Sakal

Sakal
सकाळ

"Rise of the future newspaper" (उदय भविष्यपत्राचा)
Type Daily newspaper
Format Broadsheet
Owner(s) Sakal Media Group
Publisher Sakal Media Group
Editor-in-chief Shriram Pawar
Founded 1 January 1932
Language Marathi
Headquarters 595, Budhwar Peth, Pune, Maharashtra,  India
Circulation 15,00,000 Daily
Sister newspapers Agro one
Website http://www.esakal.com

Sakal (Marathi: सकाळ, meaning "Morning") is a Marathi-language daily newspaper by Sakal Media Group with its headquarters in Pune, Maharashtra, India. Sakal is the flagship newspaper of the foundation publication, Sakal Media Group. It ranks among the top 10 language dailies of India.[1] It is Alexa's top ranked web-site in Marathi category.[2] Dr. N. P. aka Nanasaheb Parulekar was the founder of Sakal. It is published in the cities of Pune, Mumbai, Kolhapur, Sangli, Nashik, Aurangabad, Nanded, Solapur, Nagpur, Satara, Amravati and Jalgaon.[3] The group’s other operations consist of regional newspapers, magazines and Internet publishing, together employing over 3000 people. It holds one of the largest Marathi websites, eSakal, which reaches to 300,000 Internet users across globe[4]

History

Daily Sakal's first issue. Published on 1 January 1932.

Sakal was a classic newspaper of the pre-independence nationalist period. Its idealistic founder, Dr. N.P. alias Nanasaheb Parulekar had been influenced by American newspapers during his years at Columbia University. By introducing Sakal (morning) to advance Mahatma Gandhi’s movement for independence, he also shown the path to genuine daily journalism in Marathi.[5] Though it was started as a part of the nationalist cause, after Indian independence, Sakal newspaper established itself as a successful business by reporting on day-to-day concerns, not just of Pune but also of its rural neighborhoods. By the 1960s, Sakal appointed full-time correspondents, each with a telephone, in every town in its neighborhood. It ran training camps for its journalists, promotions and cultural events for its readers and letters to the editor on its front page.[6] Under Nanasaheb Parulekar, the paper maintained strict political neutrality and endorsed candidates for local, state or National elections purely on the basis of their merit.

When Dr. Parulekar died in 1973, he left the paper with many good practices and rich traditions. It survived the first shocks of India’s revolution in newspaper technology and carried on for more than 10 years.

However, the family of influential political leader, Sharad Pawar took over Sakal in 1985. The Pawar family turned the paper into a public limited company in 1989, and Mr. Pratap G. Pawar (younger brother of Sharad Pawar) became Managing Director.

List of editors (HQ Pune) chronologically

Current status of the group

Mr. Abhijit Pawar is currently the managing director of the group.[7][8] Under his leadership, group has launched the first and only agriculture daily, AGROWON. The official website states that it is "first media company to organize events & exhibitions as well as the first media group to implement 6-sigma processes across the company."

Controversies

In 2005, the Supreme Court of India directed Sakal Papers Pvt Ltd to pay Rs 3 crore to one of its directors Claude-Lila Parulekar (daughter of founder Nanasaheb Parulekar) [9][10]

Pull outs, sections and multimedia

Sakal's multimedia platforms are as follows.

Events

Events and activities is integral part of new Sakal. It arranges events targeting Education, Agriculture, Travel-Tourism, Business etc. Its international event, ‘EDUCON’ has now became the center stage for Vice Chancellors from across the India, to present their vision about Indian higher education.[11] Property Mahayatra, Education Mahayatra, MPL, Pune Shopping Festivals, Family Health, Sakal Shopping Festivals, Sakal Edugain, Sakal Investneet, Sakal Vastu, Sakal Shagun etc. are other some of the other events. The Group started clubs for the targeted audience events, Madhurangan (मधुरांगण) for women, Young Buzz and Sakal NIE (Newspaper In Education), Family Doctor Club are a few to mention.

