Madhav Das Nalapat (born 1950) is India's first Professor of Geopolitics and the UNESCO Peace Chair at Manipal University, where he is vice-chair of Manipal Advanced Research Group and Director of the Department of Geopolitics & International Relations. A journalist and a former Editor of The Times of India and of Mathrubhumi, he is currently the editorial director of ITV Network & The Sunday Guardian-India. Since 2020, he is a member of the executive committee of the Editors Guild of India.
Nalapat writes extensively on security, policy and international affairs. Apart from his Sunday Guardian column, his writings have been published in a very wide range of publications, including the Pakistan Observer., Gateway House: Indian Council on Global Relations, United Press International, China Daily, The Diplomat, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Economic and Political Weekly, Rediff, and CNN Global Public Square.
Background and family
Nalapat was born into a Malayalam-speaking Nair family with rich literary associations, the eldest of the three sons of writer Kamala Surayya and Kalipurayath madhav ]. His father, K. Madhav Das, was a banker who played a part in India's agriculture reforms in 1960. His mother is poet and writer Kamala Das, also known as Madhavikutty, and as "Kamala Surayya" after her late-in-life conversion to Islam.
Nalapat's paternal grandfather, Subramania Iyer, a Tamil Brahmin gentleman, edited the Malabar Quarterly Review. Nalapat's maternal grandfather V. M. Nair was Managing Editor and also Managing Director of Mathrubhumi, the widest circulating Malayalam daily, and he served as Chairman of the Press Trust of India for a peropd. Nalapat's maternal grandmother, Balamani Amma, was a distinguished writer and translator. Nalapat's larger family includes the rationalist and politician Nalapat Narayana Menon (Balamani Amma's maternal iuncle), and the half-Malayali, half-Irish, satirist, critic and novelist Aubrey Menen.
Nalapat is married to Lakshmi Bayi, Princess of Travancore. The erstwhile princely state of Travancore was a large and very ancient kingdom, which encompassed most of Kerala and parts of Tamil Nadu until it was merged into the Union of India in 1948. Princess Lakshmi Bayi is the maternal niece of Moolam Thirunal Rama Varma, the present Maharaja of Travancore. As per the Marumakkathayam system of Matrilineal succession prevailing in the state, the succession should have passed through Lakshmi Bayi, and her sons should have become Maharajas of Travancore. However, Nalapat and Lakshmi Bayi have no children.
Nalapat was educated at The Frank Anthony Public School, New Delhi and graduated a Gold-Medallist in economics from the University of Bombay (now University of Mumbai).
Career
He began his academic career as fellow of the Centre for Political Research in 1974. Four years later he moved to business management, taking over as executive director of the Mathrubhumi Printing and Publishing Company Limited, where he implemented the Thiruvananthapuram edition project in the record time of twenty-seven months. The Malayalam word "Mathrubhumi" translates to "mother land" in English.
In 1984, he switched to the editorial side, taking over as Editor of the Mathrubhumi Daily and the Mathrubhumi Illustrated Weekly. Between 1984 and 1988 ABC figures showed an exponential growth of circulation; when he left circulation was 500,000. As Editor, he gave prominence to the war against corruption and against social injustices such as discrimination against women and the socially disadvantaged. Both these themes have been consistent ever since in his writings.
In 1989, Nalapat switched from Malayalam to English language when he joined as resident Editor of The Times of India in Bangalore. In 1994, he was transferred to Delhi to become the Resident Editor, and during his tenure circulation again increased exponentially.
In 1998, Nalapat switched from media to academia at Manipal University, where Ramdas Pai was Chancellor, later establishing the department of Geopolitics and International Relations, where he still teaches. He is also a distinguished fellow of the University of Georgia USA.
In 1999, Nalapat published Indutva, sometimes called the workbook of a secular Nationalist. The book advocates his theory that Indians are a composite of all the cultures in the history of India and share a common cultural DNA, and that if differences are accepted and faiths are different but equal, a pragmatic way out of poverty into social harmony can be achieved. Promoting pathways to religious tolerance and societal progress are still key themes in his work.