The Assam Tribune: a timeless leader
Premier English daily of North East India
You can call it the mainstay of newspapers in north-east India or praise it for
its role in various social causes including the Indian freedom struggle. But in
addition to all is a salute of appreciation to The Assam Tribune, a brainchild of
late Radha Govinda Baruah, for being a living legend that strives from generation
to generation to enliven the root of the region’s newspaper industry. A recent visit of
All About Newspapers assistant editor Jyaneswar Laishram to Tribune Buildings in Guwahati was greeted warmly by TG Baruah, chairman; PG Baruah, managing director and editor; SG Baruah, director; and Wilson Mathews, chief manager
of The Assam Tribune who jointly share some vital elements of the newspaper.
T G Baruah
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T
he Assam Tribune represents a tradition that forms the backbone of the north-east India’s newspaper industry. Legacy of the newspaper dates back to pre-independence India when Radha Govinda Baruah, an enterprising person in Dibrugrah, first conceived the idea of launching an English daily. With some help from his friends and well wishers, he brought out an English weekly newspaper instead of a daily on August 4, 1939 under the editorship of Lakshminath Phookan, former editorial staff of Hindustan Standard, a leading daily of Anand Bazar Group, Kolkata.
When the newspaper first struck the society, it was clearly pronounced the ideology of The Assam Tribune to persuade the people to realise that there is not only room but also an urgent need for a new journal with awareness of immediate condition in the country and abroad. During Quit India Movement, The Assam Tribune lent full support, the Congress strongly condemning the repressive measures of the British. Today, the newspaper celebrates Golden Jubilee (50th Anniversary) and the newspaper’s age-old value of tradition is still keeping up by sons and grandson of Radha Govinda Baruah. “Changes have taken place in cultural and geographical settings of the region. But we should let people understand the value we should preserve and that’s how media (newspapers) take initiatives,” remarks TG Baruah.
The landmarks
Completing a span of fifty years since its inception as weekly newspaper, The Assam Tribune converted into a daily on September 30, 1946 as the first English newspaper in north-east India. Its branches opened in Shillong (the then capital of Assam) and Kolkata. Subsequently, the expansion continued with the opening of offices in major cities like New Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai and Kanpur intending to link the newspaper for coverage of national events.
And in 1956, The Assam Tribune opened London office, which was inaugurated by the then Indian High Commission Vijyalakshmi Pandit. “The Assam Tribune is the first newspaper in the region as well as the country to implement the Wage Board Recommendations,” mentioned Wilson adding that the circulation of the newspaper is not only confined in north-east region but also across all over India covering major cities like New Delhi and Mumbai.
The Tribune family
With the view to fulfil the needs of rural people in the region, The Assam Tribune management decided to launch the weekly Asam Bani, which published its inaugural issue on July 01, 1955.
And another vernacular addition in the Tribune family was Dainik Assam introduced on August 04, 1965. In fact, such new Assamese title was necessary to serve the people and the state in a way that it would improve reader friendliness with people who are not familiar with English. “Apart from our three titles, we do undertake some commercial printings from other companies in the region. Since many commercial printers have been popped up around the city, we generally don’t pay deeper attention in this,” reasons Wilson.
Wilson Mathews and SG Baruah
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The strength within
A family of 400 employees belonged to different departments including production forms the company’s strength. Commenting on the production facility, Wilson says, “We have Orient Super web offset that can print 24 pages (including ten pages in colour). This press is also able to produce back-to-back colour printing for our four-page supplements in The Assam Tribune,” explains Wilson. The newspaper recently introduced a new weekly supplement Young Planet for children of standard I-X.
Wilson also mentions the company’s pre-press unit equipped with Kodak Trendsetter News 70 thermal platesetter. “We use inks of DIC (Dainippon Ink & Chemicals Inc) and Kodak thermal plates while chemicals from Technova and newsprint both indigenous and imported ones 40 gsm,” he adds while asked about the consumables.
Changes taking place in the industry bring numerous titles in and around the region. But the value set by The Assam Tribune has been a priceless treasure to be preserved in the centuries to come.