Pune Bus Day

Pune bus day is an event created by Sakal Media Group. It is an initiative to improve traffic condition of Pune city. For Pune Bus Day, Sakal Media Group has taken an initiative to arrange 1,500 buses to the existing fleet of 1,650 PMPML buses and demonstrate how the use of optimum number of buses with high frequency can actually reduce the traffic congestion which are rampant in the city. The tagline of the initiative is 'Come, let's travel by PMPML bus on 1 November'.
Presently, the lack of sufficient buses forces commuters to opt for private vehicles thus adding to problems like traffic congestion, vehicular pollution and increasing accidents. According to a study conducted by city-based NGO Parisar in 2009-10, the bus service run by the Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited (PMPML), was the most expensive, the worst in service and had the highest breakdown rate when compared to transport utilities run in Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru and Delhi.

A web based portal gives information about the bus route and other details which was developed by a pune based IT company. This portal carries real time information on bus schedules as provided by the PMPML

Books and publications

Other publications include the English-language daily (that replaced The Maharashtra Herald), Gomantak, Gomantak Times, a Marathi and English language dailies respectively published from neighboring State of Goa. Agrowon, the first ever daily dedicated to agriculture and farming. Apart from these main issues many supplements are issued from Sakal Media Group like Pratibimb, Young Buzz, posiview(Financial supplement), Job Buzz etc. Sakal also publishes several books each month. It has a books publishing division to ranging from all variety of sections such as health, entertainment, sports, spiritual, children etc. ‘Ayurvediya Garbhsanskar’ by Shri. Balaji Tambe; ‘Timeless Inspirator’ edited by Dr. Raghunath Mashelkar, a comic strip book of Chintoo are some of the popular titles published by this division.

Sakal Social Foundation

Tanishka Logo

A social wing for the welfare of the society, Sakal Social Foundation works mainly in Maharashtra. Health, poverty, education, environment, governance are some of its prime areas of work.

Magazines

Sakal Group has variety of magazines. Sakal Saptahik (सकाळ साप्ताहिक). Sakal Saptahik stands at top in IRS (Indian Readership Survey).[12] Tanishka (तनिष्का) is a monthly magazine targeting women readers. Premier (प्रीमियर) is the entertainment magazine publishes ins and outs of entertainment industry every month.

Regular columnist

  1. Dr. Kiran Shete[13]

References

  1. ↑ Indian Readership Survey IRS 2011 Q1 Topline Findings (Accessed on 25 Oct 2012)
  2. ↑ Top site section of website alexa.com (Accessed on 25 Oct 2012)
  3. ↑ http://www.epapersland.com/india/sakal.html
  4. ↑ http://konkandirect.com/1_Personalities/9_personality_journlist_cont_Narayan_Parulekar.html
  5. ↑ "Abstract". Retrieved May 2015.
  6. ↑ Jeffrey, Robin (22 February 1997). "Marathi: Big newspapers are elephants". Economic and Political Weekly. 32, No. 8, ... (22-28 Feb., 1997).
  7. ↑ Official website of Sakal Media Group (Accessed on 24th Sept 2013)
  8. ↑ http://www.sakaaltimes.com/NewsDetails.aspx?NewsId=4740217247245294973&SectionId=5364409430016122782&SectionName=She&NewsDate=20130321&NewsTitle=Agriculture,%20a%20must%20in%20schools:%20Abhijit%20Pawar
  9. ↑ SC orders Sakal to pay Rs 3 crore to its director. The Business Standard, India
  10. ↑ SMT. CLAUDE-LILA PARULEKAR versus M/S. SAKAL PAPERS PVT. LTD
  11. ↑ http://www.educationnewsindia.com/2011_09_11_archive.html?m=1
  12. ↑ BestMediaInfo Bureau, Delhi, 10 May 2010 IRS 2010 Q1: Top Magazines In Regional Markets (Accessed on 25 Oct 2012)
  13. ↑ http://www.esakal.com/esakal/20120422/4966051502734918675.htm