sans serif records the demise of Vidya Munshi, arguably India’s first woman journalist, in Calcutta on Monday, 7 July 2014. She was 94 years old.
Born in Bombay, she worked in several newspapers and magazines, including a ten-year stint with Russy Karanjia‘s Blitz.
A 2006 profile of Ms Munshi in The Telegraph, Calcutta, noted:
“At that time (1952-62), she was the Calcutta correspondent of Blitz, a Bombay weekly critical of government policies and excelling in investigative journalism.
“One of her ‘scoops’ was on two Canadian pilots who were to fly from Hong Kong with gold and drop it on an island in the Sunderbans, which was then to be smuggled into Calcutta.
“Another of her major stories that made headlines was on the Chinakuri mine disaster in Asansol where hundreds of miners were killed; the famous playwright and actor Utpal Dutt went on to script the tragedy into a chilling play, Angar.”
Also read: India’s first woman photo-journalist, Homai Vyarawalla
IJR 
RIP Vidya Munshi!