A century is not enough: India’s oldest running newspaper, Mumbai Samachar, enters its 200th year
On July 1, India’s oldest newspaper, Mumbai Samachar, will enter its 200th year.
The Gujarati newspaper, whose office is located in an iconic red building at Horniman Circle in the Mumbai Fort area, was first published in 1822. It was founded by a Parsi scholar Fardoonji Murazban, who had experimented with various other post options before landing on this successful draw.
Formerly known as Bombay Samachar, in Gujarati, the newspaper has always been published as Mumbai na Samachar. It started out as a weekly edition, mainly covering the movement of goods across the sea and other business news, such as the sale of goods, and went through several hands until bankruptcy handed it over to the family. Cama in 1933.
La Cama Norton and Co used to provide ink and newsprint for the publication. When the possibility of a liquidation arose, the court decided to transfer the company to Muncherji Cama to avoid a situation where the employees would lose their jobs. Hormusji Cama, who took over the management of Mumbai Samachar almost 40 years ago, said: “It is great that we have managed to survive for 200 years and although none of us can survive, and even the print may not survive, hopefully Mumbai Samachar will be 300 years old.
Mumbai Samachar is best known to the Mumbai public as the remarkable colonial-era red building that houses his office and printing house, outside which Cama’s vintage cars are often parked.
Currently, over 200 staff and offices in four other centers outside Mumbai publish a single daily edition of the newspaper, making it the oldest surviving vernacular newspaper in India. Mumbai Samachar also publishes a panchang (astrological almanac).
Editor-in-chief Nilesh Dave, who joined the group in 2003, said being part of Mumbai Samachar was his lifelong dream. Dave said that although the entire printing industry has been under financial and traffic strains due to the pandemic, “the increase in fake news at WhatsApp University means people are going trust the newspapers. Print news is the only medium where you can’t get fake news ”.
