K. S. Jayaraman

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Dr K. S. Jayaraman is an Indian science journalist. He was the first Science Editor of the Press Trust of India (PTI), India's premier News agency. He was also the Editor of Nature India, Science Editor with IANS and has written extensively in Indian and international publications. He has contributed immensely to the growth of Science journalism in India.

Dr Jayaraman joined Press Trust of India^[1] in 1973 after completing his Doctorate from University of Maryland in the US in Nuclear Physics in 1969 and M.S. in Journalism from the Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, in the United States in 1971.

While working as a post doctoral fellow at the University of Manitoba, he was sent to Chicago to present a paper at the annual meeting of the American Physical Society in 1970. In the Press Room of the conference, he had a chance meeting with the science reporter of the wire service, Associated Press, Charles Gene McDaniels who was covering the event. When Jayaraman shared his interest in Journalism, McDaniels advised him to join the Medill School of Journalism of the Northwestern University. "Not many have come to us after a Ph.D. in physics. Why you want to study journalism when you can report science without doing an MS," he was questioned at the Medill School. It took some effort to convince the School that he really wanted to learn Journalism.^[2]

Soon after joining PTI in New Delhi, he established the PTI Science Service in 1981 and soon became the most respected word on Science Policy and Regulations. In 1974, he exposed the US-funded research project carried out jointly by the World Health Organization and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) called the Genetic Control of Mosquitoes Unit (GCMU) as part of biological warfare experiments. After his report appearing in newspapers across the country on July 29, 1974, there was a national uproar, and the Parliament of India held a discussion on the matter the very next day. A parliamentary committee investigated the reports and vindicated his findings.^[3]

He has written widely on Healthcare science,^[4] Space research, Military science, Biotechnology and Astrophysics. He was also a member of many committees set up by the Government of India.

He established the Indian Science Writers Association (ISWA) in 1985 in New Delhi and was the first president of the Association.^[5] In 1974, he received Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan's Chandrakant Vora Memorial Award for best reporting and, in February 1989, became the first recipient of the National Award for the best S&T coverage in the mass media from the Department of Science and Technology (India).

Currently he spends his retirement life between Bangalore and Singapore.

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