Ram Bahadur Rai
A Hindi journalist and author who heads the Hindusthan Samachar news agency and chairs IGNCA's trust, honoured with the Padma Bhushan in 2025.
Ram Bahadur Rai has spent more than four decades as a Hindi journalist and writer. In 2025 he was named for the Padma Bhushan in the field of literature and education, from Uttar Pradesh [2]. He had received the Padma Shri in 2015 [1].
Student activist to journalist
Rai was born on 1 July 1946 in Sonadi village, Ghazipur district, and took an MA in economics from Banaras Hindu University in 1969 [3]. As a student he was active in the Bihar movement led by Jayaprakash Narayan, and was jailed, including during the Emergency [3].
He began as a correspondent for Hindusthan Samachar in Arunachal Pradesh, later held editorial posts at Navbharat Times and Jansatta, covered the Lok Sabha from 1986 to 2004 and retired as editor of Jansatta in 2004 [3]. Today he is group editor of Hindusthan Samachar [3].
Books
His books include political biographies of former prime ministers Chandra Shekhar and V.P. Singh, and of J.B. Kripalani and Jayaprakash Narayan [3]. His most discussed work, Bharatiya Samvidhan: Ankahi Kahani, tells the story of how India’s Constitution was made, drawing on the Constituent Assembly debates [3].
Since 2016 he has chaired the trust of the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts [3].
Sources
- [1] Padma Awards Directory (1954-2017) — Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. Accessed 11 October 2026.
- [2] Padma Awards 2025: list of awardees — Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. Accessed 11 October 2026.
- [3] Padma Awards 2025: citation for Ram Bahadur Rai — Padma Awards, Government of India. Accessed 12 October 2026.
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