Sudeep Chakravarti is an author, independent researcher and analyst, columnist, and media consultant.
He is the author of several works of non-fiction. These encompass history, culture, ethnography, Indian and South Asian security issues, regional geopolitics and geo-economics, conflict and conflict resolution, the intersection of democracy and development, and the intersection of business and human rights. He has extensively written in media about, and addressed forums on these matters. He has also written novels and short fiction.
He attended Mayo College, Ajmer, where he read humanities; and St. Stephen’s College, University of Delhi, where he obtained an Honours degree in History (1985).
He has nearly four decades of experience in media, and has earlier worked with global and Indian organizations, including The Asian Wall Street Journal, where he began his career, and subsequently held leadership positions at Sunday magazine, India Today magazine, India Today Group, and HT Media, the publishers of Hindustan Times and Mint. He blueprinted two of India’s leading thought platforms, the India Today Conclave and the Hindustan Times Leadership Initiative.
As a media consultant he has helped to blueprint and launch several publications. He counts among his most ‘fun’ projects the launch of Rolling Stone magazine’s India edition, where he was Editor-at-Large; and, as Editor, blueprinting the ‘Making of Modern India’ project for livehistoryindia.com.
As one of India’s earliest media convergence and integrated newsroom specialists, Sudeep’s experience is multi-media: across print (magazines and newspapers), digital and television platforms. He was also Editor of India Today Group Online, and Executive Editor of India’s first digital newspaper, launched by India Today Group: newspapertoday.com. In his various media roles and functions, he worked across the domains of reporting, writing, editing, and planning and management.
He is a co-founder of Coastal Impact with other scuba diving enthusiasts in Goa, India. A not-for-profit, Coastal Impact evangelizes marine conservation to school and university students, and conducts underwater clean-ups of debris and ghost nets. It has assisted research in the area of marine biodiversity (seabed mapping, marine habitats, and coral regeneration) for India’s National Institute of Oceanography, WWF-India, and The Habitats Trust, among other organizations.
To download the complete CV, click here.
Career:
2004 – 2022: Since February 2022: Visiting Faculty, ULAB. Variously, Editor – Content Services, India Today Group (2011-2012); Media Consultant (Harmony Foundation; Editor-at-Large, Rolling Stone India; ‘Making of Modern India’ Series Editor, livehistoryindia.com, et al); Member, Board of Studies, Manipal Institute of Communications (2005-2006); South Asia Analyst; Author and Historian; Ethnographer; Political and Security Analyst; Guest Lecturer (Indian Institutes of Management-Ahmedabad/Indore; BITS – Goa, Manipal Institute of Communications, The Gateway House, et al); Columnist (Mint; OPEN; firstpost.com, et al).
2003 – 2004: Consultant Editor, HT Media (publisher of The Hindustan Times and Mint). Blueprinted numerous editorial innovations. Created and directed the inaugural Hindustan Times Leadership Initiative.
1991 – 2002: Business Editor, India Today; Associate Editor, Business Today; Associate Editor, India Today; Senior Associate Editor, India Today, Deputy Editor, India Today; Editor, India Today Group Online; Executive Editor, TheNewspaperToday.com; Director, India Today Conclave, South Asia’s premier policy event and thought platform.
1988 – 1991: Sunday magazine (Correspondent; Business Editor)
1985 – 1988: The Asian Wall Street Journal, South Asia Bureau (Bureau Manager; Correspondent)
Articles/ Columns/ Interactions:
(Some websites may require log-in and/or subscription)
Several hundred articles, essays and columns in several publications, including Mint, The Asian Wall Street Journal, Die Zeit, India Today, Hindustan Times, Outlook, Doinik Bonik Barta, Business Today, The Hindu, TheWire.in, Firstpost.in, Forbes, Fortune, Businessworld, OPEN, The Telegraph, India Quarterly, Seminar, Biblio, The Gateway House, livehistoryindia.com and Rolling Stone-India.
- Please click here for a partial list of several hundred columns published in Mint from 2009 to 2020.
- Please click here for a partial list of numerous articles written for India Today magazine from 1991 to 2002.
- Please click here for some articles published in OPEN magazine.
