Sulabh Samachar
Type | Weekly Circulation | 8,000 |
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Sulabh Samachar (Bengali: সুলভ সমাচার, Sulov Somachar) was a Bengali weekly, published from Kolkata, a pioneering journalistic venture in 19th century Bengal.
Indian Reform Association
Cheap Newspaper
Sulabh Samachar was started on 16 November 1870. It was priced one pice (the smallest unit of currency). Umanath Gupta was the first editor of this cheap journal for the information of the masses. At the time there were about a dozen similar pice newspapers in Kolkata.
Initially 1,000 copies were printed. The circulation increased to 5,000 in two weeks and in two months to 8,000. It was avidly read by common people who were for brought in touch with events that were happening around them.
The weekly dealt with diverse subjects such as the miserable condition of the peasants, the administrative system, measures for the uplift of the common people and their education, abuses of the zamindari system and exploitation by the zamindars, abuses of the British administration, importance of science and scientific explanations in elementary form, diseases of the human body and their remedies, and prices of commodities, apart from general news from urban and rural areas.
Further reading
- History of the Brahmo Samaj by Sivanath Sastri, Sadharan Brahmo Samaj, 211 Bidhan Sarani, Kolkata – 700 026.
- Keshub Chunder Sen: A Study in Encounter and Response by Kashinath Kayal, Minerva Associates (Publications) Pvt. Ltd., 7B Lake Place, Kolkata 700 029.
- Keshub Chunder Sen by P.K.Sen, Centenary Committee, Peace Cottage, 84 Upper Circular Road, Kolkata.