History of Hindi Journalism

History of Hindi Journalism

Dr. Mrinal Chatterjee

The first Hindi newspaper Oodhund Martand, a weekly was published in Kolkata on May 30, 1826 ‘in the interest of Hindustanis’. However, its editor Yugal Kishore Shukla (Jooghol Kishore Sookool- in some documents) faced many difficulties in running it. He was not allowed postal concession and had to close down the paper within a year. He made an attempt to start another paper in 1850 called Samyadani Martand but this also failed. 

The second Hindi newspaper Bangadoot was published in 1829 by Raja Ram Mohan Roy and Dwarika Prasad Thakore with Nilratan Haldar as its editor. Besides Hindi, it was also published in English, Bengali and Persian.

The first Hindi daily Samachar Sudha Varshan came out in June 1854 from Kolkata with Shyam Sundar Sen as its editor and publisher. It was a bilingual paper in which market and shipping reports were published in Hindi, the rest in Bengali.

Between 1850 and 1857 a number of Hindi Newspaper were published. Among them were Benaras Akbar, Sudhakar Tatwa Bodhini, Patrika and Sathya. Benaras Akhbar (1849) was the first paper to first paper to introduce Devnagari script in the North-West provinces. Some papers of this time used to carry both a Hindi and Urdu name and used to publish news in both languages in parallel columns, for example Sarvopkarak (Mufid-ul-Khaliaq), published from Agra in 1861 and the Bharat Khandamitra (Ab-i-hayat-i-Hind), published in 1864. But this trend did not last long. 

A literary magazine which set the standard for Hindi Journals in the early year of century was Saraswathi, a monthly edited by Mahavir Prasad Dwibedy. It standardised the style and pattern of Hindi journalism and developed literary criticism and book reviews. It became the torchbearer for later day Hindi journalists who cultivated its prose style. Newspapers like Bharat Mitra (1878), Sarsudhanidhi (1879), Uchit Wakta (1880) and Hindi Bangavasi (1890) were published from Calcutta during the last three decades of 19^th century. Bharat Mitra, published from Calcutta became the leading Hindi newspaper of the time under the dynamic stewardship of its early editors, Balmukund Gupta and Ambika Prasad Bajpai.”Some 150papers and journals were either started or restarted between 1884 and 1894. The contents of most of these papers were concerned with social or religious subjects, many of them were sectional, some were political and a few set a high literary standard.”[1]

The beginning of the new century saw the birth of many Hindi dailies in Bombay, Calcutta and Patna. The more prominent among them were Sri Venkateswar Samachar and Calcutta  Samachar. Viswamitra, which was started after the Calcutta Samachar became defunct, offered serious competition to Bharat Mitra from 1918.

Hindi journalism made rapid progress during the First World War period and many outstanding journalists came to the fore including Ganga Prasad Gupta, Nanda Kumar Deo Dharma, M. P.  Dwivedi, Hari Krishna Jouhar, Chhote Ram Shukla, Indra Vidyavachaspati, Shri Ram Pandey, Lakshminarayan Garde and Narmada Prasad Misra. One of the foremost Hindi journalists who earned a name for his patriotism was Ganesh Shanker Vidyarthi. In 1913, he brought out weekly Pratap from Kanpur. He made the supreme sacrifice in 1931 in the cause of Hindu-Muslim unity. Krishna Dutt Paliwal brought out Sainik from Agra which became a staunch propagator of nationalism in Western U. P. The noted Congress leader, Swami Shradhanand, started the publication of Hindi journal Vir Arjun and Urdu journal Tej. After the assassination of Swami Shradhanand, Vidyavachaspathi and Lala Deshbandhu Gupta, both prominent Congress leaders continued the publication of these journals.

