Jagran Prakashan Limited
is an Indian publishing house listed on the
Bombay Stock Exchange
BSE Limited, also known as the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), is an Indian stock exchange. It is located on Dalal Street in Mumbai. Established in 1875 by cotton merchant Premchand Roychand, a Jain businessman, it is the oldest stock exchange in ...
and the
National Stock Exchange. The company is in the business of printing and publishing newspapers, magazines, journals, and other media. Outdoor advertising, event management and activation services, and internet business are among the Company's other interests.'Dainik Jagran' Kanpur, 'Dainik Jagran' Gorakhpur, 'Daily Action' Kanpur, and a monthly magazine called 'Kanchan Prabha' Kanpur had been purchased by the company.
History
Jagran Prakashan Limited was incorporated on 18 July 1975 under the
Companies Act
Companies Act (with its variations) is a stock short title used for legislation in Botswana, Hong Kong, India, Kenya, Malaysia, New Zealand, South Africa and the United Kingdom in relation to company law. The Bill for an Act with this short title ...
as "Jagran Prakashan Private Limited" and, subsequently, became a deemed public limited company under Section 43A of the Companies Act. In 2000, upon amendment of Section 43A of the Companies Act, The Company chose to keep its status as a public limited company pursuant to shareholders resolution passed on 31 August 2000. In 2004, The Company was again converted into a private limited company as per the stipulations under the Original Shareholders Agreement and pursuant to shareholders resolution passed on 28 September 2004. Further, on 23 November 2005. The Company was converted into a public limited company in the light of the Issue pursuant to a shareholders resolution passed on 18 November 2005.
The birth of JPL was the brainchild of the late Indian freedom warrior Shri
Puran Chandra Gupta. In 1975, a lease arrangement was done to buy the plant and machinery needed for the publishing of newspapers and magazines. The
Lucknow
Lucknow (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the second largest urban agglomeration in Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and division ...
version of the
Dainik Jagran
''Dainik Jagran'' ( Hi:दैनिक जागरन , , ) is an Indian Hindi language daily newspaper.
It was ranked 5th in the world and 2nd in India by circulation in 2016. In 2019 Quarter 4, according to Indian Readership Survey, Daini ...
was first published in 1979, while the
Agra
Agra (, ) is a city on the banks of the Yamuna river in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, about south-east of the national capital New Delhi and 330 km west of the state capital Lucknow. With a population of roughly 1.6 million, Agra is ...
edition was first published in 1986. Fom April 1, 1989, the company's name was changed for the first time from Jagran Prakashan Private Limited to Jagran Prakashan Limited.
Publication and activities
The company produces about 100 editions of around 12 print products in over five distinct languages across 15 states. Dainik Jagran, iNext, Mid-Day, Nai Dunia, Mid-Day Gujarati, Inquilab, Sakhi, Punjabi Jagran, and Jagran Josh are among the Company's print media brands. Jagran New Media, Jagran.com, Jagranjosh.com, Jagran Post, Jagran Junction and Jeetle are some of the company's digital media brands. Jagran Pehel is the company's social initiative.
Dainik Jagran
Dainik Jagran was founded when the
Quit India Movement
The Quit India Movement, also known as the August Kranti Movement, was a movement launched at the Bombay session of the All India Congress Committee by Mahatma Gandhi on 8th August 1942, during World War II, demanding an end to British rule in ...
was launched. Shri Puran Chandra Gupta, JC Arya, and Shri Gurudev, revolutionary liberation warriors, founded the publication in 1942. It was founded on the principle of reflecting the people's free will. Dainik Jagran is now India's largest
Hindi
Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...
language newspaper and the world's 17th most widely read newspaper. The first edition of Dainik Jagran was published in
Jhansi
Jhansi (; Hindi: झांसी, Urdu: ) is a historic city in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It lies in the region of Bundelkhand on the banks of the Pahuj River, in the extreme south of Uttar Pradesh. Jhansi is the administrative hea ...
in 1942, while the
Kanpur
Kanpur or Cawnpore ( /kɑːnˈpʊər/ pronunciation (help·info)) is an industrial city in the central-western part of the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. Founded in 1207, Kanpur became one of the most important commercial and military stations o ...
edition was published in 1947. The next editions were held in
Rewa
Rewa may refer to:
Places Fiji
* Rewa (Fijian Communal Constituency, Fiji), a former electoral division of Fiji
* Rewa Plateau, between the Kaimur and Vindhya Ranges in Madhya Pradesh
* Rewa Province, Fiji
* Rewa River, the widest river in Fiji
...
and
Bhopal
Bhopal (; ) is the capital city of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh and the administrative headquarters of both Bhopal district and Bhopal division. It is known as the ''City of Lakes'' due to its various natural and artificial lakes. It i ...
in 1953 and 1956, respectively. Following that, Dainik Jagran continued to expand, and with the publication of numerous editions, it began to cover the entire
Northern India
North India is a loosely defined region consisting of the northern part of India. The dominant geographical features of North India are the Indo-Gangetic Plain and the Himalayas, which demarcate the region from the Tibetan Plateau and Central ...
region.
