Balbir Punj

Punj was born in Lalowal, Gurdaspur, Punjab. He started his career in journalism for the publication Motherland in 1971. He also worked for Financial Express from 1974 to 1996. Then he worked for The Observer of Business and Politics (A business daily published from Delhi and Mumbai) as an Executive Editor for 4 years- May 1996 to March 2000). He was also IIMC chairman for almost two years till March 2000. IIMC is the best-known organization in media training in entire Southeast Asia. Students from 73 countries have received training here in various disciplines of media. It was set up by the Government of India in 1965 on the recommendation of a team of internationally known mass communication specialists from UNESCO and the Ford Foundation. He was also chairman of the National Commission for Youth (Minister of State status).

He has written columns in the National English & Hindi Daily and Indian weekly magazine Outlook[4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] .[12] Lately his contributions to Outlook have become less frequent. Punj specializes in writing about various social, economic, and political issues. Currently, he writes a regular column for the daily newspaper Punjab Kesari[13] [14] ,[15] Amar Ujala[16] ,[17] Swadesh, Sanmarg, Naya India. Until some time ago, he was also writing for Hindustan Times,[18] Indian Express[19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] , Asian Age[25] [26] [27] [28] [29] , Mail Today[30] [31] [32] [33] [34] [35] [36] [37] , Mid-Day, New Indian Express[38] [39] [40] [41] [42] [43] , Sunday Standard, Dainik Jagran,[44][45][46] Andhra Jyoti, Lokmat Times, Gujarat Samachar, Sandesh, Chetna.