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MEDIA & INDIANS- The Radio

February 21, 2021 by freakybudz, posted in Chronicles, English, History, India, India, Technology

In the period from 1760 to sometime between 1820 & 1840, the First Industrial Revolution, transformed the manufacturing process in Europe and the United States. Time passed, technology advanced and so did this piece of Land on the Globe, though slowly than Britain.

Guglielmo Marconi started radio broadcasting in 1896 with the invention of first wireless telegraph link. It took ten years since then for the first demonstration of Radio Broadcasting to establish but it was hard to distinguish words from music. Another successful demonstration took place from the Eiffel Tower in Paris in 1908. A New York Station transmitted the first Radio News Bulletin in 1916 on the occasion of the Election of US President. By 1927, broadcasting services were started as a major medium of information.

India’s Radio Broadcast History goes back to the early 1920s. The first radio program was broadcast in July 1923 by the Radio Club of Mumbai and four months later, Calcutta Radio Club also went on air. The daily broadcasts of 2 to 3 Hours consisted mainly of Music and Talks. These stations had to close down in 1927 for lack of sufficient financial support.

The private Indian Broadcasting Company Ltd. (IBC) came into existence in July 1927, when it started functioning with two radio stations in Mumbai and Calcutta. But just three years after its inauguration, IBC went into liquidation and the Government took over its operations. This led to the foundation of the Indian State Broadcasting Service in April, 1930, which got renamed as All India Radio on June 8, 1936 and a new signature tune was added. In the same year (1936), a Radio Station was commissioned in Delhi and it became the Nucleus of Broadcasting at the National Level.

Started in 1924 by C.V. Krishnaswami Chetti, an Electrical Engineer, the Madras Presidency Radio Club broadcast pre-recorded music and comedy pieces for entertainment. It made its first broadcast from Holloway’s Garden in Egmore on 31st July 1924. The club’s radio program was unique also because it offered to train its members on handling radio equipment and on how to broadcast. It reached out to all men, women and students as it attracted both amateur and professional talent and expanded its program range to full concerts and plays. The club ran into financial trouble but was rescued by the Madras Municipal Corporation in 1927, which ran it till All India Radio was established in Madras in 1938.

Deccan Radio (Nizam Radio 1932) the first radio station in Hyderabad State (now – Hyderabad, Telangana India), went live on air on 3rd February, 1935. It was launched by Mir Osman Ali Khan the 7th Nizam of Hyderabad with a transmitting power of 200 Watts. On 1st April, 1950, Deccan Radio was taken over by the Indian Government, and in 1956 it was merged with All India Radio (AIR). Since then, it has been known as AIR-Hyderabad (100 kW).

All India Radio’s Signature Tune has been heard by hundreds of millions of people since it was composed in 1936. The melody, based on Raga Shivaranjini, was composed by a Jewish refugee, Walter Kaufmann. He was the Director of Music at AIR and was one of the many Jewish refugees who found a haven in India from the Nazis. Kaufmann had arrived in India in February 1934 and ended up staying for 14 years. Within a few months of landing in Mumbai, Kaufmann founded the Bombay Chamber Music Society, which performed every Thursday at the Willingdon Gymkhana. His career as a composer flourished in Mumbai, and it even led to some film work for him.

On 1st October, 1939, the External Service began with a broadcast in Pushtu. It was intended to counter radio propaganda from Germany directed at Afghanistan, Persia and Arab Nations. With the outbreak of World War II Radio Broadcasting assumed considerable importance. The entire country was covered by a short-wave service and the program structure underwent a change to meet wartime contingencies. During this period, news and political commentaries were introduced and special broadcasts were made for the people on the strategic northeastern and northwestern borders.

From Left: **Professor A. S. Bokhari** and **Natyaguru Professor Nurul Momen**

In 1939, Controller of Broadcasting Lionel Fielden was succeeded by Professor A. S. Bokhari, a popular personality especially in Urdu Literature by the pen name “Patras“, who remained the Head of All India Radio for 6 crucial years (In 1943 the designation Controller of Broadcasting was changed to Director General). 1939 also saw the opening of the Dhaka Station of Eastern India, in what is now Bangladesh. This station catered and nurtured the pioneers of Bengali intellectuals. The foremost among them, Natyaguru Professor Nurul Momen, became the Trail-Blazer of the Talk-Show in 1939. He wrote and directed the first Modern Radio-Play for this station in 1942.

BBC stepped in and Fielden and Bokhari reorganized BBC broadcasts to suit Indian sensibilities. In 1940, AIR started broadcasting shows for Indian Troops (World War-2 Round the corner). The same year Bokhari began a daily ten minute Hindustani News Commentary. Soon programs in Gujarati, Marathi, Bengali, Pushtu, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam followed. When Japan joined World War-2 in 1941, AIR started broadcasts in Burmese, Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Malay and the Indo-Chinese languages as well.

In 1941 AIR was again transferred to the department of Information and Broadcasting which after Independence in 1947, became a separate Ministry by itself.

Freedom fighter Usha Mehta is most known for setting up Congress Radio during the Quit India movement in 1942. It was an underground Radio Station that spoke vehemently against the British Rule, including speeches by Mahatma Gandhi, Ram Manohar Lohia and more. However, their sporadic functioning came to a halt when Mehta, along with four other women – Vithalbhai Jhaveri, Chandrakant Jhaveri, Babubhai Thakkar and Nanka Motwani – were arrested for running the Anti-Raj station.

With the availability of Radio to the folks, the Current State of Affairs got communicated across the Masses much more faster and effectively. Newspaper and later the Radio as well, had an effective role to play in the Freedom Struggle.

India’s First Radio Program was launched in Chennai in 1942.

When India became independent in 1947, the AIR network had only six stations (Delhi, Mumbai, Calcutta, Chennai, Lucknow and Tiruchirappalli) with 18 transmitters – six on the medium wave and the remaining on short wave and Radio listening on medium wave was confined to the urban elite of these cities. The three radio stations at Lahore, Peshawar and Dhaka remained in what became Pakistan after the division. The total number of radio sets in India at that time was about 275,000. Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel was the first Minister of Information and Broadcasting in Independent India.

After partition Prof. Bokhari migrated to Pakistan and took over as the Principal of Government College Lahore. In 1951, he was appointed the Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations. He left for his heavenly abode on December 5, 1958. In the Editorial in the New York Times on 6th December 1958, a day after his demise, he was described as a “Citizen of the World” owing to his services for the humanitarian cause through his work.

After Independence, the Broadcast scenario dramatically changed with a number of Broadcasting Centers and Radio Stations coming up, along with many more programs being broadcast in multiple Regional Languages. This enabled AIR to reach out to a bigger size of the population along with discovering and encouraging local talents. Pratima Puri, born Vidya Rawat in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, began her career at the All India Radio (AIR) station in her Hometown. She was gifted with a voice that was made for broadcasting, which worked out very well for her career at the Radio Station. Later, when the Indian Government decided to run a channel of its own, Puri was selected as the News Announcer, hence becoming India’s First Newsreader.

In 1952, AIR commenced Vadya Vrinda or National Orchestra along with Pandit Ravi Shankar as its first Music Conductor. Also in 1952, the then Minister of Information and Broadcasting, B.V. Keskar, banned the airing of Hindi Film Songs on Akashvani as he deemed them unfit for the Indian audience. He regarded the film industry and its music, and even Western Music, with disdain, preferring Indian Classical Music. “Binaca Geetmala“, a countdown show of Bollywood songs aired by Sri Lanka’s “Radio Ceylon“, became the most popular radio show because of the ban. Hosted by Ameen Sayani, the show shot up in popularity like no other program. It remained as popular even after the ban was lifted a decade later. In 1989, the show was shifted under AIR and ran till 1994.

On 3rd October, 1957, the “Vividh Bharati Service“, which roughly translates as “Diverse Indian” was launched, to compete with “Radio Ceylon“. It is one of the best-known services of All India Radio. It is also known as the Commercial Broadcasting Service or CBS with the incorporation of commercials in 1967. Commercially, it is the most accessible AIR network and is popular in Mumbai and other large cities. Vividh Bharati offers a wide range of programs including news, film music, short plays, music and comedy. It operates on different medium wave-band as well as FM frequencies in each city. Over the years a number prominent people from Hindi Cinema have lent their voice to the channel, including, Lata Mangeshkar and actors Raaj Kumar and Amitabh Bachchan, who worked as a radio broadcaster in his early career. Many celebrities take part in the popular show Vishesh Jaimala to encourage Indian Army and BSF soldiers. Today its archives which started the record of film, Yehudi Ki Beti in 1933, has 22,000 Ghazals, Geets and Hindi Film Songs. The station celebrated its golden anniversary on 2nd October, 2007. “Hawa-Mahal” (Radio Plays based on Novels and Plays) and “Santogen Ki Mehfil” (Comedy) are some of the old popular programs broadcast on Vividh Bharati.

In 1956, UNESCO selected India for a unique experiment known as ‘Radio Rural Forums Project’, which was earlier successfully implemented in Canada. Pune was the site of this experiment. Village Radio Forums were created and made to listen to half-an hour radio program broadcast by AIR and then discussed the content of the program. The theme of the experiment was, “Listen, Discuss and Act“. The research evaluation showed that, the Pune Radio Forums helped to unify the villagers around common decisions and common acts, widening the influence of Gram Panchayat and broadening the scope of its action. The radio forums continued to do some good work. In fact credit for the success of the Green Revolution and the attaining of self-sufficiency in food production was partly given to Radio. With the advent of the transistor, Radio Receiver Sets became cheap and reach of radio was enlarged. The farmers of the Thanjavur paddy growing belt in Tamil Nadu, named the hybrid variety of paddy they grew after listening about it over transistor radio as “Transistor paddy“. UNESCO considered the Pune experiment a successful model of development communication and it was repeated in several developing countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America. However, AIR failed to draw more lessons from the experiment and apply it broadly to other areas of rural development. By the 1970’s, the Radio Farm Forums were defunct.

Under Indira Gandhi’s direction as Minister in 1964, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting established a committee led by former Auditor-General of India Ashok Chanda to investigate Indian broadcasting. It presented a report on Radio and Television in 1967 that was critical of the state’s financial and administrative restrictions on these media. Of the 219 recommendations mentioned in the report, few of them were: 1.) The Broadcasting Corporation Board should be established by an Act of Parliament. 2.) Separation of AIR and TV with two independent corporation. 3.) Programs based on National Interest must be broadcast on priority basis.

The Chanda Committee Report made some important recommendations, though the Government did not accept them directly. In 1976, TV was separated from AIR and named DD (DOORDARSHAN). Another recommendation of starting commercial services was followed with the introduction of commercials in Vividh Bharti Service in 1967.

