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About Rajiv Shah

Worked as Political Editor of the Times of India, Ahmedabad, till January 2013, as representative of the paper in Gandhinagar, Gujarat’s capital, Rajiv covered the state government between late 1997 and early 2013. In formal journalism since 1979, Rajiv believes in what George Orwell said, "Journalism is printing what someone else does not want printed: everything else is public relations." Before he joined TOI in 1993, he was in Moscow, covering Mikhail Gorbachev's rise and fall between 1986 and 1993 for Patriot, Delhi's semi-Left paper, and newsmagazine Link. Though ideologies have fascinated him, he feels, in the changed scenario, they are losing ground. And what's taking the space? "I'm a newsman. How do I know?" he says.
Also a prolific blogger, he has been associated with the Times of India's online blogging site blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com. His write-ups have been a modest attempts to bring forth impressions of the life around and efforts of the establishment to influence it. One who has had close access to the political and bureaucratic elite, Rajiv's aims include finding out if there are any ideological considerations behind what all one seeks to do. In a high-voltage political world, do ideas matter? Or, is objective reality so powerful that ideas are forced to mould and bend? He seeks to find an answer – indeed, not as an ideologue.
Rajiv is currently associated with counterview.org, set up as an interactive platform by a group of rights-based NGOs (Janvkias, Centre for Social Justice, Dalit Shakti Kendra and Navsarjan Trust) in Ahmedabad. He edits www.counterview.net, Rajiv's personal news site, and www.counterview.in, a blogging platform -- both are not associated with any organisation. Most of Rajiv's byline stories, about 700 of them, published in the Times of India between 2001 and 2013 when he covered the Gujarat government under Narendra Modi as chief minister, can be accessed by clicking HERE.
Contact Rajiv Shah on editor@counterview.net, or inform us on counterview.in@gmail.com. See his complete profile on linkedin.com by clicking HERE.

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