User:Netleon/Hari Shankar Vyas

Hari Shankar Vyas

Hari Shankar Vyas (15th September 1956), is an eminent Indian journalist, who has a rich and diverse experience of 35 years in Hindi media. He is the editor publisher of NAYA INDIA, Hindi newspaper. He is also the Media Consultant for ETV Hindi channels, where he produces and hosts a daily programme called ‘Central Hall’ for all ETV Hindi channels. He writes a weekly column called “Gupshup” for Sunday Pioneer and Naya India.

Career

As an Editor- Journalist, Hari Shankar Vyas has been writing articles and columns since December 1976 while studying at JNU. His first article was published in December 1976 in Dainik Hindustan’s editorial page. Immediately thereafter he started writing for many Magazines and periodicals(Navneet, Sarita, Mukta, BhuBarati, Hindustan, NBT). He got his first break in Nai Duniya, where the then editor Mr. Rajendra Mathur gave him to write a weekly column Pardesh. Also, at that time he had a regular column of viswa parikrama in Ravivar magazine. After doing free lancing, he was selected by the Navbharat times Editor-in-Chief S. H.Vatsyayan 'Agyeya' as a trainee Journalist in 1978. After spending few months at Mumbai as a trainee and gaining experience in Madhuri( film journalism) Dharmug, he left Bennett, Coleman and Co to return back to Delhi to pursue his interest in political reporting and writing.

Jansatta

At the time when Rajendra Mathur, became the Editor of Nav Bharat times in Delhi (Oct 1982), he gave Hari Shankar to a columns named Vichar to write. In 1983, he got called to work for Indian Express group’s project of Hindi newspaper Jansatta. Shri Prabash Joshi (at that time the Resident Editor of Indian Express, Delhi) appointed Hari Shankar as the first appointee (On 15 may 1983) for Jansatta (which was launched in Nov 1983) as an Assistant Editor-cum Special correspondent at the age of 26. Thereby, Hari Shankar Vyas became the senior member of the core launching team which conceived new idiom, layout and style sheet for Indian Express group's first Hindi newspaper JANATTA. He single handedly managed the bureau for National Politics and Governments as well as worked as an assistant editor for writing Editorial, and editorial page articles. Soon after he was promoted and given the responsibility of the whole news network as Editor, News, Jansatta. During the times of Jansatta, He started a column titled GUPSHUP (Nov 1983), which had set a unique trend becoming the only requisite source of political information. Till date, the Gupshup column (which was published in different newspaper after leaving Jansatta in 1995) continues to be among the most well-read political column, both in Hindi and in English (Sunday Pioneer).The 32 year old column has in the past graced the pages of many regional newspapers.

Hindi Computing

After a long and distinguished stint at Jansatta, in 1995 he launched a media establishment under the name of Samvad Parikrama Pvt ltd. The firm heralded the first business affairs programme in Hindi on Doordarshan titled ‘Karobarnama’. The company also published and printed the first computer magazine in Hindi, Computer Sanchar Soochna, which was launched by the then Prime Minister H D DevGowda which was hailed as yeoman's service to the language segment. Under the editorship fo Hari Shankar, the company also published a fortnightly magazine, Rajniti, which was rich with articles on the Indian polity. Since inception he has been very vocal and aggressive in using Hindi computing and promoting Hindi in the multilingual IT arena. In 1999, he promoted a mission which provided computer training in Hindi. Multilingual computer training programmes were launched across North India to encourage the use of Indian languages in IT. C-DAC, a government of Indian society, utilized the same channels for promoting its IT education programmes in northern India with the backup of Hari Shankar’s Computer Sanchar Soochna magazine. . He envisioned a unique project of multilingual Indian portal long time ago, and when nobody could dare to think of it, he started a multilingual portal. It encompassed 15 languages with an effort to bring the masses to the Internet, thereby revolutionizing the very concept of localization of Internet in Indian languages. This first multilingual portal was called netjaal.com and it was inaugurated by then HRD minister Dr. Murali Manohar Joshi in 1998. However the mission to facilitate IT in Hindi and Indian language could not be carried forward due to .com bust. Therefore, the venture was passed onto Reliance Infocom.

From Print to TV

Afterword in pursuance to my new height, new idiom, and for a new concept in Hindi journalism he took upon the challenge of producing a quality, serious content centric TV programme. Just before the 2009 Lok Sabah elections he started a programme titled Central Hall for all Hindi ETV channels. The half an hour show brings to the viewers a ringside view of the everyday political-social-economic life of the country. It provides intellectual thought provoking ideas, and presents discussions with eminent personalities to Hindi’s public discourse community and political class. During the 2014 Lok Sabha election, Narendra Modi chose Central Hall and Hari Shankar Vyas for his first media interview. Today, Central Hall has become one of the most credible, though provoking and independent voices in the Hindi media. The show in its half an hour segment brings to the viewers a ringside view of the everyday political-social-economic life of the country. It provides intellectual thought provoking ideas, plausible discussions with eminent personalities catering to the Hindi’s public and to political class.

Naya India

But this was not enough. There still existed a vacuum in the Hindi speaking population regarding a quality serious newspaper. In 2010, to fill that void, Hari Shankar embarked upon a very ambitious project of launching, and running a quality Hindi newspaper. The newspaper titled NAYA INDIA soon established a unique niche in the market. In a very short span of time the paper has become the choice of the discerning serious Hindi readers all across Northern India.

Commitment to Hindi Journalism

In nutshell, with experience of over 35 years, Hari Shankar Vyas commitment to Hindi journalism is really taken him to such a varied and unimaginable journey, that  probably no other Hindi Journalist or editor has gone through such a Journey. All through his career, Hari Shankar has remained true to his profession and written what he felt. No other journalist from the Hindi media has tasted the experiences of the different platforms of journalism, from print to electronic to digital, in such a short time. He has through his work created a footprint in both print and electronic. From the times of Indira Gandhi, Raji Gandhi, V.P.Singh, Narishma Rao, to Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and now Narendra Modi, the times and lives of these Prime Ministers have been covered extensively and in minute details by Hari Shankar vyas in his Gupshup column. The matter and the gossip of all these times are such that many volumes on the Indian Politics could be printed. And it has not just been politics, his writing on socio economic, religion, civil society and international relations, films, music is so vast and varied that there are plans to publish his writings in books.

Travel/Association

In his years of active journalism, he has been the member of the Hindi Advisory Board of the Railway Board and has also been the member of the Telephone Advisory Board. He has also extensively covered many international and bilateral conferences/ meetings as part of the delegation traveling with various Indian Prime Ministers. These included the Non-Aligned meets, Commonwealth meets, and the PM's visits to the United States of America, Britain, Mauritius, Malaysia. In 1987, he participated in the 'International Visitor Programme' of the American government.