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...

February 13, 2005 00:00 IST
When was the last time you read about Kashmir in this column? The truth is I cannot remember when I last mentioned the K word in this space ...
Sun, Feb 13, 2005
February 06, 2005 00:00 IST
Often when reflecting upon India’s poverty and the needlessness of it, I remember a story the late Rangarajan Kumaramangalam liked to t...
Sun, Feb 06, 2005
January 30, 2005 00:00 IST
Iraq votes today in an election that George W Bush sees as a triumph of his foreign policy. In Davos, from where this column comes this week...
Sun, Jan 30, 2005
January 23, 2005 00:00 IST
As someone who believes that we in the media forget even the worst events too quickly and that when this happens with something as terrible ...
Sun, Jan 23, 2005
January 16, 2005 00:00 IST
You only need to drive into Mumbai from the international airport to realise that the Maharashtra government’s current campaign to clea...
Sun, Jan 16, 2005
January 09, 2005 00:00 IST
In response to last week’s piece in this column about the shameful indifference of most Indians to the plight of their fellow citizens,...
Sun, Jan 09, 2005
January 02, 2005 00:00 IST
What a devastating, heartrending way for the year 2004 to end. A week since the tsunami hit and the death toll still rises and we still reel...
Sun, Jan 02, 2005
December 29, 2004 08:55 IST
Often I get asked what makes a woman journalist different to a man. What is it we bring to the trade that men cannot? I can speak only for m...
Wed, Dec 29, 2004
December 19, 2004 00:00 IST
Last week, in this column I wrote that Manmohan Singh would be remembered in history as the Prime Minister who reinvented governance in Indi...
Sun, Dec 19, 2004
December 12, 2004 00:06 IST
When the junior minister in the Prime Minister’s Office stood up to speak at the World Economic Forum’s India summit last week I n...
Sun, Dec 12, 2004
December 05, 2004 00:00 IST
If you read this newspaper last Thursday you would have seen your humble columnist’s name splashed across this page in six columns. Use...
Sun, Dec 05, 2004
November 28, 2004 01:01 IST
In Mumbai’s newspapers last week appeared a full-page advertisement issued by the Maharashtra government. The dominant image in it was ...
Sun, Nov 28, 2004
November 21, 2004 00:59 IST
NOW that Hindu fundamentalism is on the verge of extinction, can we start discussing it and fundamentalism in general with a degree of detac...
Sun, Nov 21, 2004
November 14, 2004 00:00 IST
Speaking at the India-Asean Business Summit last month, the Prime Minister said the Indian economy could ‘‘absorb’’ $150...
Sun, Nov 14, 2004
November 07, 2004 00:00 IST
In the global village that is our world, the man who becomes the President of the United States affects us all. So in this week in which Geo...
Sun, Nov 07, 2004
October 31, 2004 00:00 IST
It's hard to write an article that appears on October 31 without remembering that it was on this day, twenty years ago, that Indira Gandhi w...
Sun, Oct 31, 2004
October 24, 2004 00:00 IST
Two weeks ago in this column I wrote about corruption in agencies that are supposed to be the Government’s economic policemen. The arti...
Sun, Oct 24, 2004
October 17, 2004 00:00 IST
This week’s column has an unlikely hero. Anupam Kher. As the latest victim of ‘‘detoxification’’, he was sacked fro...
Sun, Oct 17, 2004
October 10, 2004 00:00 IST
We have taken lightly so far the fact that a misguided government long ago removed our fundamental right to own property. We can no longer a...
Sun, Oct 10, 2004
October 03, 2004 00:12 IST
If proof were needed that corruption exists because government wants it to, it came last week in the reaction to the arrest of Mumbai’s...
Sun, Oct 03, 2004
September 26, 2004 00:00 IST
This week I write a piece that is going to make you writers of hate mail happy. At least those of you who are devotees of the Dynasty and be...
Sun, Sep 26, 2004
September 19, 2004 02:21 IST
This would have been a piece in praise of P Chidambaram, but before I could write it he denied what he said. A shame because had he said wha...
Sun, Sep 19, 2004
September 12, 2004 00:00 IST
Last night I lit a candle in my window in memory of the children who died in Beslan. It was a rite of mourning that millions of people all o...
Sun, Sep 12, 2004
September 05, 2004 00:00 IST
When Dr Manmohan Singh’s colleagues and Cabinet ministers stop wasting time raising silly issues perhaps he will think of formulating a...
Sun, Sep 05, 2004
August 29, 2004 00:00 IST
When Dr Manmohan Singh told businessmen in Delhi last week that he wanted to pay special attention to infrastructure, I thought it the most ...
Sun, Aug 29, 2004



