[BYLINE WATCH = occasionally tracking desi bylines in the U.S. press]
The Wall Street Journal's editorial page carries an op-ed (editorial feature, in their parlance) by Shikha Dalmia of the Reason Foundation. It's about the Michigan governor's race between Democratic incumbent and the challenger Dick DeVos. With the clever headline "Michigan's Messy DeVos," it begins thus:
DETROIT -- Besides the Tigers, the main thing on the minds of Michigan residents is the state's tanking economy. So when the state's most prominent Republican businessman entered the gubernatorial fray promising to turn things around, it should have been a home run. Instead, 10 days before the election, Dick DeVos has lost his 15-point summer lead over Jennifer Granholm, the Democratic incumbent, and is now trailing by more than eight points in most polls. The fault is not in his stars but in himself: At a time when Michigan needs economic leadership, he has so far shown little charisma, creativity -- or courage of convictions.
It's not that often you see a South Asian byline on the famously conservative editorial page of the WSJ, whose editorial features are commissioned and edited by SAJA's own Tunku Varadarajan (though a recent sighting was a piece by Prof. Muhammad Yunus the day after he won the Nobel).
Turns out Dalmia is a former journalist from India who's become an analyst.
From Reason.org:
Shikha Dalmia is a senior analyst at Reason Foundation, a nonprofit think tank promoting free minds and free markets.
From 1996 to 2004, Dalmia was as an editorial writer at the Detroit News, covering a variety of policy issues, including the environment, Social Security, welfare reform, health care and foreign policy. She also worked as a reporter for the Patriot, a national daily newspaper based in New Delhi, India.
Dalmia's work has appeared in Reason magazine and numerous other print publications, such as The Wall Street Journal, The Weekly Standard, National Review, San Francisco Chronicle and the Chicago Tribune.
Dalmia, who taught news writing courses at Michigan State University, earned a Master's degree in mass communication from Louisiana State University. She also holds a B.S. from the University of Delhi and a post graduate diploma in journalism from the Indian Institute of Mass Communications.
She lives in the Detroit area with her husband and son.
You can read her other recent pieces at this link. Here are three of here most recent topics.