- Please click here for some columns published in firstpost.com
Some Articles, Talks, Lectures, Interactions in 2022
The Malaise in Manipur: Regardless of Who Wins, the Fires Will be Far from being Doused – Article in News18 (24 February 2022)
‘The Eastern Gate’—The Making of Modern Indian Series: Talk hosted by Live History India (25 February 2022)
ULAB Multicultural Conclave (DEH): Plenary Session Talk: ‘The Bengalis: Myth and Reality between the Shadow Lines’ (25 February 2022)
Dhaka Media Summit (MSJ) Masterclass: ‘The Media-Ethics Cauldron: Myths, Realities and Futures’ (10 March 2022)
‘Conflict and Peace in India’s Northeast’: All Things Policy Podcast by The Takshahshila Institution, Bengaluru (10 March 2022)
The Mahabharat Man Returns Article in OPEN Magazine (11 March 2022/Issue dated 18 March 2022)
‘The Eastern Gate’: Talk hosted by Kitab Khana, Mumbai (17 March 2022)
‘The Eastern Gate’: Talk hosted by Kalinga Literary Festival Bhava-Samvad Series, India (24 March 2022)
Lecture: ‘Aliens in Your Own Land?’ for DEH Forum: Curriculum Integration: ‘Many Faces of Conflict,’ (23 April 2022)
Seminar Lecture (GED): ‘Plassey: Myth, Reality, Memory: A brief study of the battle that changed the course of South Asian history’, (21 May 2022)
‘Travels through the Naxal Corridor’—The Making of Modern India Series: Talk hosted by Live History India (26 May 2022)
Some articles, and interviews conducted 2021
সেই সময় , বণিক বার্তা (৯ জুলাই ২০২১) – ‘Shei Shomoy’, Bonik Barta (9 July 2021)
Understanding Modern India: Interview of Prof. Rudrangshu Mukherjee (13 March 2021)
India’s Foreign Policy Journey: Interview of Amb. TCA Raghavan (7 March 2021)
Ékushé: How Language Trumped Politics to Birth a Nation (21 February 2021)
Please click here
Grandfather Gandhi: The Man and his Agenda: Interview of Prof. Rajmohan Gandhi (13 February 2021)
Understanding Gandhi: Interview of Ramachandra Guha (7 February 2021)
Gandhi in Noakhali: The Bloody Battle for East Bengal (29 January 2021)
Please click here
Research, Script and V/O for several short pieces titled ‘Milestone’. On historical events, as a part of a 5-month consultation as Editor of ‘The Making of Modern India’ project for livehistoryindia.com:
Gandhi’s Return to India (31 March 2021)
Jallianwala Bagh: British Empire's Dark Day (26 March 2021)
Raja Harishchandra: The Dawn of Indian Cinema (20 March 2021)
India and the First World War (14 March 2021)
Rabindranath Tagore: Asia’s First Nobel Winner (10 March 2021)
The Imperial Delhi Durbar of 1911 (5 March 2021)
The Birth of the Muslim League (17 February 2021)
Rise of the Revolutionaries (11 February 2021)
Some additional articles/interviews/miscellany from 2020
আলীবর্দী-সিরাজের যুগলবন্দী , বণিক বার্তা (২৪ জুলাই ২০২০) – ‘Alibordi-Sirajer Jugolbondi,’ Bonik Barta (24 July 2020)
Robert Clive was an 18th Century nouveau-riche dream come true – Interview with The Times of India (all editions – 24 June 2020)
The Nuances, the History – Interview on the Battle of Plassey with The Daily Star, Dhaka (25 June 2020)
Webinar/interaction on the Battle of Plassey with The Daily Star, Dhaka (23 June 2020). Bilingual.
