Sunday, 14 May 2017
History of Regional Language Journalism in India | Bengali
I had written this series in Vidura serially from 2011-13. Now I am updating it. Should the readers feel, there is something is being missed, kindly feel free to comment.
History of Regional Language Journalism | Dr. Mrinal Chatterjee
Bengali
Bengal, especially Calcutta was the cradle of journalism in India. The
first newspaper of India Hickey’s Bengal
Gazette was published in Kolkata on 29 January 1780. So were the first four
non-English newspapers- in Bengali, Urdu, Hindi and Persian. Several language
newspapers owe their birth to Kolkata in some form or the other; for example
the Odia types were manufactured in Serampore, a suburb of Kolkata. The
Christian missionaries from the Serampore Mission in Bengal went to Assam and
brought out the first Assamese magazine.
 |
| Samachar Darpan |
The year 1818 marks the beginning of Bengali (and regional language)
journalism. Samachar Darpan was the
first newspaper in Bengali language. It was published by Serampore Mission
press on May 23, 1818. Started by missionaries Carey and Marshman, it began as
a monthly, but soon converted into a weekly. It carried both Indian and foreign
news. It became bilingual in 1829, carrying Bengali and English news in
parallel columns. After surviving a number of crises, it closed down in 1852.
Digdarshan was also published in
1818. In 1821 a remarkable Bengali journal Sambad
Kaumadi was published under the patronage of Rammohan Roy. But it did not
survive for long. However Raja Rammohan Roy had a profound influence on the
social reform agenda pursued by the progressive intellectuals and journalists
across the country. He encouraged the publication of several journals and
papers.
Sambad Pravakar was the first Bengali
daily newspaper published in 1839, patronized by Iswar Chandra Gupta. It was
followed by Tattobodhini, published
by Akhya Kumar Dutta in 1843.
The other Bengali journals during this time were Samachar Chandrika, Bangadoot, Sambad Pravakar, Vividhartha Sangrah (1851), Masik Patra (1854), and Som Prakash (1851).
The first weekly within the territory of today's Bangladesh, Rangpur Bartabaha, was published in 1847
from Rangpur and the first weekly from Dhaka, Dacca News, was published in 1856. The long lasting Dhaka Prakash was first published in
1861 and Dhaka Darpan in 1863.
The early Bengali papers took up the cause of the oppressed workers in
the indigo plantation, and of the peasants. Notable among them were the Som
Prakash, the Grambartha Prakashika and the Amrita Bazar Patrika
(before it became an English weekly). They created problems for the government
with their exposure of the exploitation of labour in plantations and on the
fields, and violent denunciation of the European planters and the government.
In the course of this campaign, a number of newspapers were started in villages
and districts. Bengali journalism triggered and carried the message of
renaissance. The Bramho Samaj, a
socio-religious sect effected reforms and used newspapers as its vehicle. Prarthana Samaj in Maharastra and Arya Samaj in Northern and Western India
did the same later.
End 19th century saw some remarkable newspapers coming out
from Bengal. The Sulava Samachar of
the Indian Reform Association was started in 1870 by Keshab Chandra Sen. It was
a weekly, priced one pice per copy. It had a circulation of 3,500 copies and
was the most popular weekly of the period. Another journal which was also
popular was the Halishaar Patrika
edited by Babu Kisari Mohan Ganguli. The first newspaper to espouse the cause
of the working class, Bharat Sharmajibi,
was started as a weekly at about this time. The first Bengali daily to adopt
modern methods of production was the Basumati
(1880) which was edited by Krishna Kamal Bhattacharya. Surendranath Banerejee
published Bengalee. The editor of Bengalee faced contempt of court
proceedings and imprisonment when it voiced public indignation in 1883 against
a High Court Judge who ordered Hindu idols to be produced in court as evidence.
The paper which became a daily in 1900 was the first language paper to
subscribe to Reuter’s foreign news service. An associate of the Bengalee was the Nayak (1908), published by Panch Cowrie Bannerjee. Through the Bande Mataram, another important
newspaper of this period Aurobindo Ghose proclaimed his philosophy and the ‘new
path’ which meant passive resistance as an instrument of political action. In
fact Bengali papers were the earliest to demand self-Government and attack the
Moderate leaders of the nationalist movement with timidity and lack of courage
to demand what was the birthright of Indians. The division of Bengal in 1905
had a profound impact on the Bengali press, which not only opposed it along
with most of the nationalist press in other languages all over the country, but
became severely critical of the British government- at times going over the
board. Three papers which came on the scene after the partition as champions of
revolution were Sandhya, Nagasakhti and Yugantar. The Yugantar
founded in 1906 by Barendra Kumar Ghose, brother of Aurobindo achieved great
popularity.
