education to neo-liberalism. His sterling qualities of heart, endeared him to all who came in contact with him. His demise is a great loss for the country.”

    Born in 1912, Lal took a master’s degree in English Literature in 1933. He joined the Hindustan Times in 1934 and moved to The Times of India early in 1950. He became the editor of TOI in 1967 and retired in 1978.

  • ‘TOI’ ties up with Tata Sky for marketing in Delhi

    ‘TOI’ ties up with Tata Sky for marketing in Delhi

    NEW DELHI: While the long awaited JV between Hindustan Times and Times of India may not have surprised anyone, another marketing exercise by TOI could: it is a so-far unannounced tie-up between TOI and Tata Sky for the marketing of its DTH service in Delhi-NCR.

    The deal is that Tata Sky is going to sell and collect the monthly subscription fees from their customers through the circulation department of TOI, now termed as Report and Market Development, or RMD department.

    Sources in TOI refused to comment. But while it is being said that a deal was signed earlier this month, Tata Sky CEO Vikram Kaushik told indiantelevision.com: “There is a lot of discussion with not just TOI but beyond that also, but nothing has been finalised as yet.”

    Tata Sky has been running a business module so far that involves selling its dishes and STBs through shops selling mobile phones and electronics equipment, especially TV sets. But that does not seem enough.

    They receive a large volume of orders and requests over the telephones which operate through BPOs. “If they have to land their own sellers to service all the new demands, it will be hugely costly and eat into their slender margins of selling boxes, especially due to the competition,” a source told indiantelevision.com, adding that each box is a one-time sale only.

    Which is why, Tata Sky, these sources reveal, has said that TOI’s newspaper vendors can be used to get feedback from those who called. The plan is that since TOI has a massive network of newspaper sellers, they could be coordinated through the paper’s RMD people. “The callers’ addresses are going to be passed on to the vendors who would make actual contact with the interested persons, thus saving Tata Sky the effort, time and cost.

    Similarly, Tata Sky has reportedly told the paper’s bosses that it alone has 200,000 DTH homes in the entire Delhi-NCR region, a lot of them being in the group housing societies in outlying areas of the NCR, like Gurgaon, Rohini, Ghaziabad and so forth.

    Tata Sky has proposed that the vendors also be used to collect the monthly charges for the card, which is a prepaid one.

    “They wanted to avoid the ‘cablewallah’ experience, where the cable operator’s grounds-man comes for the monthly rental and is sent back to come on another day. In any case, just as in the case of first-contact before a person buys a Tata Sky set, for collecting the monthly charges as well, the same inexpensive network of unskilled newspaper vending staff could be used.

    In fact, Tata Sky has convinced TOI that even if a fraction of the total monthly charge for each card is retained by TOI as collection fee, that is a substantial amount per month with Tata Sky having 200,000 users and the number growing. The system would be smooth and make business sense to both the paper and the DTH operator.

    It is not clear that this system would be tried in the other cities where TOI is read. It is believed that even in places where there is no TOI edition, but the company has bought other local papers, this system could be tried later.

  • Fever FM to launch in Mumbai on 15 January

    Fever FM to launch in Mumbai on 15 January

    MUMBAI: It’s all systems go as the newest entrant on the FM block in Mumbai, Fever 104 FM, readies itself for a 15 January launch.

    The FM station is a technical collaboration between Hindustan Times and Richard Branson’s Virgin Radio International. Virgin Radio International has also set up radio stations in Bangkok, Johannesburg, Malayasia and Paris.

    Speaking to Indiantelevision.com about the no-frills format of Fever FM, Mumbai station head Sajjad Chunawala says, “Most radio stations follow the norm of block radio in programming. So you have the morning, afternoon, late night segments all chalked out. Our positioning of Fever 104 FM is more music, less talk. With a format driven content radio channel, we have defined our target audience as ranging between 25 and 34 years and this is the audience we want to cater to.”

    The station has researched thousands of titles in the past two months to identify the kind of contemporary music which will appeal to its listeners. Said Chunawala, “The content of music will be 80 per cent Hindi and 20 per cent international music taken from the post 1980’s period. Of course, the music content will be tweaked to appeal to the local masses. So in Delhi, the music is influenced by Bhangra beats; in Mumbai it’s likely to have more of a Bollywood influence.”

    When asked if he fears losing a particular segment of his audience in the already fragmented listenership on radio space, Chunawala is very clear when he says, “We can’t satisfy everyone and we know that. Not everbody is likely to enjoy our format we understand that as well. We have identified our core listener who likes his music without the incessant jabber of an RJ and this is where we are focused.”

    No recipes, no agony aunts, no silly jokes and no astrologers – only music. That’s the line taken by the FM station. Over the next few days, the station promises a wide variety of on ground promotional activities. To kick off the activity, the station will have people with their mouths sealed stationed at various points across the city to give a sense of ‘less talk’.

    The first Fever FM station was launched in Delhi in October last year. Two more stations in Kolkata and Bangalore are slated to go on air by the end of this month although no official date has been set for them.