In league with the officials of the public relations department of the state these newspaper managements show their inflated figure to take more and more advertisement. As the advertisement rate or DAVP rate per square centimetre has much to do with the circulation of the dailies, officials and newspaper owners are hand-in-glove in this big loot in the public money––all in the name of publicity. For example take the circulation of the Patna edition of Quami Tanzeem, said to be the largest selling Urdu daily of Bihar. As per the information procured from the Right to Information by RTI activist, Purander Sawarnya, the daily has the circulation of 69,300 while its Ranchi edition sells 57,810 copies daily.

The circulation of Farooqui Tanzeem, Patna and Ranchi editions are 56,479 and 56,026 respectively.
Another Patna-based Urdu daily Pindaar sells 57,147 copies, while Sangam, which is owned by the former Janata Dal (United) MP, Dr Ejaz Ali, has the circulation of 67,050 and Inquilab Jadeed 59,112.
However, these are the newspapers which are visible in the stand and are carried by almost all the hawkers. But there are several other Urdu dailies which can hardly be seen in any stand even in the city of their publication yet their circulation is unbelievably high. For instance, Pyari Urdu (Patna) has the circulation of 54,052 and Musalas (Patna) 46,800 while Halat-e-Bihar, which is published from Samastipur boasts of the circulation of 61,012.Pyari Urdu belongs to the Janata Dal (United) MLA, Izhar Ahmad.

Would you like to know the circulation of Patna edition of the Times of India. According to the same RTI report the circulation of its Patna edition is just 49,004, that is much less than all the above Urdu dailies. The Times of India is the largest circulated English daily in India.

Similarly, Desh Videsh and Nai Baat, both from Bhagalpur, have the circulation of 59,112 and 57,250 copies respectively.

Hindi daily from Muzaffarpur, Pratah Kamal, has the circulation of 61,233 whereas the figures for Muzaffarpur edition of Hindustan and Dainik Jagaran stand at 1,16,488 and 80,329 respectively.
The circulation of Patna edition of Hindustan and Dainik Jagaran is 3,03,804 and 1,59,249 respectively. The detail of their other editions can be found in the attached lists.

The circulation of the above dailies does not suggest that the number of Urdu-readers have suddenly jumped many times in the last five years. In fact their numbers is shrinking as more and more Urdu-readers are switching over to English and Hindi dailies. Their number have only increased on paper.
Sources close to the two prominent dailies of the state told BiharTimes that actually their circulation is not even one-fifth or one-eighth of what they are projecting. In some other cases the circulation is in hundreds.
As it is necessary for a Hindi, English and Urdu dailies to have the circulation of 45,000, 25,000 and 20,000 respectively to get empanelled by the PRD the management of newspapers show inflated figure to reach that objective. Apart from the Times of India no other English newspaper from Bihar is at present touching that figure.

But the problem with Urdu dailies and small Hindi newspaper is that they are not run by any corporate house and they hardly get any advertisement other than that from the government. Therefore, they indulge in all the wrong practices. The Rashtriya Sahara (Urdu) is the exception. It is owned by a big business house, the Sahara Group. Now Jagaran is also coming up with its Urdu daily.

However, Urdu-readers are, in general, quite upset by the way these dailies of Bihar are, of late, behaving. Said Shakeel Hasan, retired Deputy Chief Personnel and Legal Manager, Coal India Limited: “The truth is that the Urdu dailies of Bihar are doing great disservice to the Urdu readers by compromising their stand just for the sake of business.”

On the other hand Zafar Imam Ansari, President, Momin Conference, Bihar, was more critical. “Urdu newspapers claim that they represent Muslims. The truth is that they are the greatest enemies of the community. We have planned to burn their copies in Patna shortly as they are playing into the hands of the state government,” he added.

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Comment

comments...

This refers to the comment of Shambhu Goel. Firstly, BiharTimes should not publish any comment, which singles out any caste, community or individual. Who is he to say that there is tussle between Agrawals and Oswals? Who is to pass judgement about Mul Chand Golchha? Who is he to say that Marwaris are divided? Thirdly why should one believe him as whatever he has written is absolutely wrong. Everyone knows that it was only the wall which was demolished because of the dispute over road. Yes the mob attacked the vehilces of the factory. But to state that the factory was set on fire is nothing but a blatant lie. How can a factory come up in just a couple of days?

Yes everyone is saying that the factory wall was demolished and the vehicles and police attacked. But the tragedy is that the police did not fire on them. It chose to fire later and kill an infant baby, a
pregnant woman and two others. The pregnant woman and the seven month old baby were hit by many bullets. Were they busy demolishing the wall?

