Well known Columnist and social activist B R P Bhaskar passed away. He was 92. During the long years of more than seven decades, he worked for The Hindu, The Statesman, Patriot, UNI and Deccan Herald,Some of his notes like the interview with Mujib Rehman on his victory in election, the Nobel Prize winning of Indian origin Dr Hargovind Khurana, news reports from Srinagar during emergency were well appreciated by the discerning. Babu Rajendra Prasad alias BRP was born to A K Bhaskar and Meenakshi couple on March 12, 1932 in Kayikkara of Thiruvananthapuram district. His father Bhaskar was a leader of Ezhava Community, social transformer and owner of a newspaper Navabharatam. Bhaskar wanted his son to be an ICS officer after passing B Sc in Mathematics from S N College, Kollam, but BRP was not very keen to be so as he was more interested in journalism. He started writing a column in his father’s paper using a synonym, thus concealing his identity. Though his father became initially angry, he finally conceded to son’s wish. BPB joined the Hindu as a trainee in 1952. In 1958, he went to Philippines with a scholarship from the Union Government, and returned to India with M A degree in 1959 and joined the Patriot. Later, he left Patriot and joined UNI. After 18 years, he left UNI and joined Deccan Herald, as its Associate Editor. He retired in 1991. Later he was director of Andhra Pradesh Times for one year. He later worked for Asianet as an Editorial Consultant. BRP became busy with writing columns and public addresses, interventions in social, cultural and political fields. Whenever human rights and social justice were violated, he reacted very strongly. He was more or less a protector of rights of journalists and always led them from the front.

News Room-the experiences of a media man, The Changing Mediascope etc are some of the books penned by him. Government of Kerala honoured him with Swadeshabhimani-Kesari Media Award for contributions to the Media World, His wife: The late Rema and daughter Bindu Bhaskar Balaji, also a media personality, who died in 2019. Son-in-law: Dr K S Balaji.