On March 13, 1922 came the Ananda
Bazar Patrika, started by Mrinal Kanti Ghosh, Prafulla Kumar Sarkar and
Suresh Chandra Majumdar. Together with its English counterpart, Hindustan Standard (launched on 1937),
it played a glorious role in the freedom movement.
 |
| Ananda Bazar Patrika |
After Gandhi took over the leadership of the national movement, the Bengalee and Nayak which were the organs of the Moderates, lost ground rapidly
in spite of official support because of the tremendous pressure exerted by C.
R. Das who was the undisputed Congress leader in Bengal. In 1926 a weekly Atmasakti and in 1927 a daily Banglar Katha was published as associate
publications of the English daily Forward.
However, all three ceased publication in 1929. The three newspapers
reappeared in different names: Liberty,
Bangabani and Nabasakti, but could not survive for long.
Another daily Jugantar was
started in 1937 by the management of the Amrita
Bazar Patrika. Two more dailies were published in 1939: The Bharat, founded by Makhan lal Sen and
the Krishak, the organ of the Krishak
Praja party. In 1941 A.K.Fazlul Huq started the publication of the daily Navajug. In 1946 the official organ of
the Communist party of India the Swadhinata
was published. In the same year, Swaraj was
published with Satyendra Nath Mazumdar as the editor.
Bengali papers suffered after the partition in 1947 because they lost a
good slice of their readers in the new East Pakistan, which in 1971 became a
new independent country: Bangladesh. Notable newspapers started in the first
two decades after the independence included Loksevak
(1948) and Jansevak owned by the
Congress leader, Atulay Ghosh.
Several daily newspapers
appeared in the 1980s. Established in 1980 in Siligudi, Uttar Banga Sambad claims to be the first daily newspaper in West
Bengal to be published from outside Kolkata. Suhas Talukder, a lecturer in
Economics turned journalist was the founder editor. By the new millennium it
emerged as the largest circulated newspaper in North Bengal. Among other newspapers published in this
decade were Aajkal (1981) and Bartaman (1984). In the Nineties, Sanbad Pratidin (August 9, 1992) was
published.
In 1984, there were 1662 Bengali newspapers as against 1583 in 1983. Of
them 52 were dailies and 433 weeklies. By 2013-14 the total number of publication
grew to 5089 as per the Registrar of Newspapers in India (RNI) Press In India report.
The circulation increased to 1,13,35,535. Out of the total 3,780 registered
newspapers, 179 were daily, 19 were Bi/Tri Weekly, 806 were Weekly, 815 were
Fortnightly, and 1010 were monthly. Rest were different periodicity.
Apart from West Bengal’s (3442), Bengali language newspapers and periodical
are also getting published from other states like Assam (125), Bihar (7), Chhattisgarh
(3), Delhi (37), Gujarat (1), Jharkhand (4), Kerala (2), Maharashtra (13), Meghalaya
(2), Odisha (1), Pondicherry (1), Rajasthan (1), Tamilnadu (3), Tripura (113)
and Uttar Pradesh (11).
Regarding the ownership, out of the total 179 dailies, one is owned by
firm/partnership, 134 are being owned by individuals, 8 are being owned by
Public Limited Companies, 24 are owned by Private party, 2 are controlled by
the state government, 6 are owned by society/association and rest 4 are owned by
trusts.
Radio: Calcutta was the second place in India to have a radio
station after Bombay. Bombay station was inaugurated on July 23, 1927. Calcutta
station followed on August 26, 1927.
By mid-2011 there were about 30-35 stations including AIR (All India
Radio) and Private Radio Stations. Besides Kolkata, there are AIR stations in Asansol,
Balurghat, Chinsurah, Darjeeling, Farakka, Kurseong, Midnapore, Murshidabad, Purulia, Shanthiniketan
and Siliguri. There are several Private
Radio Stations like Big FM, Red FM, Friends FM, Fever FM, Radio Meow, Amar FM,
Power FM, Nine 91.9 FM, High 92.7 FM and Radio Misty in West Bengal. There were
campus radios like Radio SRFTI (Satyajit Ray Film and TV Institute) and Radio
JU (School of Media, Jadavpur University, Kolkata).
