NEW DELHI: Two senior journalists-cum-bureaucrats belonging to the Indian Information Service, passed away over the weekend. While former editor of the Hindi wing of the United News of India, UNIVARTA, Mr Kashinath Joglekar died in the capital on Saturday aged 80, Mr Amitabh Chakrabarti died of a heart attack in Varanasi on Sunday aged 60.
Defence Minister A K Antony and External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee today expressed sorrow over the death of Mr Chakrabarti, who was to have retired later this year and was currently the Registrar of Newspapers in India. The last rites were performed this morning.
Mr Antony recalled Chakrabarti's stint as head of the Publicity Wing of the Defence Ministry. Mr Mukherjee in his condolence message said that Late Mr Chakrabarti was a sincere and upright officer, whose career in the Indian Information Service was exemplary for its brilliance. Earlier in the day, Mr Mukherjee and Defence Secretary Shekhar Dutta visited the residence of late Chakrabarti. Both the deceased had held the post of Registrar of Newspapers in India during their careers.
Mr Joglekar is survived by a son and two daughters. Mr Joglekar's wife had died a few years ago. Before becoming Univarta's first editor in 1982 , Mr Joglekar was director of Information Department of the All India Radio. After retiring from Univarta, Mr Joglekar regularly contributed columns and articles for various newspapers and magazines.
Hailing from Kashi, Mr Joglekar began his career with a small newspaper in Varanasi, after obtaining a degree in Science and Law. During his career, he was also associated with the Allahabad edition of the Amrit Bazar Patrika as well as a newspaper called 'Northern India'. During the Janata Party rule at the Centre, Mr Joglekar was the press secretary of the then Prime Minister Morarji Desai. After retiring from Government service, he was appointed editor of Univarta and remained in that position for five years. He was also honoured with the Ambika Prasad Vajpayee award instituted by the Uttar Pradesh Literary conference.
Mr Chakrabarti had gone to Varanasi for some official work when he suffered massive heart attack. He is survived by his wife, son and daughter.
A 1971 batch IIS officer, Mr Chakrabarti had worked in various capacities holding senior posts like Additional Director General News and Current Affairs in Dordarshan News. He had worked as Additional Principal Information Officer in the Defence Ministry. He was also Prasar Bharti's Correspondent in Washington DC
