Veteran journalist S Nihal Singh dead

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 16

Veteran journalist and former Chief Editor of The Statesman and The Indian Express Surendra Nihal Singh passed away at his residence here on Monday. Born in Rawalpindi on April 30, 1929, Nihal Singh, as he was popularly known, was an authority on foreign affairs.

Suffering from renal failure for the past few months, he breathed his last at 5 pm. The cremation will take place at the Lodhi Road electric crematorium on Tuesday noon. He is survived by his sister-in-law Indoo Nihal Singh and four sisters.

His long-time friend and former MP, who was the Editor-in-Chief of a number of dailies, including The Tribune, HK Dua, said: “He was one of the most outstanding editors who believed in liberalism and democracy. He knew the value of dissent in public debate… A thorough gentleman, he promoted the highest standards of journalism.” Son of Gurmukh Nihal and Lachchmi (Devi) Singh, Nihal Singh was awarded the International Editor of the Year Award in New York for his role in opposing former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s Emergency in mid-1975. A foreign correspondent in Moscow, London, the US, and Indonesia, most of his assignments were for The Statesman.

He took over as Resident Editor of The Statesman in Delhi in 1973 and then the Chief Editor in Kolkata in 1975. During 1981-82, he was the Editor-in-Chief of The Indian Express and also the founding editor of The Indian Post, Mumbai, in 1987. His last assignment was as the Editor of the Khaleej Times, Dubai (1994). On his return to Delhi, he became a columnist and contributed to a number of dailies, including The Tribune.

Nihal Singh also became the president of the Press Club of India in 1994. In 2016, he was given the Press Council of India’s Raja Ram Mohan Roy Award for outstanding contribution to journalism.

His publications include ‘The Yogi and the Bear: A Study of Indo-Soviet Relations’; ‘Ink in my veins: A Life in Journalism’and ‘The Gang and 900 million: A China Diary’.