The estimated radio market in West Bengal is around 50 crore and it is
expected to go high after more number of Private Radio stations come up and
allowed news broadcasting permission.
Television: The first Television
station in Calcutta was set up by Doordarshan in 1975. In June, 1984, Calcutta
Doordarshan entered the world of colour transmission.
By mid-2011, there were about 15 satellite television channels airing
Bengali news programmes including Doordarshan, ETV(Bangla), Channel 10, Star
Ananda, News Time, Kolkata TV, Tara Newz, 24 Ghanta, Mahuaa Khobor, NE Bangla,
CTVN Plus, R Plus, etc.
According to FICCI report (2012), Bengali TV industry is expected to
attract around INR 780 crores in advertising revenue. And out of the total INR
780 crores advertisement revenues, 600 crore will be from Bengali general entertainment
channels (GECs) and rest 180 will be from other sources. And it was expected by
then in 2012 that by 2016, the advertisement revenues of Bengali television
industry will reach around 1900 crores. Bengali TV also generates an amount of Rs
950 crores from subscription. It is expected that after digitization, the
subscription revenue will be considerably more.
New Media: Bengali Journalism took
to new media in a big way by late 1990s. By end 2016 almost all major
newspapers had their presence on cyber world with several having their e-paper.
There were numerous Bengal and Bengali Diaspora-centric websites. Several media
houses have started disseminating news on mobile platform as either separate
service on payment or add on to their existing service.
***
Saturday, 13 May 2017
Column | Window Seat
Window Seat | Mrinal Chatterjee
Museum
Museums
are important, because they not only preserve the past but also are one of the
means of cultural exchange, which leads to enrichment of cultures and
development of mutual understanding. This in turn brings peace among peoples.
Every
year World Museum Day is celebrated around 18 May. It is heartening to note
that participation in International Museum Day is growing. In 2016, more than 35,000 museums all over
the world participated in the event in some 145 countries. (To know more
see: http://network.icom.museum/international-museum-day)
The
theme chosen for 2017 is ‘Museum and Contested Histories: Saying the
unspeakable in Museums’. The theme is important and relevant in present times
in India as myth tends to replace recorded history. In a situation like this,
museums work as vanguards of truth.
India
is perhaps one of the largest repositories of tangible heritage in the world. A
major part of this heritage is preserved in her monuments, sites and
antiquities of varied nature. The range of such relics, from the past is vast
and covers a long span of time: prehistoric to colonial times. But ironically
we have very poor sense of history bordering almost on apathy. That is the
reason why we need to have more awareness for building, maintaining and
enriching museums to preserve our heritage.
Indian Museum, Kolkata, established
in 1814 is the oldest and the largest museum in India. there are many unique museums in India. From Rail Museum in
Mysore and Delhi to Toilet Museum in Delhi (run by
the Sulabh International, which is dedicated to the global history of
sanitation and toilets) the list is impressive.
But
even as Archaeological Survey of India, State Archaeology Departments and other
bodies are trying to preserve they can only do
little looking at the scale of the things. Moreover most of the
artifacts have not been documented in a uniform format which can provide a
common platform to the scholars, researchers and planners for reference,
research and its management in a diligent manner.
To
address these issues, National Mission on Monuments and Antiquities (NMMA) has
been set up by Government of India with the objective to document unprotected
monuments and sites from both secondary sources and antiquities from primary
source in a prescribed format. There are various available sources for
documenting this heritage which needs to be utilized and collated through a
Mission approach to create a credible National data base. This will take shape
of State wise as well as National register of unprotected monuments, sites and
antiquities. (To know more about NMMA
see http://nmma.nic.in/nmma/antiquity_event.do?method=news)
Another
important initiative is The National Portal and Digital Repository for Indian
Museums. Developed and hosted by
Human-Centred Design & Computing Group, C-DAC, Pune as per the agreement
with Ministry of Culture, Government of India it has developed JATAN: Virtual
Museum software which is used for creating the digital collections in various
museums and digital archival tools that are used in background for managing the
national digital repository of museums.
