Most popular nd circulated morning daily hindi newspaper published simultaneously from Jagdalpur (Chhattisgarh) and Raipur (Chhattisgarh) covering the whole state of Chhattisgarh along with parts of Orissa & Andhra Pradesh. Dandakaranya Samachar, the spokesman of Dandakaranya, the tribal populated area of 80000 Sq. miles comprising of undivided Bastar district of Madhya Pradesh, Koraput & Kalahand
i district of Orissa, Khambam district of Andhra Pradesh and Chandrapur district of Maharashtra, was established at Jagdalpur the district headquarter of Bastar in then Madhya Pradesh (now Chhattisgarh) on 12th January 1959 by Mr.Tushar Kanti Bose the Publisher, Printer and Proprietor of the newspaper.That time it was a bilingual weekly published in Hindi, English and Halbi ( the local dialect of Bastar ) which was an unique production of its type, most popular among the people woking in different projects of Dandakaranya Development Authority and DBK Railway in the area besides the other areas of the state and the country. It was the first newspaper of the region started amidst the lack and shortage of fundamental amenities needed for a newspaper such as infrastructure, skilled manpower, raw materials and many other things.Inspite of those unfavourable circumstances, Dandakaranya Samachar surpassed all hurdles on its way without any break to reach this glorious 56th year of publication today.The mentionable part here is that Dandakaranya Samachar not only managed to survive among those unfavourable circumstances but it gradually went on widening its size and reach.It was promoted to biweekly in 1980 and then to daily on 12th January, 1985. On 15th August 1994 Dandakaranya Samachar bagged two more achievements when it became the first daily to be printed in Web Offset Machine in any tribal district of the country and secondly Mrs.Manikuntala Bose who took over as the Editor of the newspaper became the first lady Editor of any daily newspaper in the country.Mr.Tushar Kanti Bose became the Editor in Chief from the day. Today Dandakaranya Samachar is being published simultaneously from Jagdalpur (Bastar) and Raipur (Capital of the state) with multi colour supplements covering whole of Chhattisgarh,Orissa and other parts of the country.Different souvenirs are also being published every year . The moral of journalism that is being maintained by Dandakaranya Samachar since its inception is “ Independent Thought, Impartial Expression ”.Being free from political influence it has always worked with an open outlook. Moreover, Dandakaranya Samachar in its journey has never limited itself to news articles only but has always highlighted and encouraged the educative and social awakening programmes to enlighten the people of the region.It has also encouraged the literary beginners by providing space for their writings etc. Dandakaranya Samachar has always believed in positive journalism and this has been in it’s value system for all these years.The newspaper is resolved to maintain the same in the years to come by changing with times but without making any compromise with the values which has brought it so far.May be this is the reason for which Dandakaranya Samachar has made such a position in this field, that is not easy for all to achieve.