At the turn of the century almost all Calcutta based Hindi newspapers went vocal against the suppressive and divisive policies of the Raj. This marked the beginning – in 1907- of two outstanding magazines: Nrisinha and Devnagar. Nrisinha edited by Ambika Prasad Vajpayee, a stauch supporter of Lokmanya Tilak was a political magazine and it joined the protest against British rule. Devnagar on the other hand tried to work on a uniform script.[2]

In 1920, the Aj was started in Banaras. It played a notable part in the freedom struggle. Its first editor was Sri Prakasa, a great freedom fighter who occupied positions of power and prestige in free India. He was assisted by Babu Rao Vishnu Parakar whose contribution to the development of Hindi Journalism was considerable. Espousing the national cause and waging a never-ending battle with the alien rulers, the Aj was a   bulwark of the Indian National Congress and its main forum to spread the message of freedom to the Hindi-speaking masses of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Nepal. It set the tone and style for Hindi Journalism and was acclaimed for its impartial objective reporting and illuminating and fearless editorials. A balanced blending of national and international news was one of its strong features.

In Patna the Desh, a weekly, was an influential journal and the mouthpiece of the Congress. It was founded by Babu Rajendra Prasad and his friends in 1920. But it was not a profitable venture and had to close down.

In 1924 there were 102 Hindi newspapers; four of them were dailies (AJ, Banaras, Swatantra, Calcutta, Arjun, Delhi and Calcutta Samachar, Calcutta) According to  one historian, until 1926, Hindi dailies were not financially successful.  “Their get up and printing was poor, the reading material not quite up to the mark and the editorials unwieldy and lengthy. The weeklies were better edited and got up.” Among the well-known better produced weeklies were Bhavishya (Kanpur), Karmaveer (Khandwa) and Sainik (Agra). Among the important Hindi dailies which flourished in 1930 were: Viswamitra and Bharat Mitra (Calcutta), Savadho Bharat (Bombay). Lokkat (Jabalpur), Variman (Kanpur), Milap (Lahore) besides  AJ (Banaras), Arjun(Delhi) and Lokmanya (Calcutta).

As freedom struggle gained momentum, there was a steady rise of Hindi journalism both in terms of quality and quantity. More number of Hindi publications took birth in almost all North Indian states and also in Maharashtra, Bengal, and Andhra Pradesh, especially Hyderabad. Hindi publications like other language publications by and large supported Nationalist movement and faced the suppression of the British rulers. One of the important Hindi dailies to be published from the capital was Hindustan, sister newspaper of the Hindustan Times, started in 1936.  Wide news coverage and a variety of special features marked the Hindustan. Started in 1940, Aryavari of Patna was a sister publication of the Indian Nation and enjoyed considerable influence.

Hindi journalism grew more rapidly after independence. After independence Hindi was adopted as the official language of India.[3] This also helped to spread Hindi language nationwide. The Nav Bharat Times of the Times of India group started in Delhi in 1950. The Amrita Patrika of Allahabad was another notable Hindi daily which was well-known for its trenchant editorials. By 1964 Hindi had the largest number of newspapers among language papers. The trend of publishing multiple editions from different states helped Hindi newspapers to increase their reach and circulation.

According to RNI (Registrar of Newspapers in India) the total number of publications in Hindi was 27,527 in 2007-8 including 3418 daily newspapers and 12793 weeklies.

By mid 2011 Hindi daily Dainik Jagran claimed to be the largest read newspaper of the world. Six out of the top ten newspapers with highest number of readership in India were Hindi. According to IRS (Indian Readership Survey Q-4)[4] the top ten largest read Hindi newspapers are: Dainik Jagran[5] (readership: 164.1 lakh), Dainik Bhaskar[6] (146 lakh), Hindustan[7] (120.4 lakh), Amar Ujala [8] (88.4 lakh), Rajasthan Patrika[9]  ( 68.47 lakh), Punjab Kesari (33.30 lakh),  Navbharat Times[10]  (25.73 lakh) Prabhat Khabar[11] (21.87 lakh), Patrika (17.87 lakh) and Nai Dunia[12] (16.49  lakh). All of the newspapers have multiple editions from different cities and states.

