Manju Sharma
Mr. BP Sharma, whose 109th birthday falls on 1 January, had the unique distinction of his contribution towards journalism finding entry in the Limca Book of Records in its 2001 edition.
Mr. Sharma was 92 years of age when his work in the profession of journalism was acknowledged by the Limca Book of Records.
The entry in the Limca Book of Records entitled “Oldest living journalist” said “BP Sharma, active journalist for more than 71 years, wrote his first news letter in Ranbir, Jammu’s first newspaper launched in 1924, at the age of 17 in January 1927. In 1934, he launched J&K’s first English weekly in Srinagar, The Kashmir Times for which he wrote beyond the age of 88, besides having worked as correspondent of many prestigious news agencies like Reuters and Associated Press of India”.
Mr. Sharma left this world on January 23, 2005 at the age of 96. However, he did not stop writing and himself typing his articles a year before that when he got confined to bed because of health problem.
Born in the Pouni village of the Reasi district, Mr. Sharma did his graduation in Lahore where he started writing newsletters during his student time. Thereafter, he became Srinagar correspondent of various newspapers, including Hindustan Times, Tribune and Times of India.
He was appointed Principal Information Officer but after being arrested alongwith the then Prime Minister Sheikh Abdullah in 1953, he left J&K and joined the All India Radio with his first posting at Kolkata. After his retirement from AIR in 1967, Mr.Sharma was appointed Director of Information.
He also had interest in research of the Dogri language and spent lot of time in the State Archives where he dug many documents indicating that Dogri was an ancient language and had its own script and grammar about which hardly anyone had knowledge in the modern days.
He laid stress on research and was probably among the very few who researched into the origin of Dogri.
As a member of the Sahitya Akademi for many years, he contributed much towards the development of the Dogri language. His research in the field of Dogri after his retirement from AIR helped to get Dogri included in the Eighth Schedule. The Dogras of Jammu had been struggling for long for due recognition of the language.
Mr. Sharma also wrote about the postal system of J&K during the maharaja’s regime. J&K was the only princely state in the country that maintained its own postal system even during the British rule.
Mr. Sharma also contributed towards publication of the book “The Stamps of Jammu and Kashmir”, which was authored by Frits Staal, a professor at University of California, Berkeley, and published by the New York Collectors Club in 1983. The book carries a series of articles about the postal system under the Dogra rulers.
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