That’s the philosophy that has allowed Mr Jagdeesh Chandra, in the last 40 years, to steer so many ventures to success.
Jagdeesh Chandra is the man who has redefined the mantras of media. Today, as CMD-First India News and CEO & Editor-in-Chief of First India, an English daily with three editions, he is a man to be reckoned with and an iconic figure in Bureaucracy and Journalism.
A former path-breaking bureaucrat, he is credited with turning around and revolutionizing many a department he took over, be it as CMD of Rajasthan Dairy Cooperation, Commissioner-Jaipur Development Authority or as Transport Commissioner. His journey was set right from the days he took over every stage he spoke from, emerging as the best and keenest of debaters in the esteemed University. Even today, he is remembered for his powerful oratory skills for his financial acumen and keen analytical brain as a bureaucrat.
Jagdeesh Chandra was born in 1950 and brought up in Rajasthan. After completing his education in 1973, as M.Com., as a Gold Medallist from the University of Rajasthan, he topped the Rajasthan Administrative Service examination in 1974. For the next fifteen years, till he was promoted to IAS on merit by UPSC, he held various key positions in the State Government. In IAS, he was allotted 1990 batch and remained in IAS till August 31, 2008, when he took voluntary retirement at the age of 58, two years before the retirement age (60 years).
These days were but a harbinger to his grand entry into the world of Media. As Head – ETV News Network, for close to a decade, Mr Jagdeesh Chandra was instrumental in re-structuring regional news for the common man and drove revenues to a respectable level in regional news media.
After serving in Civil Services for about 30 years, including more than ten years in IAS in the super time scale and twenty years in Rajasthan Administrative Services, on crucial positions, he took over a subsequent ten years long all India CEO tenure for 15 ETV News Channels in 22 states and a one-year tenure as Executive Director and CEO for 10 Zee Regional News Channels.
Mr Chandra is credited with changing the face of regional news forever, and it is a testimony to his creativity, passion, understanding of the issues of the common man, insightful analysis, teamwork, in fact, his success mantra- that the channels he has led and moved on from, still follow his rules and ideas.
His unique “Patti” (Breaking News) system became the talk of the Entire Media Industry, whereby every small piece of information was fed into the Control Rooms of the Channels. People were encouraged to participate, call and give information on the news items in their local areas. This information would then be verified & put on the air in the form of the ticker. This revolutionized the way news collection was happening in the traditional media space.
“Khabar hi Jeevan hai” (News is Life), the very famous slogan, was scripted by him. Jagdeesh Chandra grew his business not by the competition rules but by The Golden Rule of “Partnerships”, as he firmly believes that resources multiply when two people or organizations pool their power for a common goal.
During his TV tenure as CEO and Editor, ETV Gujarati, Narendra Modi (in his capacity as BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate) in 2014, just after the announcement of his candidature, gave his first 80 minutes long pre-Lok Sabha poll interview to Jagdeesh Chandra in the JC Show, ignoring the pending requests of 221 National and International News channels and Print media. Subsequently, during the campaign, he gave two more interviews, and in this way, ETV made a record by having three Narendra Modi interviews in a single row. Similarly, Amit Shah also gave his first interview and subsequently two more interviews to Jagdeesh Chandra. One of the rarest 7 minutes Rahul-Priyanka Gandhi informal interviews was also given to Jagdeesh Chandra. His shows on the ‘Future of Media’ and ‘Corona Crisis’ were among the most appreciated and watched across for their clarity and accurate analysis.
In April 2018, he took over the charge of a five-year-old non-existent channel, “First India News Rajasthan”, as CMD and turned around the financials of the channel. Jagdeesh Chandra rightly enjoys the reputation of a game-changer and turnaround man who has got some sort of expertise to convert loss-making undertakings into profit-making ventures.
He did the same job during his IAS tenure, where he had turned around the loss-making faces in Jaipur Development Authority (a Real Estate Controlling Authority in Jaipur city) as its Commissioner and also turned around the Transport Department as its Commissioner and Secretary. Similarly, on the Government, ETV and Zee pattern, he also converted a loss-making Rajasthan Cooperative Dairy Federation into one showing handsome profits. During his tenure, Jaipur had emerged as an all-India investment destination, with an Rs.5000 crore revenue mark by selling out a large chunk of lands to investors, out of a 56,000 bigha JDA Land Bank, which he had planned and worked out in 100 days. This tenure also included a 50,000 bigha land acquisition for Ring Road and SEZ projects near Jaipur, because of which land rates had gone up to 7 times high in the Jaipur and adjoining land markets.
He has been bestowed with a Lifetime Media Achievement Award by Aavishkar Media Group, where Anjana Kashyap, Sudheer Choudhary and a few other leading media personalities were honoured. During his ETV and Zee tenure, he accompanied Dr Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in all their 55 foreign trips, which is a record in Indian media history.
After an outstanding tenure as CEO of ETV News Network, he took charge as Executive Director and CEO of ZEE Regional channels, ZEE Hindustan and ZEE Salaam. During this time, he also took over as Editor, DNA, Jaipur and turned the decade long loss-making newspaper into a success story, both in terms of revenue and readership; Jagdeesh Chandra showed once again that how with out-of-the-box thinking and an innovative approach, nothing is impossible. He bridged the gap between audiovisual and print content and started another chain of change in media. In April 2009, he started First India, Rajasthan’s own English Daily from Jaipur, then the Ahmedabad Edition in November 2019 and the Lucknow Edition in November 2020. It’s the magic and management of Jagdeesh Chandra that already the newspapers have caused a stir right from the North Block to the South Block. The newspapers bring the latest in exclusive news to the discerning reader and make inroads on the digital front and in the hands and hearts of their readership. The news is discussed widely in the corridors of power in both the capitals Jaipur and Gandhinagar.
As he is widely and fondly known, JC set new benchmarks with his hugely popular show, The JC show. Be it ETV or ZEE, Jagdeesh Chandra drew the audiences to this show with his keen questions, grasp of the political and social issues, and his unerring sense of the audience and TRP. From the highest echelons of political corridors to the Bollywood heartthrobs, each one sat across from Jagdeesh Chandra as he weaved his magic. The wide expanse of selection of guests over the years has ensured that Mr Jagdeesh Chandra transcends the age and class of television viewers. His charm is not limited to the screen. He has mastered the digital world too. The JC show normally trends at ‘India no. 1’ on Twitter and reaches lakhs as it goes live on Facebook.
Mr Jagdeesh Chandra inspires people and evokes unparalleled loyalty and followership. One can only wait and watch to see what JC, as he is popularly known, takes up next and makes it a resounding success!
Editorial courtesy : Lalit Sharma , Jaipur
