On 1 July 2021, India’s oldest running newspaper, Mumbai Samachar, entered its 200th year of its journey. To mark this historical event, a webinar was organized by Gujarati Press Journalism Dwishtabdi Mahotsav Committee. Well-known editors and journalists across the world joined the event. It was decided to celebrate the first of July as Gujarati Journalism Day in the loving memory of Fardunji Marzban, the founder of Mumbai Samachar.
On this occasion, a video was presented by Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani congratulating Mumbai Samachar for entering its 200th year of its publication. He said, “It is a proud moment that Mumbai Samachar is the only newspaper published continuously for 200 years across the Asia. Gujarati journalism is glorious and a lot of editors and journalists have enriched it. Describing newspapers as an important sphere of operation he said newspapers play an important role for the betterment of the society. Journalism can also create history, if it writes history. Recalling Gandhiji's journalism, he said that journalism had a major role at the time of freedom struggle. He also recalled the social reformer Karshan Mulji and his contribution.
The committee’s logo was unveiled by renowned painter and designer of the logo Kanu Patel. President of the committee Kundan Vyas said this occasion is a proud moment not only for Mumbai
Samachar but for the Gujarati language and the Gujarati people. It is a noteworthy journey for a newspaper to run for so many years with the same consistency and respect. He added that generally awards are presented to journalists or editors, but honoring a newspaper is very rare. According to the RNI records, there are 1,926 Gujarati language newspapers being published in India out of which 108 are dailies and 993 weeklies.
Gujarati newspapers are also published outside Gujarat, which includes Mumbai and other foreign countries. Newspapers are playing an important role in preserving the Gujarati language and magnificent Gujarati culture. On this occasion, July 1 was declared as the Gujarati Journalism Day
by Shirish Kashikar, a member of the committee and director of NIMCJ.
Nilesh Dave, Editor, Mumbai Samachar, said, “Mumbai Samachar is not just India’s but Asia’s first newspaper to have entered its 200th year. To be part of a publication that has witnessed history spanning two centuries feels humbling. Explaining the growth of readership, Dave says we started with just 150 subscribers and today there are more than 10 million readers of Gujarati newspapers around the world. Speaking about Mumbai Samachar: Fardunji Marzaban’s initiatives, Ramesh Tanna said Fardunjee Marzaban established the first vernacular printing press in Bombay. He also started India’s oldest running periodical called the Bombay Samachar, which was printed primarily in Gujarati. He pioneered vernacular journalism in India.
On this occasion, the publisher and editor of Gujarat Samachar and Asian Voice C.B. Patel
shared his views on Gujarati journalism outside India. The webinar was inaugurated with
a prayer by a young singer Rishabh Kapadia. The entire program was managed by Ramesh Tanna. The webinar was attended by a large number of people, including Gujarati journalists and editors, committee members and administrators of various journalism institutes.
