Noted journalist Dileep Padgaonkar passes away

Noted journalist Dileep Padgaonkar, who was a member of the three-member interlocutors group for Jammu and Kashmir, passed away today after brief illness here.

72-year-old Padgaonkar, a former editor of The Times of India, was unwell for past several weeks and died at a hospital in Pune, family sources said.

Padgaonkar began his career in journalism at an early age and joined the Times of India as its Paris correspondent after receiving a doctorate in humanities in 1968.

He served the paper in various capacities before he was appointed its editor in 1988, a post he held for six years.

In between, from 1978 to 1986, he also worked with UNESCO in Bangkok and Paris.

Padgaonkar was appointed as one of the members of the three-member Interlocutors Group on Jammu and Kashmir, set up by the government after continuous unrest in the Valley in 2008.