Unlock Diaries in Hindustan Times (6 June 2020, page 13)
Webinar/interaction on the Battle of Plassey with The Bengal Club, Kolkata (30 May 2020)
Webinar/interaction on the Battle of Plassey with Bangalore International Centre (29 May 2020)
Dear Leader (poem) in Opinion Magazine UK (26 May 2020) and indianculturalforum.in (23 May 2020)
পলাশী নিয়ে আলাপ , সিল্ক রুট - বণিক বার্তা (ঈদ সংখ্যা ২০২০) – ‘Polashi Niye Alaap,’ Silk Route (Eid Issue 2020)
Plassey: The Battle & Beyond – Interview with livehistoryindia.com (24 March 2020)
Sudeep Chakravarti: The Passion People Podcast (25 February 2020)
Some additional articles from 2019
Citizenship circus: Northeast India in crisis again in Mint (6 February 2019)
On Sujit Saraf’s novel on Marwaris in Scroll.in (19 January 2019)
Editorial Column in हिंदुस्तान (Hindustan) (18 January 2019) Scan available upon request
Some additional articles from 2018
Why Maoists will endure despite Chhattisgarh elections in Mint (20 November 2018)
सर्वमान्य शांति समझौते के कितना करीब है नगालैंड (‘Sarvmanya shanti sumjhautey ke kitna karib hai Nagaland’) in Hindustan (21 September 2018)
When Businesses Fire from the Shoulders of Government in Deccan Herald (3 June 2018)
Some additional articles/ interactions from 2017
A Thorny Road in Manipur in The Telegraph (20 September 2017
Analysis: India is witnessing Maoism Mark V in Hindustan Times (5 May 2017)
Analysis: BJP will have to step cautiously to untangle Manipur’s ethnic mess in Hindustan Times (14 March 2017): appeared under multiple headlines
Guest column: The Year of Madison Square Modi in theWire.in (5 January 2017)
CNN 18 programme: The Crux is Manipur CM Biren Singh and his son (22 May 2017)
Interview on ‘The Bengalis’ with SBS Australia (Hindi) in Melbourne (29 March 2017)
Some additional articles from 2016
Manipur’s Conflict Economy in DNA - Daily News & Analysis (20 December 2016
Naga framework remains an inside job between the signatories in Hindustan Times (4 July 2016) – appeared with multiple headlines
Where mind meets matter in BLink: Hindu Business Line (8 July 2016)
Some additional articles from 2015
Colombo, Sri Lanka: The thrill of wrecks in Mint Lounge (28 March 2015)
Berlin Diary in Outlook (Issue dated 22 June 2015)
Nepal Diary in Outlook (Issue dated 11 May 2015)
Essay on North-east India in Welt-Sichten (June 2015) – available as a PDF copy
The Scam Economy in India Today Special Issue - IT @ 40 (Issue dated 21 December 2015)
A New Benchmark for Human Rights on the LSE (London School of Economics) Blog (7 November 2015)
Additional article from 2014 (more articles available upon request)
The Tragedy of MOUs Explained in Hindustan Times (20 September 2014)
Some additional articles/interactions from 2013
A Writer’s Retreat in The Indian Quarterly (October-December 2013)
The Naxal Crisis and Where it is Headed, webinar with equitymanster.com (6 September 2013)
Author Sudeep Chakravarti says India can move forward by reconciling with its unpleasant past in Georgia Straight, (Vancouver, 7 July 2013)
Seeds of Conflict Continue to be Sown, interview in Times of India (17 March 2013)
Some additional articles/interactions from 2012
A Wounded Democracy for The Gateway House (13 August 2012)
Myanmar: Liberalization benefits for India – An interview with The Gateway House (24 May 2012)
Charles Dickens in Kolkata for British Council on the occasion of the bicentennial of Charles Dickens’s birth (17 February 2012)
Some Additional articles/interactions from 2010
India’s Demographic Tsunami for The Gateway House (17 July 2010)
India’s Maoist Threat on The Riz Khan Show - Al-Jazeera (aired April 7, 2010)
Details of additional articles/interactions/interviews prior to 2010 are numerous and can be provided upon request.
Affiliations:
Press Club of India, New Delhi; Foreign Correspondents’ Club of South Asia; India Habitat Centre; Coastal Impact (co-founder), Goa, India; Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI); in the early 2000s invited to the Club of Asia by Strategic Intelligence; alum of BMW-Herbert Quandt Foundation’s Indo-German Young Leaders’ Forum; formerly, Professional Member, World Future Society, USA.
