After a long and bitter battle with his brothers and cousins, Narasimhan Ram, the editor-in-chief of The Hindu, has finally called it a day.
In a letter to the directors of Kasturi & Sons Limited (KSL), the holding company of the paper at 12.19 pm today, N. Ram, 66, has indicated that the time has finally come to go.
And that 19 January 2012 will be his final day as the helmsman.
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Confidential
January 9, 2012
For the Board of Directors, Kasturi & Sons Ltd
In keeping with the relevant resolutions adopted by the board of directors and the shareholders of KSL on editorial succession, I have decided to step down from my position as Editor-in-Chief of The Hindu, Business Line, Frontline and Sportstar with effect from January 19, 2012.
In consequence, the Board may pass the necessary resolutions declaring, with effect from January 19, 2012, Siddharth Varadarajan, Editor, The Hindu, as the Editor of The Hindu (inclusive of the annual publications, The Hindu Survey Of Indian Industry; The Hindu Survey Of Indian Agriculture; and The Hindu Survey Of the Environment) responsible for selection of news under the PRB Act; D. Sampathkumar, Editor, Business Line as the Editor of Business Line responsible for selection of news under the PRB Act; R. Vijayasankar, Editor of Frontline, as the Editor of Frontline responsible for selection of news under the PRB Act; and Nirmal Shekar, Editor of Sportstar, as the Editor of Sportstar responsible for selection of news under the PRB Act.
I have also decided to step down, with effect from January 19, 2012, as publisher of The Hindu, Business Line, Frontline and Sportstar, and printer of our publications where applicable. In consequence, the board may pass the necessary resolutions declaring K. Balaji, managing director, KSL, as publisher of The Hindu, Business Line, Frontline and Sportstar, and also as printer of our publications where applicable, with effect from January 19, 2011 until we have in place a CEO who can take over as publisher of the above-mentioned publications and as printer as applicable….
I will continue as wholetime director of Kasturi & Sons Ltd.
I thank the board for giving me the opportunity to serve as editor-in-chief of our publications for eight years and also as publisher and printer as applicable.
N. Ram
Photograph: courtesy Mint
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Also read: Why N. Ravi quit The Hindu after 20 years as editor
Nirmala Lakshman: I didn’t step down; I resigned
Malini Parthasarathy quits as Hindu‘s executive editor
IJR 
He will be missed as one of the few editors who actually understood the newspaper business and had a good sense of the political environment of our country.
He has reduced the paper to a laughingstock. His ethical standards are the gutter standards of communist politburos everywhere. It matters little that he’s going because he has installed his chamchas in his place. What a loser!
Good riddance to bad rubbish
The minority directors of KASTURI AND SONS
may agree or not – The fact remains that N. Ram is the face of the HINDU . It is because of him , The Hindu could withstand the pressure of TOI in Madras market .
Under dull and dumb , N.Murali , the HINDU was stagnant on business side and losing market every where . He was sitting on Ivory tower and talking about strengthening and consolidation of home ground only and showed no inclination to take the brand to other regions of INDIA . N.Ravi as editor never had any control on his own staff – so to say as per tnside information – as every one was the monarch and under his and N.Murali’s regime only THE HINDU suffered terrible loss after so many years in 2002 as per media reports then .
Thank god , K.Balajee is a realistic technocrat , and has suggested the professionalisation of THE HINDU which got support from N.Ram and 5 other directors to form the majority in the board .
It would have been nice if N.Ram had prolonged his stay as editor in chief for a few more months at least to oversee the growth of THE HINDU in north and other regions of INDIA .
Something wrong. Somehow it seemed to me that”Hindu” is not exactly what it was. Did anyone feel the same way?
He has written the epitaph for the paper and now wants to resign. He should have gone 8 years ago and the paper could have been saved.
I hope the fake lefty pseudo intellectual paper shuts down. It is as bad as the rest.
There goes the intellect, the heart and the guts of The Hindu.
I hope that he will continue his work and look forward to whatever new forum he will use to promote his fight for honest investigative journalism -be it, TV, commentary or a book. N. Ram, you will be missed. HM
The ship has already sunk. So what has the captain resigned from. No one reads The Hindu anymore. And that is such a sad thing.
When media owners start behaving like ideologues and start delivering sermons then the quality of the newspaper goes down.
I won’t be surprised to see Ram in Rajya Sabha with support from some comrades.
@Law of Omerta ,
Pl. go through the latest IRS Q3 – 2011 . The Hindu is read by more than 22 lakh readers and is no 1 in Kerala and TN.
In AP and KARNATAKA , may be it is not popular as it is not soliciting subscription at thro’ away prices or offer any other group paper free or discount rates .
Also , it has no printing centres in places like Mysore , Tirupati etc where there is a scope for large circulation only if latest news are carried like in TOI , DH , DC etc which have local editions all over AP, and Karnataka .
It is not that it is not read by any one .
If at all it has to die , it will be only due to minority directors .
Thank god , they are side lined now and professionals are taking over . The things should only improve from now on .
somehow i do not agree that all the talent needed to run that newspaper has been mysteriously endowed with that only one hindu divided family.
THE Hindu is a curious case of too many cooks spoil the broth.Basically the paper is full of leftist woolies but the whole bunch of them with the exception of Ram are wimps who have cowed against the DMK/DK .Ram is an opinionated card carrying member.His only notable contribution is his steadfast opposition to LTTE.This paper will die a slow steady death.It could have been the only elitist newspaper in India capable of going behind headlines and provide substance but alas Ram’s leftist attachment and the wimps who pass off as rest of the Directors have destroyed whatever foundations it had!!
China or Iran can now utilise the formidable talent of N Ram. He can be a great Information Minister. As great as Goebbels.
Good riddance.