Surendra Nihal Singh was one of the more outstanding journalists of the country.
NEW DELHI: Veteran journalist and former Chief Editor of The Statesman and The Indian Express, Surendra Nihal Singh passed away here at his residence on Monday evening.
Nihal Singh breathed his last at the National Heart Institute. He was suffering from kidney-related ailments. He would have been 89 later this month.
Noted journalist Nihal Singh’s demise sparked a lot of reactions on social media ranging from tributes to condolences, with some senior journalists calling it “the end of a golden era of journalism.”
The veteran journalist was born on April 30, 1929, in Pakistan’s Rawalpindi. He completed his Bachelors’ degree with honours from Delhi University in the year 1948.
Nihal Singh is known for his several books and columns, which are acclaimed worldwide.S Nihal Singh had worked with several leading newspapers including The Indian Express as its editor-in-chief, The Statesman as chief editor and Khaleej Times as editor.
He was the founding editor of The Indian Post in 1987. He was awarded the prestigious International Editor of the Year Award in New York for his role in opposing the Emergency imposed by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
His last assignment was as Editor of the Khaleej Times of Dubai in 1994. After that, he turned independent columnist .Singh was a member of the India International Center, Press Club of India and served the organisation as its president in 1994.
His books include “The Rocky Road to Indian Democracy: Nehru to Narasimha Rao”, “The Yogi and the Bear: Story of Indo-Soviet Relations” and “The Gang and 900 million: A China Diary”.
He worked as foreign correspondent in Moscow, London, the United States and Indonesia.Singh was the first correspondent allowed to represent an Indian newspaper in Pakistan after the 1965 war, the veteran editor recalled in an interview in 2013.
