Tavleen Singh is a distinguished Indian journalist, political reporter, and author, currently serving as a leading columnist for The Indian Express. With a career spanning over four decades, she is widely recognized for her incisive commentary on Indian politics, public policy, and governance.
Professional Experience & Journey: Singh began her journalistic career in the United Kingdom with the Evening Mail in Slough, where she trained under the Westminster Press training scheme. She returned to India in 1974, joining The Statesman as a reporter. Her extensive fieldwork includes tenure as a Special Correspondent for The Telegraph in 1982 and as the South Asia Correspondent for the Sunday Times, London. Over the years, she has contributed to major publications including India Today and has played a pioneering role in Indian television journalism, heading the Delhi bureau for Plus Channel.
Expertise & Focus Areas: Renowned for her deep understanding of India's political landscape, Singh has covered some of the most critical events in the nation's history, including the Punjab insurgency and the conflict in Kashmir. Her writing often bridges the gap between the "Durbar" of Delhi’s political elite and the ground realities of rural India. She currently writes the popular weekly column "Fifth Column" for The Indian Express, appearing every Sunday, where she offers critical analysis of government policies and political shifts.
Authoritativeness & Recognition Singh is a celebrated author of several best-selling books that serve as important records of contemporary Indian history. Her notable works include:
Kashmir: A Tragedy of Errors (1995)
Lollipop Street: Why India Will Survive Her Politicians (1999)
Durbar (2012)
India's Broken Tryst (2016)
Messiah Modi: A Tale of Great Expectations (2020)
Her fearless reporting has earned her significant accolades, including the Chameli Devi Jain Award for Outstanding Woman Mediaperson (1988) and the Sanskriti Award (1985) for her comprehensive coverage of the Punjab crisis.
Trust & Credibility As a veteran voice in Indian media, Singh is known for her unyielding candor and independent perspective. Her long-standing association with The Indian Express, a publication known for its "Journalism of Courage," reinforces her standing as a...

December 31, 2017 00:48 IST
Things that must happen, at least in BJP states, if Narendra Modi is to once more make parivartan and vikas his leitmotif in the general election in 2019
Sun, Dec 31, 2017
December 24, 2017 00:00 IST
The acquittal of everyone charged with bribery and corruption in the 2G scam would have come as a personal blow to Modi. He made this the fulcrum of his campaign in 2014
Sun, Dec 24, 2017
December 17, 2017 00:01 IST
If under Sonia Gandhi the Congress party reached its lowest point in a century of existence, it was because ordinary voters discovered that India had become a country in which they could never hope for more than a few scraps from the high table.
Sun, Dec 17, 2017
December 10, 2017 01:39 IST
Hate crimes have become so routine since the lynching of Mohammad Akhlaq two years ago that the death of Afrazul barely found mention in the next morning’s newspapers.
Sun, Dec 10, 2017
December 03, 2017 00:14 IST
What the Prime Minister appears unaware of is that despite his appeals, foreign investors are not exactly lining up at India’s gates to invest in new projects. Could this be because the small things that make a huge difference have not yet changed?
Sun, Dec 03, 2017
November 26, 2017 01:24 IST
Almost a decade has passed since 26/11, and we have come no closer to punishing Pakistan for this.
Sun, Nov 26, 2017
November 19, 2017 00:00 IST
At the risk of sounding a little like a chippy, Hindutva type, I have to point out that there has been much more ignorance and prejudice about India evident in The New York Times since Narendra Modi became prime minister
Sun, Nov 19, 2017
November 12, 2017 00:15 IST
Some of us know where black money really exists in abundance. It oils the wheels of India’s election machinery.
Sun, Nov 12, 2017
November 05, 2017 01:30 IST
What should worry the Prime Minister is that Rahul Gandhi is attracting so much notice without a hint of renewal in the Congress party or his ideas. To mock Modi for demonetisation and GST is not enough.
Sun, Nov 05, 2017
October 29, 2017 00:32 IST
Next week marks the anniversary of one of the worst episodes of politicians colluding with the police and officials to allow the massacre of innocent Indian citizens.
Sun, Oct 29, 2017
October 22, 2017 00:21 IST
If the PM is sincere about his desire to build a ‘new India’, he must sack officials who tell lies about starvation deaths and chief ministers who allow them to do this
Sun, Oct 22, 2017
October 15, 2017 00:01 IST
Atal Bihari Vajpayee as the BJP’s first prime minister did not have this constraint but never used his stupendous oratorical skills to explain to Indians why the business of governments should be to govern and not do business
Sun, Oct 15, 2017
October 08, 2017 00:05 IST
From the day Narendra Modi became Prime Minister, there has been a concerted effort by the commissars who control political commentary to paint him as a fascistic despot who will destroy the ‘idea of India’.
Sun, Oct 08, 2017
October 01, 2017 00:30 IST
In today’s column, I want to draw attention specifically to the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) in Mumbai where I spent a morning last week in the hope of getting permission to place two street children in a private children’s home run by a Parsi trust.
Sun, Oct 01, 2017
September 24, 2017 00:31 IST
The Congress party’s prime ministerial candidate seems to have some really lazy minders travelling with him or they would have advised him not to say what he did.
Sun, Sep 24, 2017
September 17, 2017 01:25 IST
When Smriti Irani went on national television to rage against the Congress vice-president for being a ‘failed dynast’ and to mock him for his ‘failed political career,’ I realized he must have said something that really hurt.
Sun, Sep 17, 2017
September 10, 2017 00:15 IST
The only real tribute that anyone can pay Gauri Lankesh is to force the Karnataka government to do everything in its power to identify and punish her killers at the earliest.
Sun, Sep 10, 2017
September 03, 2017 00:08 IST
So if Narendra Modi’s dream of a ‘New India’ is to ever materialise, he will need to first acknowledge that his chief ministers and his own ministers have not understood that a new kind of governance is the most essential ingredient of all.
Sun, Sep 03, 2017
August 27, 2017 00:18 IST
I had come fully prepared for debate with people who I knew had the exact opposite worldview to my own, but what I had not come prepared for were hostile personal comments instead of debate.
Tue, Sep 05, 2017
August 20, 2017 01:32 IST
Our current Kashmir problem was created by two mistakes made by Indira Gandhi and Rajiv. Mrs Gandhi made the mistake of wrongly toppling Farooq Abdullah’s government in 1984 and replacing him with a cipher.
Sun, Aug 20, 2017
August 13, 2017 00:00 IST
Has that promise of ‘parivartan’ that won Modi the first full majority for a prime minister in 30 years been met?
Sun, Aug 13, 2017
August 06, 2017 01:18 IST
The vehicle of remembrance is something that the Prime Minister needs to work on, but he could begin by holding a conference of major religious leaders from all our major religions.
Sun, Aug 06, 2017
July 30, 2017 00:50 IST
One way to reduce corruption is by ensuring that political leaders do not bring their sons, daughters or wives into politics. The Prime Minister initially tried doing this but recent state elections have seen the advent of many mini BJP dynasts.
Sun, Jul 30, 2017
July 23, 2017 00:20 IST
When for the hundredth time I heard somebody tell me that Modi was assured of a second term, and that his successor was going to be Yogi Adityanath, I started watching what was going on in the Congress party more carefully.
Sun, Jul 23, 2017
July 16, 2017 00:00 IST
If the Prime Minister meant what he said about government not having any business to be in business, then we should by now have at least seen government hotels sold.
Sun, Jul 16, 2017



