Amrita Bazar Patrika [Weekly]. Vol: 6; Issue: 24 (25 July 1873)

Publisher: Candranath Ray. Editor: unknown. Physical characteristics and condition of original material: 50.5 cm / brittle; paper; old newsprint in poor condition. Old EAP reference: EAP262/1/1/155 Collection information: Two newspapers; Amrita Bazar Patrika started publishing as a Bengali language weekly from Jessore, then transformed to a bi-lingual weekly from 1870 and transferred to Calcutta in the same year. From 1878, following the Vernacular Press (Regulation) Act, the newspaper started publishing as an English language weekly and from 1895 the publication converted to English language daily that continued till 1993. The other newspaper, Jugantar Patrika was a vernacular organ of the same house which started publishing from 1937. It is a Bengali Language counterpart of Amrita Bazar and continued till 1993. Amrita Bazar Patrika has often been treated as a Nationalist counterpart of The Statesman, the English language newspaper representing the colonial government. Amrita Bazar Patrika was known for its nationalist position. During post-colonial India both newspapers played a crucial role in critical appraisal of development projects and government policies. Both newspapers have been retrieved in their physical form from the abandoned building of the newspaper office with kind cooperation of the Amrita Bazar Patrika - Jugantar - Amrita Patrika Employees Association, and the United Bank of India, to which the building had been mortgaged till 2007. Presently the physical copies are stored at the Jadunath Sarkar Centre for Historical Research of the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta. Most of the volumes of both newspapers are in very poor condition and almost in paper-pulp state. It would really be difficult to maintain shelf-life of original copies after digitisation. Extent and format of original material: Two newspapers consisting of approximately 200,000 pages.