Ramnath Goenka

Ramnath Goenka ( रामनाथ गोयंका )(April 3, 1904 – October 5, 1991) was a newspaper baron of India. He launched The Indian Express and created the Indian Express Group with various English and regional language publications. In its 2000 millennium issue, India Today magazine, named him amongst "100 people Who Shaped India".

Early life

Ramnath Goenka (April 3, 1904 – October 5, 1991) was born in Darbhanga district of Bihar. He completed his primary education in Varanasi. At the age of 15, he came to Chennai to learn the ropes of the business by venturing into the trade of yarn and jute. He was married to Moongibai.

In 1932, he took over the loss-making Madras edition of The Free Press Journal and drove the delivery van himself to dispatch the papers. He founded the Indian Express in 1936, and in 1941, he was elected President of the National Newspaper Editors’ Conference. Following this, both the Indian Express and Ramnath Goenka openly challenged the British Raj.

In 1948, Daily Tej partnered with Ram Nath Goenka to publish Indian News Chronicle, an English daily, from New Delhi. After the death of Lala Deshbandhu Gupta, Ramnath Goenka converted it as The Indian Express. Upon independence he was nominated as a member to the Constituent Assembly of India.

Ramnath Goenka would always be remembered for his role during the "Emergency" in India and his crusade against Indira Gandhi. R.......
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