Nai Dunia
The Madhya Pradesh-based Hindi daily Nai Dunia was purchased by Dainik Jagran for an effective enterprise value of ₹150
crore
A crore (; abbreviated cr) denotes ten million (10,000,000 or 107 in scientific notation) and is equal to 100 lakh in the Indian numbering system. It is written as 1,00,00,000 with the local 2,2,3 style of digit group separators (one lakh is e ...
. Suvi Info Management (
Indore
Indore () is the largest and most populous Cities in India, city in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. It serves as the headquarters of both Indore District and Indore Division. It is also considered as an education hub of the state and is t ...
) Pvt. Ltd, which manages Nai Dunia through its subsidiary Nai Dunia Media Pvt. Ltd, was acquired by JPL.
Radio City
Radio City is India's Biggest Radio network consisting of 79 operational stations. In 2019, Under the Grant of Permission Agreement (GOPA) of Information and Broadcasting Ministry 40 stations were acquired from
BIG FM and Radio City also operates 39 other stations. Due to the presence of Radio City in other cities, the radio network could not buy the remaining 18 stations
Punjabi Jagran
Punjabi Jagran is a Punjabi-language daily newspaper.
Amritsar
Amritsar (), historically also known as Rāmdāspur and colloquially as ''Ambarsar'', is the second largest city in the Indian state of Punjab, after Ludhiana. It is a major cultural, transportation and economic centre, located in the Majha r ...
,
Bathinda
Bathinda is a city and municipal corporation in Punjab, India. The city is the administrative headquarters of Bathinda District. It is located in northwestern India in the Malwa Region, west of the capital city of Chandigarh and is the fifth l ...
,
Chandigarh
Chandigarh () is a planned city in India. Chandigarh is bordered by the state of Punjab to the west and the south, and by the state of Haryana to the east. It constitutes the bulk of the Chandigarh Capital Region or Greater Chandigarh, which al ...
,
Doaba
Doaba also known as Bist Doab, is the region of Punjab, India that lies between the Beas River and the Sutlej River. People of this region are given the demonym "Doabia". The dialect of Punjabi spoken in Doaba is called "Doabi". Th ...
,
Gurdaspur
Gurdaspur is a city in the India, Indian state of Punjab, India, Punjab, between the rivers Beas River, Beas and Ravi River, Ravi. It houses the administrative headquarters of Gurdaspur District and is in the geographical centre of the distr ...
,
Jalandhar
Jalandhar is the third most-populous city in the Indian state of Punjab and the largest city in Doaba region. Jalandhar lies alongside the Grand Trunk Road and is a well-connected rail and road junction. Jalandhar is northwest of the state ...
,
Kapurthala
Kapurthala is a city in Punjab state of India. It is the administrative headquarters of Kapurthala District. It was the capital of the Kapurthala State, a princely state in British India. The aesthetic mix of the city with its prominent build ...
,
Ludhiana
Ludhiana ( ) is the most populous and the largest Cities in India, city in the Indian state of Punjab, India, Punjab. The city has an estimated population of 1,618,879 2011 Indian census, 2011 census and distributed over , making Ludhiana the ...
,
Malwa
Malwa is a historical region of west-central India occupying a plateau of volcanic origin. Geologically, the Malwa Plateau generally refers to the volcanic upland north of the Vindhya Range. Politically and administratively, it is also syno ...
, and
Patiala
Patiala () is a city in southeastern Punjab, India, Punjab, northwestern India. It is the fourth largest city in the state and is the administrative capital of Patiala district. Patiala is located around the ''Qila Mubarak, Patiala, Qila Mubarak ...
are among the newspaper's editions. Punjabi Jagran epaper covers all national and international political, business, and sports news on a daily basis.
Mid-Day
In 2010, Jagran had acquired the print business of Mid-Day Multimedia Ltd (MML), the
Mumbai
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...
based publishing house that owned the
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
-language afternoon daily Mid-Day.
Violation of election laws, allegations of bias, and paid news
Allegations of bias against the Jagran group and its papers have been raised since it was censured in 1990 by the
Press Council of India
The Press Council of India is a statutory, adjudicating organisation in India formed in 1966 by its parliament. It is the self-regulatory watchdog of the press, for the press and by the press, that operates under the Press Council Act of 1978., Q ...
for inflammatory content following the
demolition of the Babri Masjid
The demolition of the Babri Masjid was illegally carried out on 6 December 1992 by a large group of activists of the Vishva Hindu Parishad and allied organisations. The 16th-century Babri Masjid in the city of Ayodhya, in Uttar Pradesh, had ...