The Janta Government had appointed a Working Group on the autonomy of the Akashwani and Doordarshan in August 1977. The Chairman of this committee was B. G. Verghese. The committee submitted its report on February 24, 1978. This committee’s main recommendation was “formation of Akash Bharti or the “National Broadcasting Trust“, both for the AIR and Doordarshan. The Report was also not accepted by the Ministry. This followed a bill in May 1979 introduced by L. K. Advani, who was Information and Broadcasting minister in the Government. The bill proposed the “Autonomous Corporation” known as Prasar Bharti for both AIR and Doordarshan. But the bill was introduced in the compromised state, rejecting the provisions of the constitutional safeguards. Meanwhile the Lok Sabha dissolved, guaranteeing the death of this bill. After that The Congress was back in power, but it did not considered necessary to reintroduce such bill. Though it appointed P. C. Joshi Committee in 1982, whose main term of reference was to prepare a software plan for Doordarshan. But this group also emphasized on the absence of “Functional Freedom” in Prasar Bharti. In 1989, the National Front government came into power. It introduced Prasar Bharti Bill in December 1989. The bill was introduced by P. Upendra, the Minister who borrowed some of the articles from the previous bill introduced by Advani and also added some new ethos as per the changed scenario. The Prasar Bharti Bill, moved by the V. P. Singh Government was passed in Lok Sabha in August 1990. The Prasar Bharti Act, from April 1, 1991, was to be given the President’s assent and the Prasar Bharti Corporation was to begin functioning from that date. But the Government changed meanwhile and the Chandrasekhar Government maintained status quo. In September 1991, the Narsimharao Government set up a Vardan committee, under K. A. Vardan, the additional secretary in I& B Ministry. This committee recommended that a second channel of Doorsharshan should be leased out in 4 metro and some FM stations should also be leased out. The Government continued with a series of experiments to rescue Doordarshan with the invasion of Foreign Channels and Private Channels, but its efforts were going in vain. With the Government wanting to continue its control over DD and not being serious about the autonomy of Aakashwani and Doordarshan, the failing experiments and rising viewership for other channels finally led to Prasar Bharti coming into being in 1997.

FM Broadcasting began on 23rd July, 1977 in Chennai, then Madras, and was expanded during the 1990s, nearly 50 years after it mushroomed in the US. India first experimented with private FM broadcasts in the small tourist destination of Goa and the large metropolitan areas of Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai. These were followed by private stations in Bangalore, Hyderabad, Jaipur and Lucknow. Until 1993, All India Radio was the only Radio Broadcaster in India. The Government then decided to privatize the Radio Broadcasting Sector. It sold airtime blocks on its FM channels in Indore, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Vizag (now Visakhapatnam) and Goa to private operators, who developed their own program content. The Times Group operated its brand, “Times FM“, till June 1998. After that, the Government decided not to renew contracts given to private operators. Instead, in 2000, the Government announced the auction of 108 FM frequencies across India, opening up the FM Broadcasting Industry to private competition. “Radio City Bangalore“, started on July 3, 2001, is India’s First Private FM Radio Station. It launched with presenters such as Vera, Rohit Barker, Seetal Iyer, Jonzie Kurian, Geeta Modgil, Suresh Venkat, and Chaitanya Hegde and Priya Ganapathy on the weekends. The Times Group re-branded their radio operations, establishing the “Radio Mirchi” brand. The First Radio Mirchi station began broadcasting on October 4, 2001, in Indore. Indian policy currently states that these broadcasters are assessed a One-Time Entry Fee (OTEF), for a License Period of 10 years.

While the role of women in the development of radio has been overlooked, their role in the growth of Indian community radio cannot be ignored. Radio, at the grassroot level, has been empowering women in rural India for decades now. “Sangam“, India’s first all-women Community Radio Station, was set up in 2008 in Andhra Pradesh. Run by a group of Dalit women, the radio station employs local women and teaches them how to use radio. It runs news, feature stories of the village, entertainment and music shows as well.

Today AIR might have lost its primacy in metropolitan cities but it is still the main source of news and entertainment in many rural areas and it is likely to continue that way due to a number of obvious reasons, primary of them today being cost considerations. Various research experiments have proved that radio is an effective medium to address adequately a particular problem of our society. Radio, if used effectively, can help agencies, governments and the people in general to solve the problem of illiteracy and ignorance in our country.

All India Radio is one of the largest broadcasting organizations in the world. It has 415 Stations in 23 Languages and 146 Dialects, and 18 FM Channels. It also boasts 99 per cent population coverage, meaning radio is accessible in some of the most remote parts of the country. It continues to influence the sub continent significantly with many Sectors heavily depending on the information conveyed from the stations be it in weather

Thanks for going through the Article and we hope it was worth your time. We will continue the discussion further on the series in the next.

MEDIA & INDIANS- The Magazine

May 4, 2020October 18, 2020 by freakybudz, posted in Chronicles

This is the second installment towards the discussion on the topic. Please do go through the first Article on the same, The Newspaper. So now let us come on to this.

Magazines form the second major circulated Print Media. India had its first during the British Rule. “The Oriental Magazine” or “Calcutta Amusement“, (1785-1799) founded by Gordon and John Hay, was its name. Printed in Calcutta (now Kolkata), India, its monthly issues contained information about the life and career of Warren Hastings (Governer-General at Fort William), reports on current legislation, bookseller advertisements for John Andrews – with the planned audience of employees in Bengal, working for the East India Company. It was closed down due to political influences, and when Governor-General Wellesley enacted press regulations.