Solo Lectures, Talks & Briefings variously on Policy, Political Economy, Security, Human Rights, History, Current Affairs, South Asia:
Among others institutions, at the Indian Institutes of Management at Ahmedabad and Indore, India; Army War College, Mhow, India; The Naval Academy, Panaji, India; CRPF Academy, Mt Abu, India; the Bundestag, Berlin; the University of Bonn; Simon Fraser University, Vancouver; University of Braga, Portugal; Catholic University, Lisbon; BITS, Goa; Manipal Institute of Communications, Manipal, India; Jamia Milia Islamia, New Delhi; Deutsche Bank’s global investors’ meets in Mumbai and Singapore; Economist Intelligence Unit CEO Forums in India; The Gateway House, Mumbai; FLAME University, Pune, India; The Takshashila Institution, Bengaluru; Manipur University, Imphal, India; Bangalore International Centre; St Joseph’s College, Jakhama, Nagaland, India; the inaugural Sarat Mahanta Memorial Lecture, Guwahati, India; Mayo College, Ajmer, India; Sawai Man Singh School, Jaipur, India; and The Valley School, Bengaluru.
Literary Lectures/ Talks/Panels:
In 2022
Jaipur Literature Festival 2022 (Clarks Amer, Jaipur, India, 10-14 March 2022)
- Panel: ‘The Bangladesh Wave’. Co-panellist with Mahfuz Anam, editor of The Daily Star and Amb. Pinak Ranjan Chakravarty, former High Commissioner of India to Bangladesh (Mughal Tent, 5:40 pm - 6:30 pm IST, 12 March 2022)
- Solo Panel: ‘The Eastern Gate’, based on my book, The Eastern Gate: War and Peace in Nagaland, Manipur and India’s far East, chaired/moderated by Kynpham Sing Nonkynrih, author and poet, professor of English, NEHU, Shillong, India (Durbar Hall, 10:00 am – 10:50 am IST, 13 March 2022)
- Chaired/Moderated a Panel: ‘Of Fathers and Forefathers’. With Kynpham Sing Nonkynrih and author Sowvendra Shekhar Hansda (Baithak, 1:00 pm – 1:50 pm IST, 13 March 2022)
Earlier, held creative writing workshops in India and Singapore. Spoken as solo speaker or panelist at numerous literary festivals, book launches and literary gatherings in Dhaka, Chennai, Jaipur, Kolkata, Mumbai, Goa, London, Melbourne, Vancouver, Chicago, Thiruvananthapuram, Berlin, Villigst, Singapore, Seattle, Colombo, New Delhi, Pune, Imphal, Kohima, Guwahati, Shillong, and Dehradun, among other places.
The Eastern Gate: War and Peace in Nagaland, Manipur and India’s Far East
Genre: Narrative non-fiction (Northeast India; South Asia; History; Politics; Ethnography; Conflict and Conflict Resolution; Regional Geopolitics and Geo-economics).
Published: January 2022 (Simon and Schuster)
ISBN (Hardback): 978-93-92099-21-2
ISBN (e-Book): 978-93-92099-26-7
Plassey: The Battle that Changed the Course of Indian History
Genre: History (History; Military history; Bengal history; Indian history; Colonial history; British East India Company).
Published: 2020 (Aleph Book Company)
ISBN (Hardback): 978-81-943657-2-3
The Baptism of Tony Calangute
Genre: Novel.
Published: 2018 (Aleph Book Company)
ISBN: 978-93-86021-96-0
The Bengalis: A Portrait of a Community
Genre: Narrative non-fiction (History; Culture; Ethnography; Politics; Partition).
Published: 2017 (Aleph Book Company)
ISBN (Hardback): 978-93-86021-04-5
(* Finalist at Tata Literature Live Awards 2018, and Hindu Lit for Life Awards 2018)
Clear.Hold.Build: Hard Lessons of Business and Human Rights in India
Genre: Narrative non-fiction (Intersection of business and human rights; Resettlement and Rehabilitation; CSR; Corporate Governance and Corporate Citizenship; Conflict; Conflict resolution).