. One of the examples cited of such reporting involved reports of persons killed by the police; while most papers put the number based on information received at 32, Dainik Jagran reported it as 300 deaths. These reports coincided with the ''Dainik Jagran''
's expansion from reporting within
Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...
to outside the state as well, with a
Delhi
Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...
edition launched in 1990.
''Dainik Jagran'' has consistently advocated for the construction of the
Ram Mandir
Ram Mandir is a Hindu temple that is being built in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh, India, at the site of Ram Janmabhoomi, according to the ''Ramayana'' the birthplace of Rama, a principal deity of Hinduism. The temple construction is being supervised ...
on the ground where the Babri Masjid was demolished, which is also a political stance adopted by the
Bharatiya Janata Party
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Modi ...
.
In 2010, ''Dainik Jagran'' was one of two newspapers (in addition to ''Dainik Bhaskar'') that was flagged by the Press Council of India for carrying paid news.
In 2017, ''Dainik Jagran'' published an
exit poll favouring the
Bharatiya Janata Party
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Modi ...
before the results of the Uttar Pradesh state election results were declared in 2017, which violated the
Election Commission of India
The Election Commission of India (ECI) is a constitutional body. It was established by the Constitution of India to conduct and regulate elections in the country. Article 324 of the Constitution provides that the power of superintendence, di ...
's regulations that prohibit the publication of exit polls before election results are declared. Following this, the Election Commission ordered the Uttar Pradesh police to register a case against the editor of the ''Dainik Jagran'' for violating the Representation of People's Act and the
Indian Penal Code
The Indian Penal Code (IPC) is the official criminal code of India. It is a comprehensive code intended to cover all substantive aspects of criminal law. The code was drafted on the recommendations of first law commission of India established in ...
. The editor, Sanjay Gupta, who was also the CEO of the Jagran Group CEO stated to
The Indian Express
''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932. It is published in Mumbai by the Indian Express Group. In 1999, eight years after the group's founder Ramnath Goenka's death in 1991, the group was split betw ...
that the poll was carried by their advertising department, i.e. it had been posted for compensation to the group.
The published poll was attributed to "RDI" and later, officials from an entity called the Resource Development International (I) Private Limited were also listed by the Election Commission of India as having violated election laws. Resource Development International (I) Private Limited and one other organisation engaged in electoral research in India bearing the same abbreviation of 'RDI' both denied involvement in preparing the exit poll. The second organization named RDI is run by Devendra Kumar, an affiliate of the Bharatiya Janata Party. Following the registration of
First Information Reports, police raided ''Dainik Jagran''
's offices and the homes of some employees, and arrested their online editor, Shekhar Tripathi. He was later released on bail.
In relation to the exit poll publication as well as multiple editorial posts supporting the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Jagran Prakashan publications, including ''Dainik Jagran'' and its English equivalent, ''Jagran Josh'', have been criticised by media watchdog ''
Newslaundry
''Newslaundry'' is an Indian media watchdog that provides media critique, reportage and satirical commentary. It was founded in 2012 by Abhinandan Sekhri, Madhu Trehan and Prashant Sareen, all of whom earlier worked in print or television jour ...
,'' news website DailyO, and news magazine ''
Caravan'' for carrying one-sided coverage supporting the Bharatiya Janata Party and its policies while in government, particularly in the state of Uttar Pradesh, where the company sent vans bearing the ''Dainik Jagran'' logo to support and conduct publicity on behalf of the Uttar Pradesh Government led by
Adityanath.
Both, Caravan and Newslaundry have pointed to the doubling of advertisement revenue from government sources since the Bharatiya Janata Party formed the government at the Center as being linked with increasing pro-government content in Jagran's English, Hindu and Urdu publications.
In 2018, investigative journalism website
Cobrapost
Cobrapost is a non-profit Indian news website that was founded in 2005 by Aniruddha Bahal – the co-founder of Tehelka. It is particularly known for its undercover investigative journalism.
Description
According to Kalyani Chadha, Cobrapost ...
published videos purporting to show that employees of several news organisations, including from the Jagran Group, were willing to promote political and religious content relating to
Hindutva
Hindutva () is the predominant form of Hindu nationalism in India. The term was formulated as a political ideology by Vinayak Damodar Savarkar in 1923. It is used by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), the ...
and the
Bharatiya Janata Party
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Modi ...
in exchange for compensation.
Jagran Group CEO Sanjay Gupta denied the allegations, stating that the Jagran Group employee identified in the videos did not have the authority to make any such commitments on behalf of the Group.
In July 2020, Gupta was added to the board of
Prasar Bharati
Prasar Bharati (abbreviated as PB; Hindi: ''Praśar Bharati'', lit. Indian Broadcaster) is India's State media, state-owned public broadcaster, headquartered in New Delhi. It is a Statutory corporation, statutory autonomous body set up by an A ...
, India's public broadcasting body.
References
{{Authority control
Newspaper companies of India
Publishing companies established in 1975
1975 establishments in Uttar Pradesh
Companies listed on the National Stock Exchange of India
Companies listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange