Home Shri Om Thanvi (Vice-Chancellor)

Shri Om Thanvi

Founding Vice-Chancellor

One of India’s most distinguished Editors and public intellectuals in recent decades, Shri Om Thanvi is the First Vice-Chancellor of Haridev Joshi University of Journalism and Mass Communication (HJU).

In a more than four decades career in journalism, Shri Thanvi has been a well-regarded writer, speaker and thought leader across continents. Besides his core competency of journalism, his interests range from literature, arts, culture, theatre and cinema to history, anthropology, social sciences and the environment.

Executive Editor of the renowned Hindi newspaper Jansatta till 2015, Shri Thanvi began his career as a freelance journalist in the desert town of Bikaner in 1977 after finishing his Masters in Commerce (Business Administration). He joined the reputed Rajasthan Patrika Group at Jaipur in 1980, where he led the editorial team of its weekly Itwari Patrika and later, the paper’s Bikaner edition.

Shri Thanvi joined the Indian Express Group in 1989, as Resident Editor of the Chandigarh edition of Jansatta. In 1999, he took charge of the daily in Delhi as its Executive Editor and edited it for 16 years, continuing its rich legacy of high standards in ethics, language and style, and shepherding its emphasis on social, political and cultural concerns.

Besides writing and commenting extensively on current issues across print, electronic, social and online platforms, Shri Thanvi has also written on cinema, art, literature, archeology, architecture and language. He has taught journalism at the Centre for Media Studies, School of Social Sciences in Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi as visiting professor. Before launching HJU, he served Rajasthan Patrika as it's Consulting Editor.

Academic experience

Shri Thanvi has delivered lectures on journalism, arts, environment and other subjects in institutions in India and abroad. Among them are Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi; Delhi University; Tokyo University (Japan); Jagiellonian University, Kraków (Poland); Aligarh Muslim University (AMU); Banaras Hindu University (BHU); University of Rajasthan, Jaipur; Jammia Millia Islamia, New Delhi; Makhanlal Chaturvedi University of Journalism and Communication, Bhopal; Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan, New York; Kushabhau Thakre University of Journalism and Mass Communication, Raipur; Central University of Rajasthan, Ajmer; Maharshi Dayanand University, Ajmer; Gulbarga University; Pondicherry University, Pudducherry; The Asiatic Society, Kolkata and Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), New Delhi.

Thought leadership

Shri Thanvi has been a leading voice at conferences organised by the South Asia Free Media Association in New Delhi, Kabul, Colombo, Cox's Bazar, Chittagong, Kathmandu and Lahore. He has attended Editors’ Conferences organised by Panos South Asia at Nagarkot (Nepal), Bellagio (Italy), Istanbul and Brussels; Editors’ Conference organised by World Editors Forum and World Association of Newspapers in Hyderabad; Conference on media, public interest and regulation organised by the Asian College of Journalism, Panos South Asia and British High Commission in Chennai; Conferences organised by Foundation of SAARC Writers and Literature in Kathmandu, Agra, Lucknow and New Delhi. Conference on Trends in the Reporting of Migration Issues organised by International Labour Organisation (ILO) and Panos Europe at Dead Sea, Jordan. Conference for Financing for Development organised by the United Nations in Addis Ababa. Participated in wide ranging interactions organised by Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS), Gandhi Peace Foundation (GPF), Sahitya Akademi, Kendriya Hindi Sansthan, Bhartiya Bhasha Parishad, People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), National School of Drama (NSD), Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Raza Foundation, India Habitat Centre (IHC), India International Centre (IIC), SAHMAT and ANHAD etc.

Professional association

Shri Thanvi has participated in conferences on environment, social sciences, arts and culture including the United Nations’ first conference on environmental degradation, also known as Earth Summit, held in 1992 at Rio de Janeiro (Brazil); It's Preparatory conference held in Paris; UN Climate Change conferences in Copenhagen (Denmark), Cancun (Mexico), Durban (South Africa), Doha (Qatar), Warsaw (Poland), Lima (Peru), Paris, Marrakech (Morocco), Bonn (Germany) and Katowice (Poland); World Social Forum meets in Mumbai, Tunis (Tunisia) and Helsinki (Finland); World Hindi Conferences in Bhopal, New York and Paramaribo (Surinam). Cultural conference in Havana (Cuba). He was part of an official delegation of Vice President of India to Bucharest (Romania), Georgetown (Guyana), Port of Spain (Trinidad and Tobago), Yerevan (Armenia), Minsk (Belarus), Paris and London. Joined Editors Delegation to England, Scotland and Northern Ireland on invitation of the government of UK.

Books & Publications

Shri Thanvi has travelled around the globe and written a number of travelogues in newspapers and magazines. His critically acclaimed book Muanjodaro (2008) on the Indus Valley's great centre Mohen-jo-daro, fetched him the prestigious SAARC award. He has edited two volumes of memoirs, Apne-Apne Agyeya, to mark the centenary of one of the doyens of Hindi literature and journalism, S.H. Vatsyayan 'Agyeya' (2011). He has also edited a book Kaha-Ankaha (2015) on literary and critical contribution of Purushottam Agarwal. A collection of Shri Thanvi's articles on contemporary issues Anantar and another on art and cinema Roop-Aroop are in print.

Honours & Awards

Shri Thanvi was awarded the Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi Puraskar for his contribution to Hindi journalism by the President of India (2003). He has also been been a recipient of Haldighati Award for Journalism (2003); SAARC Literature Award (2012); Shamsher Samman (2013); Hindi Academy Award (2016); Madhavrao Sapre National Journalism Award (2014) and Bihari Samman (2015).