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100, and not out

GOES A LONG WAY A copy of the Bidar Gazette magazine dated January 16, 1909

This advertisement appeared in the Subhe–Bahar literary magazine in Mysore in 1909. “Please read the ‘Urdu Weekly Bidar Gazette’ published from Mohammadabad Bidar. Edited by Meher Ali, it is in its third yea r of publication and contains news from the Nizam State and speaks about national and international issues. It provides complete information on topics like education, culture, ethics, religious reform and history. The subscription rates are Rs. 12 per annum for zamindars, the rich and the advocates, Rs. 6 for the general purchasers and Rs. 3.75 for students and the poor.”

This shows that Bidar had an enviable heritage of journalism. October marks the centenary of Urdu journalism in Bidar. In fact, it marks the centenary of journalism in Hyderabad-Karnataka region as no attempts were made to start a newspaper or magazine in any language at that time.

Historians consider Bidar as the second capital of Urdu journalism in the State. “Khasimul Akhbar published in 1862 in Bangalore is the first Urdu newspaper of Karnataka. Bidar Gazette, first published on October 8, 1907, was the first journalistic venture in any language in the Hyderabad Karnataka,” says Anees Siddiqui, researcher and author of the book “The History of Urdu Journalism in Karnataka”.

Bidar Gazette had 12 pages with three columns. Each column had 40 lines. Each page contained a separate topic. Each page had pointers like Provincial, National, International, Culture, Religion and Health.

It used to exchange information and pages from other papers like Khadiyan, Niyar, Rehnuma-E-Taleem, Moradabad, and Lahore. The editors did not pay for the copies of other papers. They bartered copies of their pape rs for other papers. Apart from staff correspondents, the magazine invited experts to contribute.

The earliest available copy of the Bidar Gazette is of January 16, 1909. It is preserved in the Mohammad Gawan Urdu Arabic library in Bidar. Unfortunately, Bidar Gazette stopped after nearly a decade of publication.

Bidar readers had to wait for a long time for the second paper. Anti-Nizam activists and revolutionaries started some wall papers in 1940s. They were imaginatively named as Bala Ghat, Mohammad Gawan, Rafi and Jinnah . They were regularly brought out and pasted on the same walls each time.

Insaniyat, the first weekly after independence was started by Moinuddin Moinabadi. The magazine was short lived. “We faced a revenue crunch,” says Mr. Moinabadi, the last of the surviving senior journalists of the district. Other senior Urdu journalists have been Mukhtar Ahmed Gilani, Abdul Sattar Adib, Mohsin Kamal, M.A. Hamid, Quaisar Rehman and S.I. Quadri. Mr. Gilani was the founder president of the Journalists Association in Bidar.

Abdul Wahid’s Waqt Ka Paigam began as a weekly in 1964. It was turned into a daily for sometime before it closed in 1968. Poet and former MLC Mohsin Kamal started Gawan, a Urdu daily in 1968. However, it did not continue after his death in the 80s.

Other papers that did not have a long life span were Behmani Samachar of Sabagat Ulla, Aftab–e-Bidar of Fadeedullah Alfi, Basat-e -Hayat of Shamsul Islam. M.A. Hamid started the English we ekly Hyderabad Karnataka from Gulbarga in 1960. He later converted it into a Urdu daily and began publishing from Bidar in 1979. It is still running successfully. S.I. Quadri’s Adabbi Akkas started in 1984 is s till in publication. His son S. S. Quadri edits it now.

MLC Quazi Arshad Ali started the Surkh Zameen daily in 1993. It is an uninterrupted publication since then. It is well read both in the city and outside.

Even non-Muslims have been active in Urdu journalism. R. Ganapath Rao started Rafiq, a Urdu newspaper soon after independence. “Bidar has the largest number of Urdu schools in the State. It means the district produces so many people who can read and write Urdu every year. The readership of Urdu newspapers is also growing year on year,” says Mr. Arshad Ali.

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