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Sunday, April 11, 2010


Urdu Section
11 Apr 2010, NewAgeIslam.Com
Noor Jahan Sarwat: The first woman journalist of Urdu
Noor Jahan Sarwat was one of the brightest students of her time and showed her creative skills while working as a teacher. She started her professional career as a lecturer in the Jawahar Lal Nehru University. She also taught at Zakir Hussain College. She was associated with the AIR as an interviewer. She was a fearless journalist and a poet with a distinct style and diction. As a poet, she represented India in various mushairas in Dubai, Reyaz, Jeddah and other countries. -- Ilmullah Islahi

Noor Jahan Sarwat: The first woman journalist of Urdu
By Ilmullah Islahi
Noor Jahan Sarwat was born on November 28 1949 in Delhi. She started her educational journey with Bulbuli Khana Senior Senior Secondary School.Later she did her B.A. from the Delhi College, Ajmeri Gate which is now known as Zakir Hussain College, and did her M.A. with distinction from the Delhi University in 1971.
Noor Jahan Sarwat  was one of the brightest students of her time and showed her creative skills while working as a teacher. She started her professional career as a lecturer in the Jawahar Lal Nehru University. She also taught at Zakir Hussain College. She was associated with the AIR as an interviewer. She was a fearless journalist and a poet with a distinct style and diction. As a poet, she represented India in various mushairas in Dubai, Reyaz, Jeddah and other countries.
She started her career as a journalist in 1980. She joined Qaumi Awaz, Delhi as a correspondent under the patronage of the senior journalist Ishrat Ali Siddiqui and got the honour of being the first lady journalist of Delhi and Urdu. Besides being the editor of  the weekly supplement of the Qaumi Awaz, she was also appointed as  the resident editor of the Delhi edition of the daily Inquilab of Mumbai, therefore becoming the first lady editor of any Urdu daily too.
After her retirement in 1991, she continued writing a weekly column in the Inquilab.
In the last fifity years, many women writers such as  Kishwar Naheed, Zahra Nigah and Fahmida Reyaz have made their mark in the field of journalism and literature but Noor Jahan Sarwat was way ahead of them all in terms of her boldness and courage. With her demise, she has left a void  in the world of Urdu journalism which is difficult to fill in the times to come.
Source: The Sahafat Magazine, New Delhi

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