User:Shamik Dey123/sandbox/Vivekananda Mukherjee

VIVEKANANDA MUKHERJEE was born July 31st, 1904, in Domsar, district Faridpur in undivided Bengal. His ancestral home at Rajnagar was lost due to the erosion of the river Padma. In 1923 he passed Matriculation in First division with letters in Bengali and Sanskrit. As a student he was drawn into Gandhiji's non-cooperation movement. From 1925-1937 he worked for the reputed bengali publication, Anandabazar Patrika. He joined as an unpaid apprentice and rose to the position of Assistant Editor. During this period, the British Government forfeited the surety of Anandabazar Patrika and demanded fresh and increased deposit as punishment for publishing Mukherjee's editorial 'Sahitye Sarkari Dauratmya', a protest against official censorship imposed on creative writing. From 1937-1962 he was the Editor of Jugantar. He wrote commentaries on World War II and on international power politics as well as analyses of problems and crises at home - many of which provoked immediate response from the government and the public. For these reasons, he warned by the British Government several times. Once, in 1942, the publication of Jugantar was suspended by the government for three days for his editorial, "The Storm Unleashed" which defied the wartime official ban on the news of a supercyclone which hit Midnapore. The cyclone caused vast devastation and brought about untold misery upon the affected people who were left stranded and without any assistance. His writings on the Bengal famine, Communal riots, Telengana uprising, Bengal-Bihar merger plan etc. received recognition all over India. He resigned from Jugantar in 1962 as a result of political intrigue that occurred during the Chinese aggression.

From 1963-1972, he was the Editor of Dainik Basumati. He revived the declining old newspaper and transformed it into a position of leadership during the turbulent Food movement and Naxalite agitation in West Bengal.

In 1972, he joined a new newspaper, Satyajug.

During this time he also contributed regularly as a columnist in Jugantar and for two weeklies, Saptaha and Bangla Desh. In 1986, he inaugurated Bharatkatha as its Chief Editor. He died, March 20th, 1993 in Kolkata.

AWARDS

In 1970, he was awarded Padmabhushan by the Government of India.

In 1976, he received the Soviet Land Nehru award (Class I).