Lastly, the issue is not Forbesganj here. The write up is on the government move to allure small newspapers with advertisments, espcially Urdu newspapers, which are not owned by corporate houses.
Amna Kauser

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Quandary before an informed common man is who to trust. There exists whole pile on paidmedia writing complimentary/derogatory stories depending on price. Most of the people may be unaware but there exists a PTI report on paidmedia that was blocked by each and every media outlet.I have gone through that report and it cuts a sorry figure more or less everyone is neck deep in blackmail of politicians. Prominent is marathi channel of one prominent Delhi based english media house. There was serious debate on this isue in parliament even that debate was blocked by every media outlet in unison.
My friend an editor with most circulated Hindi daily from Bhagapur confides come election time every editor worth his name gets at least 10-20 lakh.
So who should I trust a paidmedia or by and large responsive governments like NDA in Bihar. Credibility of media in general is at lowest ebb in India these days.
So urdu newspapers that are just on paper are raking money. NDA deserves kudos for encouraging urdu newspaper knowingly or unknowingly.
Post Neera Radia tapes and media's general hushing attempt and continuation of the main actors in thatepisode has brough me to the realization that trust nobody. Everyone is for sale.

Ani Kanhaiya

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This is 40=60 ka mamla hai. The officers of deptt. too making money. How they can afford to flaut their own policies.Every body knows about circulation of these newspapers. Govt. should ask for CBI enqiry.

Ravi

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Bihar govt is interested to promote the urdu paper.This is a very good example of "SUSHAASAN".How can people trust on such papers. Reporters of reputed media houses should confirm the circulation figure . This is a challenge for them. Very soon we read adertisement scam in Bihar.
-Purander Sawarnya
RTI activist

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It is true the government of Bihar under Nitishji is thriving and flourishing in news papers only .Government as well as the various owners ,many of them decayed with time and non-existent in surface are also getting advertisement and are unethically in liaison with the PRD people doing a wonderful business at the door-steps of the Chief Minister of Bihar where no body can speak a word against all these malpractices.

But I have to tell all those readers and the persons making comments in relation to four persons those have been killed in a recent firing incident in Forbesganj .Without knowing the facts and also sitting at far flung places like Dubai or Delhi one should eschew habit of making confirmative comments on one side face of the coin.

Some of the basic truth are :

1.Bhjanpur is a village in Forbesganj dominated by muslims.

2.The mob that gathered, it gathered not for any cause but was a gathering mobilized by some men with vested interest .Prominent among them is one Gaus Mohammad who was heavily paid by one businessman of the place with dubious credentials and he is Mul Chand Golchha . A history of recent past is that his brother was killed by some unknown criminals while he had gone to a place on Narpatganj road to oversee some contract work that he was a having a share in .The other partners in this petty contract work were Mr. Jakir Hussain, MLA Araria, Bhola Tiwary of Jogbani all of no transparent nor of lucid character. This has been mentioned to describe the main traits of the GOLCHHA family. They have been usurers , are still now and thrive on business of hoarding of food articles. Mul Chand is known for his over –indulgence in purchase of BPL food .An added advantage was proximity of FCI godown within say 250 meters of his so called Rice Mill namely GOLCHHA UDHYOG.

4.Apart from these types of business he also entertains an ambition that Forbesganj should remain a place of his likes and dislikes and does not want that big business or a bigger industry than his should flourish in the town. Marwaari community is divided in two major sects viz. Agrawals and Oswals .It is his habit to always commit such actions so that Agrawals should / may not come up and live well ,a normal life .Ashok Agrawal whose factory has been burnt by the mobilized crowd on that ill-fated day is also an AGRAWAL.

5.If this factory would have come in production ,it would have greatly helped the growers of Maize ,the acreage of this crop is increasing at amazing pace. Today the price of Maize is around Rs.700-Rs.800 which was around Rs. 1300 /-about two or three months ago. The price factor is the main reason for a farmer to switch over to this crop. Had this Maize starch factory commenced production in time the farmers were very enthusiastic and had started storing maize for this factory and maize price was sustained at this level. The inward movement of Maize in the market had decreased and this was not suitable to Mul Chand Golchha and his cohorts . One among them is Mahendra Marothi ,also has earned by surreptitious business deals only. Mul Chand is the main exporter of Maize from our state to states like Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal . The adoption of ambition of the farmers to store maize was not allowing the prices go down and Mul Chand had become a great loser . This also might have infused divisive tactics in him .

6.The police and the administrative officers of the state would have either been killed at the site of this mishap or would have been taken hostage for a very costly settlement with the state .The unruly mob indulged in massive arson and loot of the property of the up-coming project with all its might .There is no-body from the arena of politics or press who have said or any day came out with the facts of the circumstances that led to police firing . Had the police not resorted to this drastic step not only the whole of the property would have been hijacked/looted/burnt but would have led to killing of the police personnel at the site. The S.P. was virtually taken out of the vehicle she was sitting in , forcibly and her body was invaded in the glare of the public and press people who showed great aptness in revealing one instance of an insane police who was never instructed to make such brutal attack on one of the mobsters. It was his personal motivation that he acted so brutally. The press should be indicted for hiding the other clips particularly those that would have depicted the merciless mobsters abusing the government as a whole incessantly and that in which one of the mobster had even slapped the S.P. This are the facts hidden by the media intentionally and one should not go on blaming the personality of Nitish Kumar like this.

