HYDERABAD, FEBRUARY 27, 2025: PK Kurien (78), the retired New Editor of The Hindu, Hyderabad, passed away while undergoing treatment for age-related ailments at NIMS in Hyderabad, on Thursday. He is survived by wife, a son and a daughter.
Mr Kurien, when he was the News Editor of The Hindu, has highlighted the plight and starvation deaths of powerloom weavers of Sircilla textile town in the integrated Karimnagar district written by former The Hindu reporter K M Dayashankar, under the guidance of then Bureau Chief of The Hindu Mr RJ Rajendra Prasad, by prominently displaying on the front page of The Hindu, Andhra Pradesh edition and national pages, on March 21, 2001.
Mr Kurien’s projection of news on the front page had ensured that the state government raised to the occasion and constituted a Cabinet sub-committee headed by then Minister for Textiles Padala Bhumaiah to study the plight of powerloom weavers with the invasion of the jet looms and forcing unemployment and starvation deaths of powerloom weavers Sircilla textile town. Thanks to Mr Kurien’s projection of the news, the issue was raised in the parliament as well. Then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee directed the then Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Ch Vidyasagar Rao to run a 24×7 (lunger) to serve food to the people of the textile town and stop starvation deaths.
Mr Kurien has worked in the Newstime, an Eenadu group of publications between 1984 and 1994 and from then till 2008 in The Hindu. Before that, he had worked in The Tribune. He was a nice man with a smiling face and was a thorough professional and gentleman. He also always encouraged talented journalists by highlighting public issues.
