Arun Shourie: News

Arun Shourie is a senior journalist, economist, author, politician, and a two-time Member of Parliament from Rajya Sabha. He did his bachelor's in Economics (Hons) from St. Stephen's College, Delhi University, and Doctorate in Economics from USA's Syracuse University. He worked at the World Bank as an economist and as a consultant to the Planning Commission of India. Shourie started writing in Ramnath Goenka's newspaper, the 'Indian Express', in the 1970s against the crackdown on civil liberties during the Emergency (1975-77). Goenka appointed him as the Executive Editor of the 'Indian Express' in 1979. Under him, the paper emerged as a challenger to the might of the Indira Gandhi government. However, in 1990, he was forced to resign from the paper. He continued contributing columns in leading newspapers through the following decades. Shourie emerged as an articulate Hindutva intellectual in the late 1980s, 1990s, and early 2000s. He joined the BJP and was nominated to the Rajya Sabha for two terms in 1998-2004 and 2004-10. He served as the Minister for Disinvestment and Communication & Information Technology in the Vajpayee-led NDA government. Shourie was bestowed with the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 1982 and, later, the Padma Bhushan in 1990.