Presently
as a part of the digitization efforts of the Ministry of Culture, Government of
India the digitized collections of 10 selected Museums, are placed in the
digital repository for Indian Museums and also on the National Portal developed
by C-DAC, Pune in consultation with the Ministry of Culture along with
technical help from the Art Institute of Chicago in the first phase. The ten
museums are: Allahabad Museum, National Museum, New Delhi, Indian Museum,
Kolkata, Victoria Memorial Hall, Kolkata, Salar Jung Museum, Hyderabad, Goa
Museum, ASI, Nagarjunakonda Museum, ASI Hyderabad, NGMA, New Delhi, Mumbai and
Bengaluru.
The
plan is to subsequently make available the digitized collections of the
remaining museums under the Ministry of Culture/Archaeological Survey of India
also on the National Portal. (To know more see http://www.museumsofindia.gov.in/repository/page/about )
We
must know the past. There lies the key to the future.
Soft drinks
These days soft drinks are considered hep.
Where ever you go, any social do, you are offered soft drinks. Thanks to the
television advertisement urging the youth to drink soft drinks, kids are
guzzling it by gallon. The grownups usually indulge the kids.
Soft drinks impact our health in more ways than
we tell ourselves. It impacts our tooth enamel. It affects the functioning of
the kidney. It makes us fat. It increases risk of diabetes. It impacts heart
and reproductive organs.
Despite everything we continue to guzzle
aerated soft drinks. I am beginning to believe that we are a race with suicidal
tendency.
Cognitive dissonance
You have often heard this: Cognitive dissonance is growing in
modern times. Cognitive dissonance is a fancy term for mental disharmony or a
lack of peace of mind. If we consistently fail to do what we know is right,
and/or keep doing what we know is wrong, we will lose peace of mind and
experience cognitive dissonance.
Because we can't stand living this way, instead of correcting
our behavior, we repress and deny our feelings, rationalize our behavior,
justify our actions, start believing our own lies—and end up with a hardened
heart and dead conscience. It is a dangerous course to follow, which leads to
self-destruction.
Therefore do what your conscience says is right.
Tail piece: Kim and Trumph
North Korea Premier
Kim
Jong-un announced in a news conference that North Korea would be sending a man
to the sun within ten years!
(Courtesy: Social
Media forward)
Tailpiece
Meine
Sapne Me Bhawanji Se Puchha- Tumne Roti Ko Insaan Se V Kyun Bada Banaya…..??
Bhagawan Ne Kaha- Meine Toh Insaan Ko Hi Bada
Banaya Thaa, Magar Insaan Ne Bhukh Ko Bada Bana Diya…..Bhukh Ke Chalte Roti Toh
Kya, Daaru-Saaru, Meet-Murga, Rokda-Paisa Sab Mahan Ban Gaya…!!
(
Courtesy: Sudhansu Deo)
***
The columnist, a
journalist-turned media academician lives in Dhenkanal, a dist HQ town n
Central Odisha. He can be contacted at mrinalchatterjee@ymail.com
Sunday, 7 May 2017
Column | Window Seat
Window Seat
| Mrinal Chatterjee
National Train Day
In USA this year National Train Day will
be celebrated on 13 May, Saturday (it is celebrated on the Saturday closest to
May 10, details in http://www.nationaltrainday.com/about/). Hundreds of
grassroots events would be held in communities across the nation. It is a
celebration of trains and the different ways trains touch the lives of people
around the country.
I strongly feel that we should also
celebrate an Annual Train Day in India. Besides being one among few other
national institutions which hold the country together, trains in India are more
closely linked to an average common man's life than any other mode of
transport.
Consider the scale of operation of
Indian Railways: it has 115,000 km of track length, runs 12,617 trains to carry
over 30 million passengers daily – equivalent to moving the entire population
of Australia – connecting more than 7,172 stations. It has the world's fourth
largest railway network after those of the United States, Russia and China. The
railways carry over 3 million tons of freight daily that is like moving 411
Eiffel towers daily.
Besides the gigantic scale of
operation- it is the pan-Indian character, that makes Indian Railways a truly
national symbol. But interestingly it was started by the British rulers for
commercial gain.
