Hindi Journalism Day: 5 POWERFUL Hindi newspapers that CHALLENGED the British rule in India

1. On this day in 1826, Pt. Jugal Kishore Shukl started 'Udant Martand', first Hindi language newspaper. It is said that when the British government came to know that the newspaper was gaining traction among their Hindi speaking employees, it issued a decree to fire anyone caught reading Udant Martand.

2. 'Samachar Sudhavarshan', published and edited by Shyam Sunder Sen in 1854 was the first Hindi-daily. The newspaper vehemently opposed the British rule over India and even the British court agreed that the resistance of the newspaper was completely justified in the sense that the power of the country was still legally/technically vested in Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar.

3. One of the pioneers of Hindi journalism, Pratap was started by Ganesh Shankar 'Vidyarthi' from Kanpur in 1913. Pratap's printing press was used to house gun powder and other materials used for making bombs to assist in the freedom struggle.

4. The first edition of Karamveer came in the year 1920 from Jabalpur under the editorship of Pt. Makhanlal Chaturvedi. In its first edition, Chaturvedi wrote, "In our eyes, Indian life is seen bound by the chains of slavery. Will try with purity of heart that those chains may slip or be blessed to fall into pieces."

5. Navjivan was originally founded and published by Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru. Navjivan carried Gandhiji’s ideas and messages during critical events of the Indian freedom struggle such as the Non-Cooperation Movement, and the Civil Disobedience Movement.