Kundan Vyas

Kundan Ramanlal Vyas is a journalist with more than sixty years in the profession and chief editor of the Janmabhoomi group of newspapers. He was named for the Padma Bhushan in 2024 in the field of literature and education, from Maharashtra ^[1].

The Janmabhoomi group

The group was founded by the freedom fighter Amritlal Sheth and includes Janmabhoomi in Mumbai, Phulchhab in Rajkot, Kutchmitra in Bhuj and the financial daily Vyapar ^[2].

Reporter in Delhi

Vyas was born on 5 December 1941 and studied arts and law at the University of Mumbai ^[2]. He began working as a journalist in 1961–62 and joined Janmabhoomi in 1964 ^[2]. In 1967 he became chief of its New Delhi bureau, and for more than thirty years he reported on the capital’s political, economic and social life; his daily political column Delhi Durbaar was widely read ^[2]. He reported from the front in the 1971 India–Pakistan war ^[2]. In 1996 he became group editor in Mumbai ^[2].

His books in Gujarati include Kargil Katha Ane Vyatha, a two-volume history of Delhi politics, and an autobiography ^[2].

The profession

He has served on the Press Council of India and as president of the Indian Newspaper Society (2010–11) and of the Indian Languages Newspapers Association ^[2]. In 1976 he held a United Nations Dag Hammarskjöld fellowship, and in 2014 he received the Lokmanya Tilak award ^[2].