Cover Page of **BUDDHIPRAKASH** on 7th March, 1854

“Buddhiprakash” (meaning “Light of Knowledge”), published by Gujarat Vidhya Sabha (formerly known as Gujarat Vernacular Society), located in Ahmedabad, India, is a Gujarati language Magazine. It was established in 1850 as a lithotype fortnightly and its first issue was published on 15th May, 1850 from Ahmedabad. It had 16 pages with articles on 26 subjects ranging from science and technology to philosophy. It cost 1.5 Anna per issue to readers then. It was closed after one and a half years of publication but was revived later in April 1854, with the help of Rao Bahadur Bhogilal Pranvallabhdas and under the guidance of T. B. Curtis, the Headmaster of the Ahmedabad English School, when it resumed publication. In 1855, on request of Alexander Kinloch Forbes, Dalpatram accepted to serve as the Editor of the Magazine and edited it until 1879. Later it was edited again by some eminent personalities like Hiralal T. Parekh, Rasiklal Parikh, Umashankar Joshi, K. K. Shastri, etc. and the list continues. It is now edited by Madhusoodan Parekh and Ramesh Shah. Through its articles, the publication played a significant role in the Social Reform Era of Gujarat in the 19th Century.

**THE ILLUSTRATED WEEKLY OF INDIA** Cover Page of a January 1924 Publication

“The Illustrated Weekly of India” was an English language weekly News Magazine publication in India. It started publication in 1880 as “Times of India Weekly Edition“, which got later renamed as “The Illustrated Weekly of India” in 1923, and was ceased on 13th November, 1993. Also simply known as “Weekly” by its readership, it was considered to be an important English language publication in India for more than a century. The magazine has been edited by A. S. Raman, Khushwant Singh, M. V. Kamath, and Pritish Nandy. A.S. Raman was the first Indian editor of the magazine, succeeding Sean Mandy. Khushwant Singh took over as editor nearly an year after Raman’s formal departure. In between, assistant editor Subrata Banerjee edited the magazine for about 20 months. Cartoons in the latter half of the magazine were by R. K. Laxman and Mario Miranda. It was a regular reading guide for honing English language skills for many young students in the subcontinent.

**THE HINDUSTAN REVIEW** and **THE KAYASTHA SAMACHAR**

“The Kayastha Samachar” (1899-1902), a Monthly Record & Review was edited by Sachchidananda Sinha and published by Munshi Durga Prasad in Allahabad. During this period, it published Vol. 1 to Vol. 6. “The Hindustan Review and Kayastha Samachar“, published by the Indian Press in Allahabad, continued the publication from 1903 to 1905, starting from Vol. 8. It was then succeeded by “The Hindustan Review” from 1905 to 1954, starting with Vol. 12. It was published monthly from 1905 to June 1922, quarterly from October, 1922 to April, 1929, and became a monthly again from July, 1929.

**KARMAVEERA** on Left and **KASTHURI** on Right

“Karmaveera” and “Kasthuri” are two major Kannada family interest Magazines, published in Karnataka, India and headquartered in Bengaluru, Karnataka. While Karmaveera is a weekly publication, Kasthuri covers a monthly record. Both are published from Hubli, Davangere, Gulbarga and Mangaluru districts of Karnataka and were first published in 1921. Ranganath Ramchandra Diwakar, an ex-president of the KPCC, established the Loka Shikshana Trust (meaning World Education Trust) on 27th April, 1933, which publishes these Magazines. Kasthuri covers topics like Society, Kannada Poetry, Science Fiction, Spirituality, Health, Travel, Technology, Cookery, Book Review, Beauty. It publishes a large number of editorial cartoon, on Politics and Society. Kannada Writer and Poet, P. V. Acharya, was one among the many Editors of both Karmaveera and Kasthuri and the latter’s also included Radhakrishna Bhadti and Writer, Journalist Nagesh Hegde.

From Left: **INDIAN LISTENER**, **BETAR JAGATH**, **VANOLI**

In 1928, Indian Broadcasting Company, in Bombay, began publishing a Program Journal “Indian Radio Times“, in English, listing the programs of Bombay and Calcutta Stations. With the establishment of Indian Broadcasting Services, it was taken over by the Government of India and became a weekly publication under a new name, “The Indian Listener“. On 5th January, 1958 the Journal was renamed “Akashvani“. At present the Journal is published every week- ten days in advance of the period to which the programs relate.

The Journal “Awaz” was started in January 1936 to provide the public in advance, programs of the Delhi Station in two principal scripts, Devnagri and Persian. In July 1938, as the duplication of the programs in two scripts was found to be wasteful, the journal was split up and published as two editions. The names of the new editions were Sarang (now Akashvani) (Hindi) and Awaz (Urdu) and were published fortnightly, listing the programs, 10 days in advance of the period to which they related.

“Betar Jagath“, a Radio Magazine in Bengali, was published by the Indian Broadcasting Company during 1927. It contained details of advanced program schedules & various articles , short stories, plays, poems, radio scripts & listeners’ letters. The Magazine became immensely popular and continued to be published till 1980s.