Hindi newspapers are published from several states. Besides the North Indian Hindi belt, sizable numbers of Hindi publications are there in West Bengal, Maharashtra, Gujarat and other states. There are two good Hindi dailies from Hyderabad – Swatantra Vaartha and Milap. Kolkata based Sanmarg has an edition from Bhubaneswar, Odisha too. Assam also had Hindi newspapers. Dainik Lokamanya was the first Hindi newspaper of Assam. It was published in 1963 in Guwahati by Pandit Ramshankar Tripathi. The four page broadsheet was priced 10 paisa. It survived only for few months.

Radio: Broadcasting started in India in June 1923 with programmes by the Radio Club of Bombay, followed by other radio clubs. Then, by an agreement of 1926 the private Indian Broadcasting Company (IBC) was granted permission to operate two radio stations; the Bombay station was inaugurated on 23 July 1927, the Calcutta station followed. The first ever news bulletin in the country went on the air from the Bombay Station on July 23, 1927 under IBC. Until 1935, two bulletins, one each in English and Hindustani were broadcast from Bombay and a bulletin in Bengali was broadcast from Calcutta. IBC went into liquidation in March, 1930 following which broadcasting came under the direct control of the Government of India. The service was designated as the Indian State Broadcasting Service. It was renamed All India Radio (AIR) on June 8, 1936.[13]

The real breakthrough in news broadcasting came after January 1936 when the first news bulletin from the Delhi Station went on the air on January 19, 1936 coinciding with the starting of its transmission. Besides, news bulletins in English and Hindustani, talks on current affairs were also started from the Station in both the languages. When India became independent in 1947 the AIR network had only six stations (in Delhi, Bombay, Calcutta, Madras, Lucknow, and Tiruchi).

AIR made rapid progress after independence. By 2008-09 it had 231 radio stations. The entertainment channel of AIR, Vividh Bharati (started in October 1957) helped in popularizing Hindi music and language through its film music based programmes. AIR FM Rainbow and FM Gold channels also had large Hindi language content. In India, All India Radio - the public service broadcaster- had monopoly on radio broadcast, till 2000. In May 2000, the Government of India opened the sector for participation by the private FM broadcasters and offered 108 frequencies in 40 cities for open tender bidding.

The first private FM station in India was Radio City, which started functioning in Bangalore in 2001. Listenership grew. However, the government policy of charging higher licensing fee made private radio stations financially unviable. Of the 108 licenses issued, only 22 became operational in 12 cities. In the second phase of development in 2005, Government became flexible and accommodating, kick starting rapid expansion of radio in private domain. With the new industry-friendly policies, number of radio stations increased.  By end 2009, a total of 248 private FM stations and 171 FM transmitters of AIR stations were operational in the country. Maharashtra had the largest number of private FM stations (31) followed by Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu (21 each) and Rajasthan (19). Almost all private FM stations across the country have Hindi music as part of their content. In Hindi belt, it is the staple.

Television: Terrestrial television in India started with the experimental telecast starting in Delhi on 15 September 1959. The regular daily transmission started in 1965 as a part of All India Radio (AIR). The television service was extended to Bombay (now Mumbai) and Amritsar in 1972. Till 1975, only seven Indian cities had a television service and Doordarshan remained the sole provider of television in India. Television services were separated from AIR in 1976. National telecasts and colour transmission were introduced in 1982. Serials like Ramayana, Mahabharata, Humlog were very popular.

The next decade saw the growth and spread of satellite television channels both in government and private domain, thanks to a series of economic and social reforms starting in 1991, which allowed private and foreign broadcasters to engage in operations in India. Foreign channels like CNN, Star TV and domestic channels such as Zee TV and Sun TV started satellite broadcasts. Starting with 41 sets in 1962 and one channel, by 1991 TV in India covered more than 70 million homes giving a viewing population of more than 400 million individuals through more than 100 channels. The next decade saw a more rapid expansion- both vertical and horizontal. Both the number of audience, and channels grew at a break neck speed.