The plan for the introduction of a
rail system was first mooted in 1832. However, no action was taken for over a
decade. In the year 1844, private entrepreneurs were allowed to launch a rail
system by Lord Hardinge, who was the Governor-General of India. By the year
1845, two companies were formed and the East India Company was requested to
support them in the matter. The credit from the UK investors led to the hasty
construction of a rail system over the next few years. On 22nd December 1851,
the first train came on the track to carry the construction material at Roorkee
in India. With a passage of one and a half years, the first passenger train
service was introduced between Bori Bunder, Bombay (now Mumbai) and Thane- a
distance of 34 km on 16th April 1853. The train with 14 railway carriages,
carrying around 400 guests, left Bori Bunder at 3:30 p.m. that day. It was
declared a public holiday then. With
that the journey of the Railways in India began.
In 1880, the rail network acquired a
route mileage of about 14,500 km, mostly working through Bombay, Madras (now
Chennai) and Calcutta (now, Kolkata), three major port cities.
By 1895, India had started
manufacturing its own locomotives. In no time, different princely states
including Mayurbhanj in Odisha assembled their independent rail systems and the
network extended to the regions including Assam, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh.
In 1901, a Railway Board was formed though the administrative power was
reserved for the Viceroy, Lord Curzon. The Railway Board worked under the
guidance of the Deptt of Commerce and Industry. Later it became a separate
ministry and had the distinction of the only ministry to present its budget
separately in the parliament.
When India got independence 42
independent railway systems with thirty-two lines were merged in a single unit
and were acknowledged as Indian Railways. The existing rail networks were
forfeited for zones in 1951 and 6 zones were formed in 1952. By 1985, the
diesel and electric locomotives took the place of steam locomotives. The whole
railway reservation system was rationalized with computerization in 1995.
Railways touch more lives in India in
many ways than in any other country of the world. Therefore, a day should be
marked for its celebration annually. It could be on 16 April 1853 when the
first passenger train was run in India.
Hypocrite
We, human beings are basically
hypocrites; Indians particularly so. As Craig Olson writes in his book The Casual Christian, "We are
willing to believe that an inanimate, impersonal universe is more capable of
producing human life than Almighty God, yet we freely offer prayers to God
asking Him to shape events on our behalf and we hold firmly to a belief in the
human soul and an afterlife. We embrace the notion of survival of the fittest,
yet we ask for mercy for our weakness. We believe that a process called natural
selection spawned life out of chaos, yet we depend on the world to be
predictable and orderly every morning when we get out of bed."
In this book the author takes a look
at modern church practices and contemporary Christian ministry through the lens
of apostolic practices. He shows how biblical teaching has simply been set
aside in preference for the prevailing practices and values of a secular
culture.
Similar trend can be observed in
practically almost all religions, particularly in India. Rites and rituals have
taken precedence over spirituality. Places of worship- small and big and of all
major religions have mushroomed on government land, by the side of national and
State Highways. In Odisha at Manguli Chhak, a major intersection of two national
Highways, (NH 5 and NH52) where hundreds of commuters wait to catch buses, two
new temples have been constructed recently; but nobody thought of building a
toilet complex- which is a bare necessity there. We immerse our deities in
ponds and rivers, polluting the water body. We worship river Ganga and Yamuna
as goddess but do not flinch to discharge raw sewerage into it. The tanriks
and babas swindle us every day; and
we allow ourselves to be duped. We have witnessed countless babas and swamis
indulging in acts from sexual escapades to financial impropriety. But we seem
to never learn. We swarm near them, allow them to take us for a ride. And when
we are swindled we erupt in rage, ransack their ashrams and after a while again
fall prey to some other swindler.
Tailpiece: Bahubali Effect
Biwi: Suno, aaj office se jaldo ana,
Bahubali 2 dekhne challenge
Pati: Nehi aya to?
Biwi: Agar time se aye to BJP ke
chunab chinha se swagat karungi. Aur late kiya to fir Congress ki symbol se..
Aur jyada late kari to fir AAP ka symbol darwaje ke pichhe hai… Dhyan rahe…
(Courtesy:
Social Media)
***
The author, a journalist turned media
academician and fiction writer lives in
Dhenkanal, a dist. HQ town in Central Odisha. He can be contacted at
mrinalchatterjee@ymail.com
7.5.17
This column is published every Sunday in Gangtok based English daily Sikkim Express and posted in www.orissadiary.com
7.5.17
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