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Siddharth Varadarajan

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Siddharth Varadarajan
Image of Siddharth Varadarajan
Born (1965-04-10) 10 April 1965 (age 59)
New York[citation needed]
Alma mater
OccupationFounding Editor of The Wire
SpouseNandini Sundar
RelativesTunku Varadarajan
Awards
Websitethewire.in

Siddharth Varadarajan (born 1965) is an Indian journalist, editor and academic. He was a former editor of the Indian English language national daily The Hindu, and is one of the founding editors of the Indian digital news portal The Wire.

Early life, education and activism

Siddharth Varadarajan was born to an IAS officer, Muthusamy Varadarajan, and Usha, a housewife-turned-businesswoman.[1] He did his initial schooling at La Martiniere in Lucknow and Mayo College, Ajmer.[1]

In 1978, he shifted to England and joined the Brockley County state school, when his father was sent on a diplomatic posting to the Indian High Commission in London.[1] Siddharth later enrolled for an undergraduate degree in economics at the London School of Economics[2] and went on to pursue his Masters and PhD from Columbia University.[1]

During his days in England, he was heavily involved with left-activism, which would eventually leave a deep influence on his journalistic career.[1] Even in America, he (along with the Indian student diaspora) strove for ensuring justice to the victims of the 1984 massacres and other riots, and the Bhopal Gas Tragedy.[1] It was also during his days at Columbia, that he met his future wife - Nandini Sundar.[1]

Career

Media

Times of India

In 1995, Vardarajan returned to India to work as a journalist, before joining The Times of India as an editorial writer in 1995.[1]

The Hindu

In 2004, he joined The Hindu, India's second largest English-language newspaper, as Strategic Affairs editor, before going on to succed Harish Khare as the Chief of National Bureau.

In May 2011, Varadarajan was appointed as The Hindu's editor via an extraordinary general meeting called by the BoD; he was the first editor to have been not drawn from the family of primary shareholders in its 150-year history.[3]

On 21 October 2013, Varadarajan publicly announced his resignation from The Hindu, citing a change in policy by the owners of the newspaper to go back to being a family-run-and-edited newspaper.[4]

During Vardarajan's tenure as the editor, Bharatiya Janata Party leader Subramanian Swamy filed a case in Delhi's High Court challenging his appointment as editor on the grounds that Varadarajan was not an Indian citizen, and further complained to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India.[5][6][7] The petition was ultimately denied by the Delhi High Court.[8] Varadarajan later claimed in an interview to Tehelka that Swamy had demanded more coverage in The Hindu of his statements through an intermediary, and that the court case was a mode of exacting revenge after Vardarajan rebuffed Swami.[9]

The Wire

In 2015, Varadarajan along with Sidharth Bhatiaand M. K. Venu co-founded the nonprofit online news portal called The Wire ; he continues as the Editor-in-Chief.[10]

Academic positions

In 2007, Varadarajan was a visiting professor at the Graduate School of Journalism, University of California, Berkeley.[11] In 2009, he was a Poynter Fellow at Yale University.[12][13]

Other affiliations

Varadarajan is a member of the International Founding Committee of The Real News,[14] and was, until 2015, a board member of the inter-governmental B.P. Koirala India-Nepal Foundation.[15]

Until 2015, he was also a member of the Executive Council of the Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies[16], and a member of the Indian Council of World Affairs. He continues as a member of the editorial board of India Quarterly: A Journal of International Affairs.[17] and in 2019, joined the International Advisory Council of the Sydney-based Judith Neilson Institute of Journalism and Ideas.[18]

Reception

Awards

In November 2005, the United Nations Correspondents Association awarded Varadarajan the Elizabeth Neuffer Memorial Prize Silver Medal for Print Journalism for a series of articles, Persian Puzzle on Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency.[19] In March 2006, he was awarded the Bernardo O'Higgins Order by the President of Chile—that country's highest civilian honor for a foreign citizen—for his contributions to journalism and to the promotion of India's relations with Latin America and Chile.[20]

