Swapan Dasgupta
| Swapan Dasgupta স্বপন দাশগুপ্ত | |
|---|---|
| Born |
3 September 1955 Kolkata, West Bengal, India |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Ethnicity | Bengali Hindu |
| Education |
St. Stephen's College, Delhi School of Oriental and African Studies University of Oxford |
| Occupation | Political analyst, Journalist, Columnist |
| Religion | Hinduism |
| Spouse(s) | Reshmi Ray Dasgupta |
| Children | Soumya Srijan Dasgupta |
| Website | |
| http://www.swapan55.com/ | |
Swapan Dasgupta (Bengali: স্বপন দাশগুপ্ত Shopon Dashgupto) (born 3 October 1955) is a senior Indian journalist. At various points in his career, he has held senior editorial posts at The Statesman, The Daily Telegraph, The Times of India, The Indian Express and most recently India Today, where he was Managing Editor till 2003. He has been published in The Pioneer, The Telegraph, Dainik Jagran, The Times of India, The New Indian Express, Outlook, The Free Press Journal and several other newspapers and magazines. Over the last decade, he has acquired the fame of being one of the most frequently appearing faces on Indian television. He is seen in all major political debates featured in the English electronic media, and is well known for appearing on NDTV's weekly segment, Politically Incorrect, with Mani Shankar Aiyar.
Early life
Swapan Dasupta was born in Calcutta in 1955 into a Bengali family of the Vaidya community. His father, S.C. Dasgupta, was the Chairman of Calcutta Chemicals, a well-known pharmaceutical company started by his grandfather, the Late K.C. Das. His mother, Rekha (née Sen), was the daughter of the successful barrister Sushil Chandra Sen, author of India's first Companies Act, and after whom a road is named (formerly Nandan Road) in the posh locality of South Calcutta. He was educated at La Martiniere school in Calcutta, where he was a contemporary of Chandan Mitra and Paranjoy Guha Thakurta. He went on to do a BA degree in History at St. Stephen's College, Delhi, standing second in Delhi University. He then went on scholarship to complete his MA in History at SOAS (School of Oriental and African Studies) as well as his PhD. His completed his thesis in 1980, entitled "Local politics in Bengal, Midnapur District".
In 1982 he was appointed Junior Research Fellow at Nuffield College, Oxford, for which he received the INLAKS Scholarship.
Career
After his brief stint in Oxford, he returned to India in 1986 and started off his journalistic career at The Statesman. He worked in newspapers like The Times of India, The Telegraph and The Indian Express before joining India Today. He currently is a freelancer and resides in Delhi with his wife Reshmi, also a journalist, and son, Soumya.
Mr. Dasgupta is a highly regarded journalist of English media. He has been appearing constantly on popular news channel like CNN-IBN,[1] NDTV[2] and Times Now[3] to debate on current issues pertaining to India and international affairs. His views on the recent Jammu crisis have also been significantly different from the majority of the establishment media in India.[4] He has edited a collection of essays: Nirad Chaudhuri—The First Hundred Years. He is a co -participant of the weekly show Politically Incorrect with Mani Shankar Aiyar on NDTV. He is a moderate conservative political commentator and noted for being one of the few conservative faces in an otherwise liberal and left wing dominated Indian intellectual sphere. He is known to be deeply influenced by British Conservatism.
References
External links
- Swapan Dasgupta's Political Thought
- Swapan Dasgupta's blog
- Swapan Dasgupta's articles in Free Press Journal
- Swapan Dasgupta's articles in Times of India
- Swapan Dasgupta's articles in Pioneer
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