Veteran NDTV journalist Kamal Khan breathes his last

Winner of prestigious Ramnath Goenka Award & Ganesh Shanker Vidyarthi Award

By
Priyanka Tanwar
-
75
Kamal Khan
Kamal Khan (1960 - 2022)

Prize-winning veteran NDTV journalist Kamal Khan passed away at the age of 61 due to cardiac arrest at his residence in Lucknow on Friday, 14 January 2022. Khan had a three-decade-long association with NDTV and was a force to reckon with. Khan’s legendary reporting had received the distinguished Ramnath Goenka Award and Ganesh Shanker Vidyarthi Award honors from the Indian President. Additionally, he had received recognition for Best Documentary on Environment Awareness, NT Award for Best Hindi TV Reporter, and a SAARC Federation of Writers and Literature accolade.

According to his family members, Khan complained of mild chest pain at 4 am in the morning, but miscalculated it as acidity went back to sleep after swallowing an antacid. However, he had already left for his heavenly abode till a family friend arrived with a doctor.

Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Yogi Adityanath, Akhilesh Yadav, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Housing, and Urban Affairs Minister & Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, BSP chief Mayawati, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi, former MP Chief Minister Kamal Nath, Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia and as well as several members of the media fraternity expressed their condolences to the bereaved family on Khan’s untimely demise.  

Khan reported on the upcoming UP assembly election during his last days. His recent broadcast on the pervasiveness of misogyny in our culture was a classic. The polished storyteller was also the executive editor and chief of the Lucknow bureau of NDTV. Khan had a degree in English literature and had a short stint with The Navbharat Times before joining NDTV. He had also studied Russian language and philosophy from Moscow University and also served as a Russian interpreter in his role. He is survived by his wife Ruchi Kumar, a senior TV journalist as well; and son Aman Khan.

Khan will be remembered for a long time for his astute reporting in the toughest of circumstances, and the undiluted honesty with which he delivered. His chronicling of the Uttar Pradesh political scene with unparalleled dedication brings instant recollection to mind. His nuanced technique and subtle language shaded with a hint of the glorious Awadhi flavor will be looked back on with fond delight by friends, family members, fellow journalists, and colleagues alike.

2023 promises an interesting ride for print in India

Indian Printer and Publisher founded in 1979 is the oldest B2B trade publication in the multi-platform and multi-channel IPPGroup. While the print and packaging industries have been resilient in the past 33 months since the pandemic lockdown of 25 March 2020, the commercial printing and newspaper industries have yet to recover their pre-Covid trajectory.

The fragmented commercial printing industry faces substantial challenges as does the newspaper industry. While digital short-run printing and the signage industry seem to be recovering a bit faster, ultimately their growth will also be moderated by the progress of the overall economy. On the other hand book printing exports are doing well but they too face several supply-chain and logistics challenges.

The price of publication papers including newsprint has been high in the past year while availability is diminished by several mills shutting down their publication paper and newsprint machines in the past four years. Indian paper mills are also exporting many types of paper and have raised prices for Indian printers. To some extent, this has helped in the recovery of the digital printing industry with its on-demand short-run and low-wastage paradigm.

Ultimately digital print and other digital channels will help print grow in a country where we are still far behind in our paper and print consumption and where digital is a leapfrog technology that will only increase the demand for print in the foreseeable future. For instance, there is no alternative to a rise in textbook consumption but this segment will only reach normality in the next financial year beginning on 1 April 2023.

Thus while the new normal is a moving target and many commercial printers look to diversification, we believe that our target audiences may shift and change. Like them, we will also have to adapt with agility to keep up with their business and technical information needs.

Our 2023 media kit is ready, and it is the right time to take stock and reconnect with your potential markets and customers. Print is the glue for the growth of liberal education, new industry, and an emerging economy. We seek your participation in what promises to be an interesting ride.

– Naresh Khanna

Subscribe Now

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here