Khalid A-H Ansari

Khalid A-H Ansari has a bachelor’s degree in Law (L.L.B.), a master’s degree (M.A.) in Political Science from Mumbai University and master’s degree (M.A.) in Journalism and Mass Communication from Stanford University, California, USA. In 2012, he retired as founder-chairman of Mid-Day Multimedia Ltd, which published Asia’s leading afternoon newspaper, in two languages from Mumbai, New Delhi, Bangalore and Pune. Sunday MIDDAY and The InquilabUrdu Daily was started by his late freedom fighter father Abdul Hamid Ansari in 1937. After returning to India after his studies in the US, he started the Sportsweek magazine, which went on to become India’s leading sports magazine. At the time of his retirement, Khalid A-H Ansariwas also the chairman of M.C. Media Ltd, whose activities included FM Radio broadcasting (a joint venture with the BBC, London) in eight Indian cities. Some highlights of his career include being conferred with Padma Shri for ‘distinguished services to literature and journalism’ by President K.R. Narayanan in 2001, being a member of the official Indian delegation to the United Nations General Assembly in New York and Geneva in 1989, covering the Kargil war in 1999, the Fiji coup in 2000, the NAM conference in Harare and CHOGM summit in the Bahamas, in 1985, covering various foreign visits of presidents A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, Giani Zail Singh and Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed and prime ministers Rajiv Gandhi and Atal Bihari Vajpayee and covering the Olympic Games in Munich ’72, Montreal ’76, Moscow ’80, Los Angeles ’84, Seoul ’88, Atlanta ’96, Sydney 2000, Athens ’04 and Beijing ’08. Khalid is the author of Sachin: Born to Bat, Reliance World Cup, Champions of One Day Cricket and Cricket at Fever Pitch. He and his wife Zeyna started and run the private, self-financed Khalid and Zeyna Ansari Foundation, which funds social-welfare initiatives for the girlchild (higher education, vocational training, nursing, computer training and hotel management) in slums and depressed sections of society. It is also involved in animal welfare and funds cancer and hearing impairment treatment.