“Vanoli“, a Radio Magazine in Tamil, was published by the AIR Madras in 1958. Each issue of Vanoli covered the programs relating to a fortnight – one issue for the period 1st to 15th and the second for the 16th to 30th/31st (28th/29th in case of February) of the month. The publication covered the programs of Chennai A, Chennai B, Pondicherry and Trichy Stations.

“Vaani“, a Radio Magazine in Telugu, was published by the AIR Madras in 1958. It was discontinued after six issues, but was restarted on 22nd May, 1949. Each issue of Vaani covered the same programs as that of Vanoli, including the Radio Stations.

The Indian Broadcasting Company (then Indian Broadcasting Services and later named All India Radio), hence cemented a significant space for Magazines and played a significant role in its’ pan-India appeal with these multi language journals that were popular among the Indian Masses, in their specific locations. The publication of Akashvani English, Hindi, Awaz (Urdu) and Vanoli (Tamil) has since been discontinued and office of the Akashvani Group of Journals was closed down with effect from 01/04/1987.

There were many important Magazines and Journals that played significant role in India, both in pre-independence and post-independence period. The “Statesman Weekly” was founded in 1924 as an illustrated digest of Indian news and views. “Thought” (New Delhi, 1949–78/79) was a political and economic weekly. “Current Events” was a monthly general review, founded in 1955.

“Akhand Jyoti” is a monthly Magazine published from Mathura. It was started in 1938 by Pt. Shriram Sharma Acharya, the founder of All World Gayatri Pariwar. The main objective of the Magazine is to promote scientific spirituality and the religion of 21st Century, that is, Scientific Religion. The Magazine is published in more than 10 languages and has more than a million subscribers all across the globe. It covers various aspects of life, such as, personality development, health management, familial management, societal development, social sustainability, nation building and scientific spirituality.

Saints/Babas are no strangers to Indians. “Akhand Anand” is a Gujarati language monthly Magazine, published by Bhikshu Akhandanand Trust. It brings articles and stories about the life and works of Swami Akhandanandaji Saraswati. The Magazine was founded in 1947.

“Panchjanya” is an Indian weekly Magazine published by Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in Hindi. It was launched by RSS Pracharak Deendayal Upadhyaya, on 14th January, 1948, in Lucknow. Atal Bihari Vajpayee was its First Editor. The inaugural cover page carried a picture of Lord Krishna with its objective to pursue idealism based on patriotism and to uphold the cultural heritage of India.

“Shiraza Dogri” is a bimonthly Dogri-language Literary Magazine from Jammu and Kashmir. Published by the Jammu and Kashmir Academy of Art, Culture and Languages, its publication began in 1964 as a biannual periodical, becoming a quarterly in 1970 and bimonthly in 1979. It is also published in Urdu language.

**THE WEEK** logo on Left and on Right is its Cover Page from one of its recent Publications

“The Week” is an Indian News Magazine founded in the year 1982 and published by The Malayala Manorama Co. Ltd. The Magazine is published from Kochi and is currently printed in Delhi,Mumbai,Bangalore and Kottayam. According to the Audit Bureau of Circulations, it is the largest circulated English News Magazine in India.

Magazines evolved with technology. Cities like Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata, etc. and many more emerged as commercial printing hubs. The evolution in machinery and adaption of the same resulted in improvement of the Quality of the Magazines. In 1990, India initiated a process of reforms aimed at shedding protectionism and embracing liberalization of the economy. Privatization was initiated, aiming on integrating the Indian economy with the World economy which led the Indian Print Industry to modernize, by investing in the latest of technology and machinery. The contemporary progressive printers are equipped with the latest Computer Controlled Printing Machines and Flow Lines for Binding, while in Pre-Press, state of the art Digital Technologies are deployed. Leading print companies have utilized and optimized Information Technology in each and every area of their business. UV Digital Printing and Inkjet Technology, have been utilized in India, for a considerable time now.

From Agriculture to Technology to Sports and many more, there are Magazines that cover specific and multiple topics in their publications. Magazines have been the forerunners in the popularity of photographs and it is evident in the case of prestigious Publications. There are Magazines prestigious in their context of publication, so much so that even getting mentioned in their publication is an achievement. Magazines like “TIME” and “FORBES” are two of the such popular prestigious publications. “Eenadu” (Telugu Weekly) “Rythubandhu” (Telugu Agricultural Weekly), “Femina” (Women’s Biweekly in English, Hindi, Bengali and Tamil), “Puthiya Thalaimurai” (Tamil Weekly), “Kumudam” (Tamil Weekly), “The Economist” (London based English Weekly based on News), “National Geographic” (American Monthly), “Mangalam” (Malyalam Weekly), “Vanitha” (published Fortnightly in Malayalam), “Dalit Dastak” (Dalit-centric Hindi News Monthly), “Kadambini” (Hindi Literary Monthly), “Anandalok” (Film Industry centric Bengali Bimonthly), “Desh” (Bengali Literary Bimonthly), “Tehelka” (Investigative Journalism publishing News in English and Hindi) , etc. are some of the popular and widely used Magazines presently under circulation in India. The emergence and evolution of the Internet aided the publishers in running their respective Online platforms considerably well. Today almost all the Magazines have their Online version and have considerable presence and popularity in Social Media as well. The Internet helped the publications gain and expand their International readership.

I hope you liked the sequel and we will continue the discussion on the Topic in future Articles.

