Newspapers of Rajasthan : Features, Significance

Major newspapers of Rajasthan

1. Mazharul Saroor :-

• Beginning : 1849 AD
• Language : Hindi, Urdu
• It was published by Bharatpur state.
• It is considered to be the first newspaper of Rajasthan.

2. Roztul Talim or Rajputana Akhbar :-

• Beginning : 1856 AD
• Language : Hindi, Urdu
• It was published from Jaipur by Kanhaiyalal.

3. Jodhpur Government Gazette:-

• Beginning : 1864 AD
• It was published by Jodhpur state.

4. Marwar Gazette :-

• Beginning : 1866 AD
• It was published by Jodhpur state.

5. Marudhar Mitra :-

• Beginning : 1866 AD
• It was published by Jodhpur state.

6. Udaipur Gazette :-

• Beginning : 1869 AD
• It was published by the Mewar state.
• In 1879 AD, King Sajjan Singh of Mewar changed its name to “Sajjan Kirti Sudhakar”.

7. Desh Hitaishi :-

• Beginning : 1882 AD
• It was published from Ajmer by Munnalal Verma.

8. Rajputana Gazette :-

• Beginning : 1885 AD
• It was published from Ajmer by Maulvi Murad Ali (Bimaar).
• Maulvi Murad Ali was also known as Bimaar.
• Maulvi Murad Ali was sent to jail for criticizing the government.
• Female journalist ‘Moti Begum’ was also associated with this newspaper.

9. Rajputana Herald :-

• Beginning : 1885 AD
• Language : English
• It was Rajasthan’s first newspaper in English language.
• It was published from Ajmer by Hanuman Singh.
• It spread political consciousness in Rajasthan.
• It criticized Rajasthan’s Agent to Governor General (AGG) ‘Paulet’ and Jodhpur’s Prime Minister ‘Sir Pratap’.
  • Bengal Gazette :-
    • Beginning : 1779 AD
    • It was started from Calcutta by Irishman James Augustus Hickey.
    • It was India’s first newspaper in English language.
    • It strongly criticized the administration of Governor General Warren Hastings.

10. Rajasthan Samachar :-

• Beginning : 1889 AD
• It was published from Ajmer by Munshi Samarthdan Charan.
• It was earlier a weekly newspaper but in 1904 AD it was made a daily newspaper.
• Earlier, news related to Arya Samaj was published in it but later, political news was also published in it.
• In 1896 AD, the British removed the king of Jhalawar, ‘Jalim Singh-II’, so this newspaper criticized it.

11. Sarvhit :-

• Beginning : 1890 AD
• It was published by Bundi State.
• The printing number was also written on it.

12. Rajasthan Kesari :-

• Beginning : 1920 AD
• It was named after Kesari Singh Baharath.
• It was published from Wardha by Vijay Singh Pathik.
• Editor : Vijay Singh Pathik
• Sub-editor : Ramnarayan Chaudhary
• When Vijay Singh Pathik went to Ajmer, Satyadev Vidyalankar published it.
• It was given financial assistance by Jamnalal Bajaj.
• Over time, it was also published from Ajmer.
• It was closed in 1922 AD.

13. Naveen Rajasthan :-

• Beginning : 1922 AD
• It was published from Ajmer by Vijay Singh Pathik.
• Editor : Kishor Singh Verma
• It was the main newspaper of Rajasthan Seva Sangh.
• News of farmers’ movements were published in it.
• Its motto (slogan) :-
  • “I don’t want wealth and prosperity, I don’t want life to last or not.
  • If I want this, then it is that there should be no tyranny or oppression in the world.”
• It was banned in 1923 AD. Therefore, it was started with the name ‘Tarun Rajasthan’.

14. Tarun Rajasthan :-

• Beginning : 1923 AD
• It was published from Ajmer by Ramnarayan Chaudhary and Shobhalal Gupta.
• The name of the newspaper named ‘Naveen Rajasthan’ was changed to ‘Tarun Rajasthan’.
• News of farmer movements were published in it.
• Jaynarayan Vyas published it from Beawar.

15. Arya Martand :-

• Beginning : 1923 AD
• It was published from Ajmer by Ramsahay.
• Advertisements for widow remarriage were published free of cost in it.

16. Rajasthan/Rajasthan Weekly :-

• Beginning : 1923 AD
• It was published from Beawar by Rishi Dutt Mehta.
• It was started for awareness in Hadoti region.
• It was a weekly newspaper

17. Tyagbhoomi :-

• Beginning : 1927 AD
• It was published from Ajmer by Haribhau Upadhyay and Kshemanand Rahat.
• It promoted Gandhian ideology.
• It had a total of 64 pages, out of which 16 pages were related to women only.
• In this, the 16-page column for women was called ‘Aadhi Duniya’.

18. Young Rajasthan :-

• Beginning : 1929 AD
• It was published from Ajmer by Ramnarayan Chaudhary and Shobhalal Gupta.
• It was the English version of ‘Tarun Rajasthan’ newspaper.

19. Navjyoti :-

• Beginning : 2 October, 1936
• It was published from Ajmer by Ramnarayan Chaudhary.
• Later, it was published by Ramnarayan Chaudhary’s brother ‘Captain Durgaprasad Chaudhary’.

20. Navjeevan :-

• Beginning : 1939 AD
• It was published from Ajmer by Narayan Singh and Kanak Madhukar.
• Kanak Madhukar also published it from Udaipur.

21. Praja Sevak :-

• Beginning : 1940 AD
• It was published from Jodhpur by Achleshwar Prasad Sharma.

22. Jaibhoomi :-

• Beginning : 1940 AD
• It was published from Jaipur by Gulab Chand Kala.

23. Jaipur Samachar :-

• Beginning : 1942 AD
• It was published from Jaipur by Shyamlal Sharma.

24. Rajasthan Herald :-

• Beginning : 1942 AD
• It was published from Jaipur by Kesarlal Jain.

25. Prachar :-

• Beginning : 1942 AD
• It was published from Ajmer by Priyatam Kamdar.
• Its motto (slogan) :-
  • “Thieves, sinners and owls want darkness
  • But Prachar is the searchlight of the public.”

26. Lokvani :-

• Beginning : 1943 AD
• It was published from Jaipur by Devishankar Tiwari.
• It was started in the memory of Jamnalal Bajaj.

27. Riyasati :-

• It was published from Jodhpur by Sumanesh Joshi.
• It published the news of Jodhpur’s merger with Pakistan.

28. Vishwamitra :-

• It was published from Calcutta by Phoolchand Agarwal.
• News related to social reform was published in it.

29. Vaibhav :-

• It was published from Bharatpur by Jagannath Das Adhikari.

30. Vijay :-

• It was published from Jaisalmer.

31. Jaihind :-

• It was published from Kota.

32. Angibana :-

• It was published from Beawar.

33. Lok Sevak :-

• It was published by Pandit Abhinn Hari.

Significance of Newspapers

• Due to newspapers-
  • Political awareness spread in Rajasthan.
  • Rajasthan was able to join national movements.
  • Kisan and Prajamandal movements got strength.
  • Issues of public interest were published which put pressure on the kings.
  • Evils related to women were told. Hence, those evils were removed by the society which strengthened women empowerment.
  • Freedom of expression was promoted.
  • The British government could not suppress the voice of the people of the native princely states for long.
• Social reform organizations published them, which gave impetus to social reforms.