Noted journalist S Nihal Singh passes away

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 16

Noted journalist and former Chief Editor of The Statesman and The Indian Express, Surendra Nihal Singh passed away here at his residence on Monday evening.

He was due to turn 89 later this month.

Born on April 30, 1929, in Rawalpindi, Nihal Singh, as he was popularly known, was an authority on foreign affairs.

For the past few months, the veteran columnist was suffering from renal failure and breathed his last at about 5 pm today.

Cremation would take place at the Lodhi Road electric crematorium tomorrow at 12 noon, family members said. His wife predeceased him and he was survived by his sister-in-law Indoo Nihal Singh.

Son of Gurmukh Nihal and Lachchmi (Devi) Singh, he was awarded the prestigious International Editor of the Year Award in New York for his role in opposing former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s emergency in mid-1975.

He was a foreign correspondent in Moscow, London, the United States, and Indonesia, and most of his assignments were for The Statesman. 

He took over as the Resident Editor of The Statesman at Delhi in 1973 before becoming the Chief Editor of the newspaper in Kolkata in 1975.

During 1981-82, he was the Editor-in-chief, The Indian Express, and also the founding editor of The Indian Post, Mumbai, in 1987.

His last assignment was as the Editor of the Khaleej Times, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, in 1994. After his return to Delhi, he became a noted columnist and contributed to a number of dailies, including The Tribune.