MEDIA & INDIANS- The Newspaper

April 24, 2020October 18, 2020 by freakybudz, posted in Chronicles

The communication of Current Affairs and History among the masses is what that maintains social identity of a community. Today the sources are diverse and information is plenty. There are plenty of platforms that can potentially utilize and transform the view point of a community as a whole. The route map of mankind this long has not been easy but innovative and experimental. So not deviating much, let’s start with our first article on the topic.

In Germany, around 1440, goldsmith Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press, which started a printing revolution. Woodblock printing in East Asia had been prevalent since China’s Tang dynasty in the 8th century. In Europe, woodblock printing based on existing screw presses was common by the 14th century. Gutenberg’s most important innovation was the development of hand-molded metal printing matrices, thus producing a movable type–based printing press system. His newly devised hand mold made possible the precise and rapid creation of metal movable type in large quantities. Although movable type had previously been developed in East Asia, it had been hitherto unknown in Europe. The two inventions, the hand mold and the printing press, together drastically reduced the cost of printing books and other documents in Europe, particularly for shorter print runs.

In India, Newspapers were the only Medium of Mass Communication, at least 2 Centuries ago. It was the most prominent media which traced down the Freedom Struggle and other activities in the Sub-Continent. The idea of a Newspaper in the land arrived with a Dutchman, William Bolts, but he was unsuccessful to start off the venture.

**James Augustus Hickey** on Left on Right is a file photo of a publication of **Hicky’s Bengal Gazette**

James Augustus Hickey, an Irishman, known as the Father of Indian Journalism, founded “Hicky’s Bengal Gazette” also known as “The Original Calcutta General Advertiser“, which had had its first publication on 29th January, 1780 in Calcutta (now Kolkata). It was a Weekly Political and Commercial Paper, Open to all Parties, but influenced by none. Hickey was fearless in his writings as were evident in his articles which were against the EAST INDIA COMPANY‘s activities in India and eventually earned the wrath of the then Governor-General Warren Hastings. On 23rd March, 1782, the Newspaper was permanently banned by the EAST INDIA COMPANY.

Other Newspapers such as “The India Gazette“, “The Calcutta Gazette“, “The Madras Courier” (1785), “The Bombay Herald” (1789) (Later renamed “Bombay Gazette” in 1791), etc. soon followed and continued the Journalism on the Indian Land under British Rule. The British Government had imposed strict surveillance on the print media. Newspapers like the Madras Courier, which was officially permitted to print government notifications, and the Bombay Herald, had to follow the publishing rules laid by the Government.

The Bombay Gazette (Previously Bombay Herald) had some British civil servants as some of its proprietors. Its owners and editors included the British journalist and politician, James Mackenzie Maclean, Adolphus Pope (1821), Fair (1826), Francis Warden (1827), R. X. Murphy (1833), Grattan Geary (1890), Sir Frank Beaman and Galium (1840). From 26th April, 1841 it started printing paper on silk. It remained the leading newspaper of the city for a long time and covered important events such as the first session of the Indian National Congress in 1885. The Newspaper continued to be published up to the early 1900s. The Bombay Gazette and “Bombay Courier” were the earliest English language Indian Newspapers published in Bombay (now Mumbai). In 1911, Sir Pherozeshah Mehta and Benjamin Horniman attempted to purchase Bombay Gazette, to counteract the influence of another Newspaper, “The Times of India“, and to give a voice to Indian Nationalists, but his attempts were thwarted by one of the directors, Sir Frank Beaman, which led Mehta to establish a separate Newspaper, “The Bombay Chronicle” in 1913.

“The Bombay Times and Journal of Commerce“, an English-Language Newspaper, issued its first edition on 3rd November, 1838. It started as a paper getting published twice weekly, under the direction of Raobahadur Narayan Dinanath Velkar, a Maharashtrian Reformist, and contained news from Britain and the world, as well as the Indian Subcontinent. J.E. Brennan was its first editor. The paper became a daily in 1851 and changed its name to “The Times of India” in 1861.

1857 saw the First War of Independence, also known as Indian Mutiny/ Sepoy Mutiny. It is also known as the year of emergence of Journalism in India. It was this year that the Newspapers owned by Indians and British were divided.

Raja Ram Mohun Roy started “Sambad Kaumudi” (meaning “Moon Of Intelligence”), a Bengali Weekly whose first issue appeared on December 4, 1821, in Calcutta. It contained an ‘Appeal to the Bengali Public’ in which it proclaimed that the primary objective of its publication was to promote the ‘public good’. It educated a good section of society to denounce Sati Pratha prevalent at that time along with many other Social reform ideas. “Samachar Chandrika“, founded by Bhabani Charan Bandyopadhyay after he parted ways with Roy over Kaumudi’s probable radical approach, found wide acceptance in the society following which Roy was forced to close Sambad Kaumudi down in 1822, but it was revived the following year. Roy also started a newspaper in Persian, “Mirat-ul-Akhbar” (meaning “Mirror of News”) in 1822, but shut it down in 1823 due to protests against the Press Regulations Act of 1823. He also brought out a religious periodical, the “Brahminical Magazine“, to counteract the missionaries propaganda. Three journals, all connected with Ram Mohun Roy, the “Reformer“, the “Inquirer” and the “Gyan Auneshun” representing the school of progressive Hindu journalism held the field in Bengal till as late as 1891. His greatest contribution to Indian language journalism was perhaps his petition to the British government against the Vernacular Press Act of 1823. The Supreme Court rejected his petition. But he again petitioned; this time to the monarchy.