By mid 2011, there were over 100 Hindi news channels including Aaj Tak, IBN-7, Azad NEWS, Maurya Tv, AryanNews, News 7 Network, Khoj India, India TV, Raftaar News Channel, Live India, NDTV India, India News, News 24, Press TV, Sudarshan News, Sahara Samay, STAR News, Zee News, Zee Business, DD News, Total TV, A2Z News, Crime Nazar News, Channel No. 1, S-7 News, Mahua news, ETV Bihar, Time Today, DayNightnews, Jansandesh.tv, GNN News, P7, TV 24 News, newsxpress,  tv9 Mumbai, Sea News, Taaza TV, etc.

Newmedia: Rajasthan Patrika claims be the first Hindi newspaper to go online in 1999. By early 2012, almost all major Hindi newspapers, television channels and radio stations had their presence on cyber world. Several newspapers had e-paper version. There were numerous Hindi language news sites. Several newspapers like Raipur based Deshabandhu had started disseminating news on mobile platform either as a free service or as a paid service.

***

The author, a journalist turned media academician presently heads the Eastern India campus of Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC), located at Dhenkanal, Odisha.

He can be contacted at mrinaliimc@yahoo.in

15 May, 2012  

This article was also published in 'Vidura'.

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[1] History of Indian Journalism, J.Natarajan, Publications Division, Delhi, 2000

[2] Justice Sarada Charan Mitra’s organization Ek Lipi Vistar Parishad, established in 1905 to promote the cause of Independence and present write-ups of various languages in a uniform script, Devnagari lauched the magazine Devnagar as the parishad mouthpiece in 1907.  The Origin and Growth of Hindi Journalism in Kolkata, Prof(Dr.) Krishna Bihari Mishra, Press Club, Kolkata, 2005

[3] Article 343(1) of the Constitution provides that Hindi in Devanagari script shall be the Official Language of the Union.

[4] http://mruc.net/irs2011q4_%20toplines.pdf

[5] Dainik Jagran was founded by Puranchandra Gupta in Jhansi in 1942. In 1947 Dainik Jagran shifted its headquarters to Kanpur, where it launched its second edition on 21 September 1947. Currently, Dainik Jagran’s 36 editions are published across eleven states of India.

[6] Dainik Bhaskar was first published in Bhopal and Gwalior of the central province. The newspaper was launched in year 1956 to fulfill the need for a Hindi language daily, by the name Subah Savere in Bhopal and Good Morning India in Gwalior in year 1957, it was renamed as Bhaskar Samachar In 1958, it was renamed as Dainik Bhaskar

[7] The Hindi daily Hindustan was launched in 1936.

[8] Amar Ujala was launched on April 18, 1948. Presently it has a strong base in Western UP and Uttaranchal.

[9] Rajasthan Patrika was first published as an evening newspaper on 7th March 1956. It became a morning newspaper in 1964.

[10] Navbharat Times was published on the 3rd of April, 1947. It was the only Hindi publication those days to use rotary machines for producing the paper. A skeletal staff of 12 people used to produce a 6 pager newspaper which was then sold for one anna. It was the first Hindi newspaper to have editions in Kolkata, Lucknow, Patna and Jaipur. However, later several of these editions were closed.

[11] Pravat Khabar was founded in August 1984 in Ranchi (presently the capital of Jharkhand). The newspaper unearthed Fodder Scam in Bihar 1992. By 2011 it had several editions- Ranchi (1984),  Jamshedpur (1995),  Patna(1996),  Dhanbad (1999),  Kolkata (2000),  Deoghar( 2004),  Siliguri (2006),  Muzaffarpur (2010) Bhagalpur (2010)

[12] Naidunia was founded in Indore, Madhya Pradesh on  5 June 1947 by Babu Labhchand Chhajlani and Shri Basantilal Sethia. By 2011 it had over 15 editions from several cities across several provinces.

[13] http://allindiaradio.org/airnews.html