Asok Kumar Haldar
A former railway mail guard from Malda who has written 13 books and about 3,000 newspaper articles on social justice, honoured with the Padma Shri in 2026.
Asok Kumar Haldar spent his working life as a guard on railway mail trains and his spare hours writing. In 2026 he was named for the Padma Shri in the field of literature and education, from West Bengal [1].
Writing alongside the railway
Haldar was born on 1 October 1959 and comes from Malda district [2]. He holds a postgraduate diploma in human rights and worked as a Railway Mail Express guard [2].
He has written thirteen books, several with ISBN registration, on truth, scientific thinking, social change, the environment and human dignity [2]. Copies are held in the National Library in Kolkata and the Connemara Public Library in Chennai [2].
Thousands of articles
His larger body of work is in newspapers: around 3,000 articles in papers in West Bengal and Tripura, including Anandabazar Patrika [2]. He writes on human rights, social justice, the environment and moral education, aimed at ordinary readers [2].
He has served as Malda district secretary of the All India Council of Human Rights, Liberties and Social Justice, and as organising secretary of the West Bengal committee of the Bharatiya Dalit Sahitya Akademi [2]. His awards include the Dr. Ambedkar Fellowship National Award [2].
Sources
- [1] Padma Awards 2026: list of awardees — Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. Accessed 11 October 2026.
- [2] Padma Awards 2026 investiture ceremony brochure: citation for Asok Kumar Haldar — Press Information Bureau, Government of India. Accessed 12 October 2026.
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