On the Left is a publication of **The Hindu** in **1881** and on the Right is the **First Photograph** published in a Newspaper in India; **Honourable Bal Gangadhar Tilak**

“The Hindu” was founded in Madras on 20th September, 1878, as a weekly Newspaper, by what was known then as the Triplicane Six consisting of 4 law students and 2 teachers:- T. T. Rangacharya, P. V. Rangacharya, D. Kesava Rao Pantulu and N. Subba Rao Pantulu, led by G. Subramania Iyer (a school teacher from Tanjore District) and M. Veeraraghavacharyar, a lecturer at Pachaiyappa’s College. Started in order to support the campaign of Sir T. Muthuswamy Iyer for a judgeship at the Madras High Court and to counter the propaganda against him carried out by the Anglo-Indian Press, it was one of the Newspapers of the period established to protest the policies of the British Raj. The paper was initially printed from Srinidhi Press but was later moved to Scottish Press, then to The Hindu Press, Mylapore. Started as a weekly Newspaper, the paper became a tri-weekly in 1883 and an evening daily in 1889. The Hindu, in 1897, became the First Newspaper in India to publish a photograph when it published that of Honourable Bal Gangadhar Tilak. It is one of the Indian Newspapers of record and the second most circulated English-language Newspaper in India, after The Times Of India.

“Samachar Darpan“, published on 23rd May, 1818, was a Bengali weekly Newspaper published by the Baptist Missionary Society from the Baptist Mission Press at Serampore in the first half of the 19th century. It is considered to be the first Indian-language Newspaper. The “Bombay Samachar” (now “Mumbai Samachar“) founded in 1822 and printed in Gujarati is the oldest Newspaper in Asia still in print. On May 30, 1826, “Udant Martand” (meaning “The Rising Sun”), the first Hindi language Newspaper published in India, started from Calcutta (now Kolkata), published every Tuesday by Pt. Jugal Kishore Shukla.

The 20th Century had many significant events in the Newspaper. The Freedom Struggle took a new shape with the arrival of Mahatma Gandhi in 1915. He had also left his mark in the Print media with two weekly Newspapers “Young India” and “Navjivan“. He further extended his contribution to the society with his weekly journal, “Harijan“, 1933. Harijan had three publications “Harijan” in English (1933-1948), “Harijan Bandu” in Gujarati and “Harijan Sevak” in Hindi. Industrialist G.D. Birla, started “Hindustan Times” in 1927. Also in 1927, S. Sadanand, for the poor and the middle class, started “Free Press Journal“, in Mumbai. In 1931, the Indian Press Act came into being. This Act gave sweeping powers to provincial governments to suppress propaganda for Civil Disobedience Movement and it was further amplified in 1932 to include all activities calculated to undermine government authority. In 1938, Jawaharlal Nehru started “National Herald“, which was banned by British government in 1942 during the Quit India movement. The Herald reopened in 1945 and from 1946 to 1950, Feroze Gandhi (born Feroze Jehangir Ghandy, later changed Sir name to Gandhi, believed to have been inspired by the Mahatma) served as the paper’s Managing Director, helping restore its financial health.

Many more regional language Newspapers were born out of the fire of Freedom Movement. “Kesari” is a Marathi Newspaper founded in 1881 by Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak, which was used as a spokes piece of the Indian National Freedom movement. The “Al-Hilal“(meaning ‘The Crescent’) was a weekly Urdu language Newspaper established by Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad and used as a medium for criticism of the British Raj. It’s first issue came out on 13th July, 1912. The Newspaper also espoused the cause of the Indian Independence movement and exhorted Indian Muslims to join the movement. The Newspaper was shut down under the Press Act of 1914. “Mathrubhumi“, one of the prominent Malayalam Newspapers and headquartered at Kozhikode (previously Calicut), founded by K. P. Kesavan Menon, was first published on 18th March, 1923. It was aimed to spread the message of the great National Movement and it went on to become an inalienable part of Kerala’s social fabric.

“Deshabhimani” is a Malayalam Newspaper that started as a weekly in Calicut (now Kozhikode), on 6th September, 1942 and converted to a daily in 1946. It has a predecessor, “Prabhatham” (meaning “Dawn”), started in 1935 and was the manifesto of the Socialist Group in the Indian National Congress. It was in 1942, through the efforts of eminent leaders like A. K. Gopalan and E. M. S. Namboodiripad, Deshabhimani started and became the voice of the Communist Party of India and later of Communist Party of India(Marxist), after the split from CPI in 1964. Various eminent personalities have served as its Chief Editor.

Many changes took place in the Newspaper’s scenario after Independence. Even the working style of journalists changed. Most of the Newspapers were in the hands of Indian Editors. News agency services became available on a regular basis with the Press Trust of India, which was started in 1946. It provided employment to the public and so, the Newspaper agency became profit-oriented. Various technological developments took place, it involved in a readership battle, literacy level rose and the interest to know what is happening in the surrounding, made Newspaper grow. By 1970s Newspapers acquired the status of an industry. Many new Regional Language Newspapers also started publication and the local readership also grew. In fact the Indian Newspaper Industry is one of the largest in the world today.

The suppression and oppression of news-media reached brutal heights during the 1975-77 Emergency regime of Indira Gandhi, when the Press was censored. But later the conditions of Press changed and reached to its zenith. Freedom of the Press is very important and also news-media Press enjoys greater freedom in a Democratic Country.