In July 2010, he received the Ramnath Goenka award for Journalist of the Year (Print).[21] He received the 2017 Shorenstein Journalism Award for outstanding reporting and for significant contributions to promoting freedom of the press in the Asia-Pacific region.[22]

FIR

On 1st April 2020, Vadarajan tweeted and claimed that Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath had insisted that Rama Navami fair will be held as usual and attributed false quote to him amidst Coronavirus lockdown in India.[23] Later, he had clarified that quote was not of Yogi Adityanath. Then two FIRs against him were lodged in Faizabad under sections 505(2) and 188 of Indian Penal Code and under section 66D of Information Technology Act, 2000.[24] Founding editors of The Wire called it as "politically motivated".[25]

Personal life

Varadarajan is married to Nandini Sundar, a sociologist and anthropologist and Professor of Sociology at the Delhi School of Economics.

Bibliography

Books

  • Gujarat The Making of a Tragedy. Penguin. 2003. ISBN 978-0143029014.
  • Nonalignment 2.0: A Foreign and Strategic Policy for India in the 21st Century. Penguin. 2014. ISBN 978-0670086986.

Essays, reporting and other contributions

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Dave, Palash. "Making News - Palash Dave profiles brothers Tunku and Siddharth Varadarajan". Indian Quarterly. Retrieved 17 April 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  2. ^ "A Conversation on Indian Media: Interview with Siddharth Varadarajan". 18 March 2018.
  3. ^ Siddharth Varadarajan appointed Hindu editor Archived 19 September 2013 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ https://twitter.com/svaradarajan/status/392258645586493440 Twitter: svaradarajan Siddharth Varadarajan's resignation tweet
  5. ^ Registrar sends letter to The Hindu on editor's appointment, Business Standard, 24 January 2013.
  6. ^ Subramanian Swamy's complaint, scanned copy, Scribd.com.
  7. ^ Ram's comment on Dr. Swamy's case as sword, livemint, 22 October 2013.
  8. ^ Not for court to legislate on definition of Editor, says Delhi High Court, The Hindu, 18 December 2013.
  9. ^ "Yes, There Is Bitterness. 'The Hindu' Was on the Cusp Of Something Great: Varadarajan", Tehelka, 23 October 2013, archived from the original on 24 October 2013
  10. ^ "The Wire". Retrieved 16 June 2015.
  11. ^ Reality, one bite at a time: On sabbatical
  12. ^ Siddharth Varadarajan, Indian Journalist, Visits Yale
  13. ^ Varadarajan lecture on C-Span: Understanding India-Pakistan relations after the Mumbai terror attack
  14. ^ The Real News: International Founding Committee
  15. ^ BPKF website Archived 9 October 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  16. ^ "Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies ----Members - Executive Council Members".
  17. ^ "Sage Publications". 21 July 2011. Archived from the original on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 11 September 2019.
  18. ^ "Judith Neilson's $100m search for truth". 2 May 2019.
  19. ^ The Hindu : National : UNCA award for Siddharth Varadarajan
  20. ^ Latest India News @ NewKerala.Com, India
  21. ^ Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Awards Archived 1 August 2010 at the Wayback Machine
  22. ^ "Siddharth Varadarajan, Founding Editor of The Wire, to Receive 2017 Shorenstein Journalism Award".
  23. ^ Rashid, Omar (2 April 2020). "Uttar Pradesh police lodge FIR against the editor of The Wire for 'objectionable article' against Yogi Adityanath". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
  24. ^ "UP Police books The Wire editor over 'disreputable' Twitter remarks on Yogi Adityanath; website's founding editors call charges 'politically motivated'". Firstpost. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
  25. ^ Staff, Scroll. "FIR filed against 'The Wire' editor for allegedly spreading fake news against Adityanath". Scroll.in. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
Preceded by Chief of the National Bureau
The Hindu
2009- 2011 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Editor
The Hindu
2011-2013 		Succeeded by
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