PROFILE OF RAKESH RAMAN
Rakesh Raman: Managing Editor and CEO of Raman Media Network (RMN) Company and Founder of the humanitarian organization RMN Foundation, which is registered as an educational and public charitable Trust with the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi at New Delhi, India.
Rakesh Raman is a national award-winning journalist and founder of the humanitarian organization RMN Foundation, which is working in diverse areas to help the disadvantaged and distressed people in the society. Besides working at senior editorial positions with leading media companies, he was writing an exclusive edit-page tech business column (named Technophile) regularly for The Financial Express (a daily business newspaper of The Indian Express Group).
Nowadays, for the past 12 years, he has been running his own global news services under the Raman Media Network (RMN) brand on multiple news sites, including RMN News Service, RMN Digital, RMN Stars, and RMN Kids. He runs various environment protection, education awareness, and anti-corruption campaigns, and publishes digital magazines and research reports on different subjects.
Earlier, he had been associated with the United Nations (UN) through the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) as a digital media expert to help businesses use technology for brand marketing and business development. Similarly, Rakesh was associated with the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) – set up by the Ministry of Commerce, Government of India – to help small- and medium-sized export companies use technology for their business development in global markets.
At present, Rakesh is associated with the Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) Project as a Country Expert for India to provide expert research inputs on multiple topics pertaining to democracy and governance. The topics include Regimes, Political Parties, Media, Judiciary, Executive, Elections, and Digital Society. The V-Dem Project is managed by V-Dem Institute under the University of Gothenburg, Sweden.
Currently, Rakesh is also working as an editor for Wikipedia, which is a free online global encyclopedia. On Wikipedia, he mainly covers topics such as human rights, democracy, political trends, police responsibilities, justice systems, and bureaucratic corruption. He is in the process of updating many stale pages on Wikipedia.
In order to inform the Indian citizens and the global community about the extent of corruption in India, he compiled and released in October 2022 a comprehensive report on corruption in the country. Under the title “India Corruption Research Report 2022 (ICRR 2022),” the research report covers diverse aspects of corruption in India.
He is working on a nationwide campaign to introduce social democracy in India in order to build an egalitarian society in which all citizens could enjoy equal rights, opportunities, freedoms, and access to justice. He has launched a new editorial section / microsite “Power Play: Lok Sabha Election 2024 in India” to cover the election news, events, and political campaigns.
| Recent Research Reports by Rakesh Raman | ||
| Twitter in India | School Education | Wikipedia Manipulation |
As Rakesh has been facing constant threats including death threats for his editorial and anti-corruption work, the Paris-based international organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF) that defends freedom of journalists has urged the Indian government to save him from threats and persecution.
Christophe Deloire, Secretary-General of RSF, has written letters to the Indian authorities, asking them to take action against the culprits. In an article written on its website, RSF explains that Rakesh has received multiple threats for his reporting. Although the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) of India had issued notice to Delhi Police in his case so that he could work and move freely, the police did not take any action to protect him from threats. The Government of India blocks his news sites repeatedly.
In his anti-corruption activities, he participated in a global petition led by Germany-based international organization Transparency International to call for the UN General Assembly Special Session against Corruption, UNGASS 2021, to direct all countries to set up central, public registers of beneficial ownership.
As the petition reached the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) which sets global standards on beneficial ownership transparency, the FATF agreed in March 2022 for tougher global beneficial ownership rules to stop criminals from hiding their illicit activities and dirty money behind secret corporate structures.
He runs a community-driven anti-corruption social service “Clean House” to help the residents of Delhi raise their voice against the growing corruption and injustice in housing societies where millions of people suffer because of rampant corruption and lawlessness. He has also formed an environment protection group called Green Group in New Delhi, which is the most polluted national capital in the world.
Rakesh has approached different Indian as well as international authorities and organizations through legal petitions and advisory representations with the appeals to curb corruption and get people’s human rights and environmental rights protected by introducing judicial and democratic reforms.
He had set up and managed a free school for deserving children for 5 years during 2015-2019 to impart modern education to underprivileged children at the J.J. Colony of Dwarka, Sector 3, New Delhi. Now, after the coronavirus containment, he is again planning to start such schools for disadvantaged children.
Among other international technology content projects, he has introduced – “Raman’s Tech Tale Series – Knowledge Stories for Children,” a book series aimed to spread technology awareness among children through short stories. This work has also found a mention in Bookbird, a journal of international children’s literature, produced by IBBY, the International Board on Books for Young People. He has also written a number of other books for children.
He is currently seeking collaboration and support for a global entertainment project: Robojit and the Sand Planet. This integrated entertainment project is suitable for a global movie, a digital video game, animation film, TV series, Web series, and a comic book.
Earlier, Rakesh was also associated with the Punjab Police at a senior advisory role to handle strategic digital and psychological operations (PSYOPS) against the local as well as transnational criminals. His work also involved the management of technology-driven police applications, media planning, and the use of digital media to combat the threats from criminals in India and abroad. His work has been appreciated by the Punjab Police as well as the top law-enforcement agencies of the Government of India.
As a journalist, Rakesh has worked as:
Tech business columnist for The Financial Express newspaper
Editorial Director for an online tech media company, ITNation (acquired by UTV)
Group Technology Editor for A&M Group magazines, including A&M (on Advertising & Marketing) and Global (on international trade)
Editor – Special Projects and Features Editor for Cyber Media Group
Asstt. Associate Editor for Computers Today magazine (India Today Group)
Independent tech/business writer for The Tribune and The Indian Express newspapers
He had also been writing for an online journal “Online Journalism Review” that focused on the future of digital journalism. The journal is published by the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California.
Rakesh has been conferred the National-level government award for his contribution in the field of technology journalism, which has been a unique distinction in the country. The award was presented to him at the state Republic Day function.
He has handled major content development, editorial, and custom publishing projects for leading global technology companies including IBM, HP, Intel, 3D Networks, SAP, and a few leading Indian companies. He has also led major technology events for entrepreneurs, businesses, and chief information officers (CIOs) of leading companies.
Rakesh edited a comprehensive book for CARE India, which is the Indian branch of CARE International – a leading humanitarian development and relief organization with poverty-fighting projects in 84 countries across the world reaching 122 million people. The book focuses on the National Strategy on Gender in Emergencies.
Computer Science: After doing his M.Sc. and Computer Science orientation from Panjab University, Chandigarh, Rakesh has worked as a software developer for about seven years with a couple of leading technology companies at Mohali, Chandigarh (India). He has worked on various hardware and software systems and currently working on contemporary technology platforms such as WordPress open-source content management system, Adobe Creative Cloud Express for multimedia content development, open-source OBS (Open Broadcaster Software) for video management and live streaming, Canva graphic design platform, YouTube channel management system, Jitsi Meet open-source platform for video conferencing, and so on.
As the editor of RMN News Service and founder of RMN Foundation, Rakesh is managing all these services independently without any financial or other support.
SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS
- Rakesh’s Facebook link: http://www.facebook.com/rakesh.raman
- Rakesh is on LinkedIn, at: http://in.linkedin.com/in/rakeshraman
- Rakesh is on Twitter, at: http://twitter.com/rrthakur
- Rakesh is on YouTube with a recently launched RMN YouTube Channel
- Rakesh’s Digital Publications Link: https://issuu.com/rrtwork
Contact
Rakesh Raman
Editor, RMN News Service [ Website ]
Founder, RMN Foundation [ Website ]
463, DPS Apts., Plot No. 16, Sector 4
Dwarka, Phase I, New Delhi 110 078, INDIA
Mobile: 9810319059 | Contact over the email