Technology had taken everything on a wave and so it did with the Press. During 1980, The Hindu became the first mainline Newspaper in India to go for computerized phototypesetting. This involved a major technological transition from hot metal technology to computer-based technology that demanded a new skill set, which were acquired by the existing employees by training and re-orientation programs of the company. The Hindu has always been adaptive to technology. In 1995, The Hindu became the First Indian Newspaper to have an Internet Edition and in 1999, it also became the First Newspaper in India to have rolled out a News page in color.

The transition with technology was adopted by other Newspapers as well. It was evident in the quality of Print, Paper and increase in the variety of Fonts alongside the advancement of Photographs published.

The Vernacular and Regional Language Newspapers were always ahead of the English Dailies because the evolving technology was much cheaper and adaptive to the needs of the multiple non- Roman Languages and Scripts of the diverse Indian Language Dailies. In the early 80s, the Apple Mac and the PCs were adapted by the Newspaper for word processing for the Indian languages. The various Regional Scripts required conjunct characters and modifiers above, below, and on the left and right. Graphics- output capability was essential and multi- level keyboards were adaptable to non-linear output. In the 90s, Offset Printing made color tractable and emerged as the choice for the editorial content, info-graphics as well as for advertising. With emergence of faster PCs at a lower cost per seat, there was a huge expansion in data generation and a strong need for Content Management System (CMS). By the beginning of the new millennium some Newspapers had collaborated with other firms to develop a CMS and their efforts also generated fruitful results and some of them continued to build on it. Even today, some of the CMS are adapted and deployed by many Newspapers. The emergence of the Internet, Mobile Communication, higher Data Network Bandwidths and many other technological advances, changed the Newspaper scenario completely. Many Newspapers developed In House Editorial and Workflow Systems to process the content and manage the enormous number of electronic files.

Newspapers, since long now, have colored shapes usually on edges or borders. The Color pattern is CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black, respectively). They represent the color combinations used for printing the Newspaper. The color are to be mixed in the appropriate proportion for obtaining the desired color. Any distortion in the print of a Newspaper is because of any of these 4 colors being set in disproportion in the printer, there.

The readership in India has grown multitude. The Newspapers diversified into multiple fields including Fashion, Design, Business, Science and Technology, Arts and Culture, Sports, etc. Many provide special edition on certain days, based on some of these topics. The readership of both Domestic and International Media has been well accepted on the Indian Soil.

“Amar Ujala” (Hindi Daily), “Dainik Jagaran” (Hindi Daily), “Punjab Kesari” (Hindi Daily), “Arunachal Front” (English Daily), “The Hindu” (English Daily), “The Times Of India” (English Daily), “Financial Express” (English Daily), “Janasadharan” (Assamese Daily), “Asomiya Pratidin” (Assamese Daily), “Vanglaini” (Mizo Daily), “Jago Bangla” (Bengali Weekly), “Bartaman Patrika” (Bengali Daily), “Punjabi Tribune” (Punjabi Daily), “Jagbani” (Punjabi Daily), “Jai Hind” (Gujarati Daily), “Gujarat Mitra” (Gujarati Daily), “Maharashtra Times” (Marathi Daily), “Prahaar” (Marathi Daily), “Malayala Manorama” (Malayalam Daily), “Mathrubhumi” (Malayalam Daily), “Deshabhimani” (Malayalam Daily), “Hindu Tamil Thisai” (Tamil Daily), “Dinakaran” (Tamil Daily), “Andhra Prabha” (Telugu Daily), “Mana Telangana” (Telugu Daily), “Koshur Akhbar” (Published Online and Printed Weekly in Kashmiri), “Soan Meeras” (Kashmiri Weekly), etc. are some of the Newspapers currently circulated in India. The majority Indian still relies on the Newspapers for day to day developments.

On Left is the logo of **ThePrint** and on the Right is that of **The Quint**

The emergence of the Internet and advancement of Technology aided the growth of Newspaper’s readership. Today almost every Newspaper has its Online version. The Online-newspapers also thrive in India. “ThePrint” (English), created by Shekhar Gupta and launched in August 2017, and “The Quint” (English and Hindi), founded by Raghav Bahl and Ritu Kapoor and launched in January 2015 on Facebook and a website in March 2015, are two of the prominent digital media news platforms in India.

Some of the **International Indian Regional Language Newspapers** and **E-Paper** **portals**

With all the technological aspects on one side and the widespread presence of the Indian community around the globe, Indian News and its Regional Language has huge readership along with Hindi and English Language, beyond borders. For example Punjabi News has a huge readership in European Nations like the United Kingdom and various other countries like Canada. Similarly Malayalam has it in many countries especially those in the Middle East and Tamil, due to its decades old presence, has carved its niche in countries like Malaysia, Singapore, Sri Lanka,etc. There are many more such examples to add on. The internet has been a big reason for this widespread reach along with the reason being the respective community’s long presence and maintenance of identity in the regions that led to the publication of the linguistic Newspapers in many of them. The same reason aides the communication of local Indian news to these communities.

The Newspaper was and continues to be a strong pillar of Media in the Indian sub-continent. The Editorial Page by eminent Journalists and Reporters still nurtures its curious readers. Many people still rely on it as a primary source of language development, knowledge and certain reviews. The Newspaper is and hopefully will continue to be a prominent source of information in India and elsewhere, particularly where the Indian Community exists.