Veteran journalist Vinod Dua passed away on Saturday at the age of 67. His daughter Mallika Dua took to social media to inform about her father’s demise. Her Instagram story read, “Our irreverent, fearless and extraordinary father, Vinod Dua has passed away. He lived an inimitable life, rising from the refugee colonies of Delhi to the peak of journalistic excellence for over 42 years, always, always speaking truth to power. He is now with our mom, his beloved wife Chinna in heaven where they will continue to sing, cook, travel and drive each other up the wall.” She further informed via the story that the cremation would take place on December 5.
Mr. Vinod Dua was one of the earliest and unparalleled pioneers of broadcast journalism in India. Recipient of the highest honour in the field of journalism in India, he received the Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Award in 1996. Mr. Dua was also bestowed with the Padma Shri in 2008 for his journalism. Despite coming from a refugee family displaced during partition, he achieved remarkable feats during his lifetime.
An alumnus of the University of Delhi, Mr. Vinod Dua took immense pleasure in participating in debate events. He was an ardent admirer of performing arts and actively participated in theatre plays during his college days, as well as in his twenties. Mr. Dua himself wrote several plays.
Mr. Vinod Dua started his anchoring career hosting the Hindi program Yuva Manch for Doordarshan in 1974. He then anchored Yuv Jan, a youth show that was part of the Satellite Instructional Television Experiment (SITE), in 1975. A seasoned political analyst, Mr. Dua started his journey by co-anchoring election analysis on Doordarshan in 1984. He later anchored many such shows, such as Chunav Chunauti. Mr. Dua also anchored Doordarshan’s famous show Janvani in 1985.
One of Mr. Dua’s most popular shows in recent times was NDTV India’s Zaika India Ka where he travelled across India and discovered the country’s finest street foods.
Mr. Vinod Dua lost his wife Padmavati Dua to covid, earlier this year. He is survived by his daughters, Mallika Dua and Bakul Dua.
