2011

PRESIDENT REPUBLIC OF INDIA
August 3, 1990
Dear Smt Chitta Ranjan
I am grieved to learn of the passing away of Sri Chitta Ranjan. We have been close associates in the Journalists’ Union for several decades and hence for me it is a personal loss.
The gentlest of persons, he was an intrepid upholder of the rights of the downtrodden. I always looked forward to meeting him and hearing his assessment of affairs, national or international.
Please accept my sincerest condolences in (…)

N.C.
It was in 1960-61 that I came to know Chitta Ranjan who was then working in The Hindustan Times. I had met him earlier in Madras where he was desperately trying to run a daily brought out by a working journalists’ cooperative. When that project folded up, Chitta Ranjan moved to Delhi.
When we first met, he was a staunch Congressman, an ardent follower of Kamaraj. I was in search of a forum where there could be dialogue between Congress opinion and the Left, to start with; and then (…)

by K.R. SUNDAR RAJAN
I must confess I had serious differences with Chitta Ranjan on national and international issues but these did not in any way undermine my deep regard for him. Indeed, his intellectual and professional honesty was always a source of inspiration to me.
We worked together in the student movement during Gandhiji’s Quit India struggle. He was a quiet but very efficient campaigner, exhibiting great maturity of judgement even when he was so young. We were both arrested (…)

It was Friday, August 3, amidst the cacophony of a variety of sounds in busy Karolbagh, in a small apartment, with a few books, very few belongings and not even a phone, leave alone a car, a small modest man, a common person’s editor lay peacefully in deep sleep. The small apartment, the quietness and modesty of the family and the discipline were reminiscent of that seemingly small but giant colossus, an editor who inspired but did not roar, an editor who seldom surrendered his viewpoints, (…)

The following was written last week just before C.N. Chitta Ranjan’s 90th birth anniversary on September 29, 2011.
C.N. Chitta Rajan’s ninetieth birth anniversary is being befittingly observed on September 29, 2011. All his relatives, friends, admirers and those fortunate to have been groomed by him in the profession of journalism will remember him that day as a person who, imbued with exceptional idealism, dedication and sense of purpose (values that have indeed become rare in today’s (…)

From C.N. Chitta Ranjan’s Pen
For long years now, the debate on “Freedom of the Press” has been proceeding on the wrong track. This is not fortuitous. The loudest participants, who get the widest publicity, are defenders of the status quo in the control of the structure of the print media, particularly the big newspapers, the chains and groups.
The Express episode, which in the last few months has produced a Niagara of words, offers the most dramatic illustration of how the issues (…)

Both the bye-elections to the West Bengal Assembly held late last month were won by the ruling Trinamul Congress. The TMC wrested the Basirhat (North) constituency from the CPI-M by a margin of 30,941 votes. In the Assembly elections a few months ago, the CPI-M had retained the seat by polling 3943 votes more than the TMC. In just four months’ time, the TMC has gained 34,884 more votes.
At Bhowanipur (Kolkata), Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee was the candidate. Her winning (…)

The justly-celebrated democracy movements sweeping across North Africa and the Arab peninsula somehow appear to have bypassed the territory of Western Sahara, where one of the oldest independence movements in the region, the fight for freeing Western Sahara from Morocco’s domination, is being waged by the Saharawis since 1976.
The territory of Western Sahara has been occupied partly by Morocco and Mauritania since 1975, with the Moroccan control becoming all-pervasive since 1979. The (…)

FROM N.C.’S WRITINGS
The earthquake that has devastated large parts of northern Bihar and adjoining areas of neighbouring States has been characterised as the second worst in the century.
That actually takes us back to the first one, the one in 1934, in which, as far as this writer can recall, more than a thousand lost their lives and lakhs were rendered homeless. Roads were destroyed, railway lines uprooted, bridges demolished. Many areas were cut off and marooned in utter isolation. (…)

On September 18 an earthquake of the magnitude of 6.8 by the Richter scale struck Sikkim at about 6.18 pm The epicentre of the quake was located about 67 kms north-west of Gangtok—the State capital. The epicenter was located to be precise at Mangan, the headquarter, of the Sikkim North district. There were about four-to-five aftershocks of lesser intensity within five-to-six hours. Minor tremors were felt even after a few days.
The earthquake caused severe damage to the lives and property (…)