7,One of the press person namely Farhad Shabbir son of late Shabbir Alam has captured all nasty scenes but revealed only that ,one where police brutality became manifested .This person is attached to one TV channel . It is his business to earn from such alignments with electronic media or print media.He has been switching from one media to the other frequently because of his unholy traits. This person is having connection with the under world of far flung places .He is an active member of the banned pro Islamic outfits. He is daily visited by criminals of this area who sit till late in night at his residence located in D.D. Road, Forbesganj. He owes crores of rupees to Bihar State Finnacial Corporation, and nationalized banks operating in this area. He indulges in sale of spurious engine lubricants . He is also facing so many cases of theft of BSFC property that he has stolen from his own factory after it became sick due to his own over indulgence in alcohol and womanizing . This person is also a member of the caucus led by Mul Chand Golchha . The clip of police brutality was handed over by him to Jakir Hussain LJP MALA from Araria who sent copies of the clip to all media.

These are the many facts of this mishap. No police person had gone to the houses of the people who have been killed but the killed persons were a part of the mob which indulged in heavy arson and loot of private property and that of that industry which would have brought enough prosperity to this area .

Last but not the least is Mr. Ram Vilas Paswan who wants to get credit from this sordid act of mob atrocity not police atrocity, it is not going to help him re-paint his already thoroughly tarnished image .He is a decayed person , incorrigible and himself has made loot of highest magnitude while he held various cabinet positions of power .His loot has not yet surfaced but if enquired in to , may lead to show 5 lacs of crores of rupees which he might have stashed in Swiss or some other bank . He is called a dalit leader but he holds birthday ceremony of his so called second or third wives in CHICAGO in USA. He is also blessed with a son who looks like a pimp and carries traits of a derailed person. This person has no right to comment on Nitishji or his way of governance. Still there exists a difference of sky and the earth between the two . Ram Vilas Paswan is man with basest instincts and should not compare himself with NITISH.
Shambhu Goel

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Nitish Government and Urdu dailies : Cross fertilization

Taking cue from the Bible of barbarism , Nitish is implementing every idea of controlling the press with impudent audacity.The Janata cherishes a special affection and respect for the geniuses of political power and accepts all their deeds of cruelty with admiring response.Nitish is basking in his electoral success and misusing the state exchequer to establish his absolute monarchy in Bihar through the philosophy of buying out the media into submission to his regime because the media believes that upon him depends its earnings, gratifications and the receipt of all kinds of benefits.
It's not worth saying that the Urdu dailies have long sold their conscience and are left with the only option of working as a mouth piece to the despotic regime of Nitish and his lackeys.
The truth is that no one other than the cheif minister will pay any money to such newspapers whose journalists either listen to radios or watch TV to prepare their articles.There is nothing called Urdu journalism in Bihar.
Thanks to Bihar Times , if there is anyone desirous of writing against the corruption of this regime , there is at least one platform to print their productions without informing the Government beforehand.

Arshad Mohsin
Kuwait

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Urdu Media is unnecessarily being dragged despite the fact that Newspaper of other languages even with nominal circulation have succeeded in getting substantial portion of advertisement. If Urdu media is pinpointed only because they have not raised the voice against government for forbesgunj incident then why they are not appreciated for preventing it to become communal issue. I am not completely justifying urdu media for their stand over the issue since media role is also to raise the issue of injustice perpetrated by our executor of laws.

Injustice in distribution of public money is an open example of our week system where partisan and biasness play important role and deserved are deprived of its share. It is because of government apathy and partiality one or two old urdu newspapers had to close their publication.It is known fact that media is run either under patronage of corporate houses or politicians so how can one expect impartiality hence urdu media is not exception.In order to make languages alive govnt assistance is praiseworthy but strangulating voices by luring through advert and so on can be called disservice to society.

Mumtaz

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This is with reference to the news article “Thanks to Bihar govt, Urdu dailies circulation rising only on paper", Nitish Kumar has adopted a strategy to shut the mouth of Media Houses up by feeding them full stomach. Given is the fact that Media houses are keeping mum on wrong policies of Nitish Kumar. The recent example is of Fprbesganj Killing, when Media Houses which operate on the mercy of NItish Kumar (Exchequer)’s money kept themselves aloof despite the barbaric act played by Bihar Police against innocent villagers. When will our police system come out of this mentality?

Shahbaz Alam
Dubai

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Its BJP supported govt. pampering Urdu media. They should publically flaunt it. This is a politics of hypocracy

Ravi Bhushan

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This speaks volume why URDU MEDIA maintained their silence on Forbishgunj police firing and inhuman treatment given to local residents. Urdu newspapers are run by only power brokers. The figure says that itspure loot of public money.

Ejaz Hussain

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Thanks Bihartimes for exposing this scam. Urdu newspapers never expressed popular muslim opinion. This kind of siphoning of public money cann't be possible without the support of govt. officers. An independent enquiry is required but who will demand any political party ------ or media ------- I doubt.

Imteyaz Alam