Published: 2014 (Collins Business, an imprint of HarperCollins)
ISBN (Hardback): 978-93-5136-299-9
(* Winner of the Award for Excellence at Asian Publishing Awards 2014)
Highway 39: Journeys through a Fractured Land
Genre: Narrative non-fiction (Northeast India; Politics; Conflict; History; Nagaland; Manipur).
Published: 2012 (4th Estate, an imprint of HarperCollins)
ISBN: 978-5029-334-8
The Avenue of Kings
Genre: Novel (three connected novellas).
Published: 2010 (HarperCollins)
ISBN: 978-93-5029-020-0
Red Sun: Travels in Naxalite Country
Genre: Narrative non-fiction (Politics; Political economy; History; Conflict; Leftwing rebellion in India and Nepal; South Asia).
Published: 2009 (Penguin-updated paperback) ISBN: 978-0-14-306653-8
Published: 2008 (Viking-hardback) ISBN: 0-67-008133-7
(* Finalist at Crossword awards in 2009)
Tin Fish
Genre: Novel.
Published: 2011 (HarperCollins) ISBN: 978-93-5029-176-4
Published: 2005 (Penguin) ISBN: 0-14-400013-X
The Other India (Ed.)
Genre: Sociology; Human interest; Travelogue.
Published: 2000 (Books Today)
ISBN: 81-87478-05-5
The India Today Book of Cartoons (Ed.)
Genre: Humour; Politics; Commentary
Published: 2000 (Books Today)
ISBN: 0-670-88271-2
The Millennium Series – India Today (Ed.) 3 Volumes
Genre: History; Politics; Economy; Current Affairs; Science; Sociology; Biography; Literature and the Arts; Futurology, et cetera.
Vol. 1: 100 People Who Shaped India in the 20th Century
Vol 2: Past 1000 years: Come Home to History
Vol 3: India Tomorrow: The Millennium Agenda
Published: 2000 (India Today Group)
‘Art of War’ (reportage/essay) in A Thousand Cranes for India (Pallavi Iyer, Ed.)
Published: 2020 (Seagull Books)
ISBN: 978-0-8574-2-744-1
‘Alien in Your Own Land: Journeys of Identity, Democracy and Development in India’ (reportage/essay) in Viagems de Longo Corso: Roteiros e Mapeações/ Long-distance Travels: Routes and Mappings (Anabela Mendes, Helena Romão, Eds)
Published: 2016 (Universidade Católica Editora, Lisboa)
ISBN-13: 9789725405192
‘Some Socio-economic Aspects of the Maoist Insurgency in India’ (essay) in Non-State Armed Groups in South Asia (Arpita Anant, Ed.)
Published: 2012 (Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses & Pentagon Press)
ISBN: 978-81-8274-575-9
‘The Maoist Rebellion: A Journey to Outland’ (essay) in More than Maoism: Politics, policies and insurgencies in South Asia (Robin Jeffrey, Ronojoy Sen and Pratima Singh, Eds.)
Published: 2012 (Manohar; National University of Singapore-Institute of South Asian Studies)
ISBN: 978-81-7304-933-0
‘The Box’ (short story) in Vislumbres – Familias, Families, Famílias (Lola Mac Dougall, Ed.)
Published: 2010, India & Ibero-America, Vol. 3.
‘My House is Your House’ (short story) in Tehelka Special Issue of Short Stories (Jai Arjun Singh, Ed.)
Published: January 2009
The Penguin Books of Schooldays (Palash Krishna Mehrotra, Ed.)
Published: 2008 (Penguin Books)
ISBN: 978-0-14-310011-9
The Fiction Collection: 20 Years of Penguin in India
Published: 2007 (Penguin Books)
ISBN: 0-14310-354-7
Numerous seminars/conferences variously in Davos, Tokyo, Shanghai, Dhaka, New Delhi, Mumbai, Colombo, Port Louis, Caracas, Bengaluru, Mysuru, Kolkata, Hyderabad, London, Jaipur, Pune, Moscow, Beijing, Kuala Lumpur, and Bangkok, among other places. (Mix of global, multilateral, bilateral, regional associations, heads of state meetings, government-led conferences, UN-led conferences, think-tanks, NGO-led, et al).