''The Siasat Daily'' is an Indian newspaper published by the Siasat Press based in the city of
Hyderabad
Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India ...
,
Telangana
Telangana (; , ) is a state in India situated on the south-central stretch of the Indian peninsula on the high Deccan Plateau. It is the eleventh-largest state and the twelfth-most populated state in India with a geographical area of and 3 ...
. It operates the
Hindi-Urdu
Hindustani (; Devanagari: ,
*
*
*
* ; Perso-Arabic: , , ) is the '' lingua franca'' of Northern and Central India and Pakistan. Hindustani is a pluricentric language with two standard registers, known as Hindi and Urdu. Thus, the lang ...
and
English language
English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the ...
digital news
Digital News was a trade publication that focused on products from Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC).
History
They published independently from 1986 thru 1992. At that point, they were acquired and merged with '' Digital Review'' with the new ...
website ''Siasat'' and is the publisher of the ''Siasat English Weekly'' magazine and the ''Siasat Urdu Daily'' newspaper whose editions are also available as
electronic paper
Electronic paper, also sometimes electronic ink, e-ink or electrophoretic display, are display devices that mimic the appearance of ordinary ink on paper. Unlike conventional flat panel displays that emit light, an electronic paper display ...
s.
The editions of the paper were formerly published by the Intekhab Press. The Intekhab Press continues to publish editions of the ''Siasat Urdu Daily''. The publication has an advertising partnership with ''
The Hindu
''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the secon ...
'', ''
Eenadu
''Eenadu'' () is the largest circulated Telugu-language daily newspaper of India sold mostly in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. It also operates the website dedicated to the writings of satirist Mujtaba Hussain, who was a former columnist at ''The Siasat Daily''.
Indian nationalists
Indian nationalism is an instance of territorial nationalism, which is inclusive of all of the people of India, despite their diverse ethnic, linguistic and religious backgrounds. Indian nationalism can trace roots to pre-colonial India, ...
with the intent of "informing objectively to the population of the state, on local, national and international developments."
The paper was contrasted with the sister publications of '' Hind Samachar'' (Urdu) and ''
Punjab Kesari
Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising a ...
'' (Hindi) which were founded around the same time as the ''Siasat''. While the Hind Samachar Group had quickly expanded across and beyond
Punjab
Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising a ...
with editions in
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 ...
and Punjabi, working through an unified newsroom with "
Dickensian
Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian er ...
discipline", the ''Siasat'' is described to have been on a "civilising mission", had a "friendly and family like" newsroom with minimal profit motives and exempt of the reliance on advertisements. The paper would continue to rely only on Urdu editions without expanding into regions beyond Hyderabad or to other more profitable languages until much later. Despite this, between 1976–1996 the daily circulation of the publication's editions had reportedly increased by 330% from approximately 10,000 to 44,000. , the paper has continued to uninterruptedly use the format of
wall newspaper
A wall newspaper or placard newspaper is a hand-lettered or printed newspaper designed to be displayed and read in public places both indoors and outdoors, utilizing vertical surfaces such as walls, boards, and fences. The practice dates back to ...
s to publicise its editions in the city of Hyderabad since the day of first publication.
In 1998, the paper launched its own digital website. It was reported to have been among the first newspapers to adopt
e-paper
Electronic paper, also sometimes electronic ink, e-ink or electrophoretic display, are display devices that mimic the appearance of ordinary ink on paper. Unlike conventional flat panel displays that emit light, an electronic paper display re ...
Lokmat
''Lokmat'' () is a Marathi language newspaper published in Maharashtra state. Founded in 1971 by Jawaharlal Darda, it is the largest read regional language newspaper in India with more than 18 million readers and the No. 1 Marathi newspaper in ...
'' (Marathi), etc. According to the National Readership Survey in 2003, the publication had a total readership of approximately 326,000. While according to the
Registrar of Newspapers for India
Office of the Registrar of the Newspapers for India (official name), more popularly known as Registrar of Newspapers for India (RNI), is a Government of India statutory body of Ministry of Information and Broadcasting for the registration of ...
, the print circulation of the paper was reduced to 25,732 by 2004. The 2005 ABC figures and the 2006 Registrar figures however notes the print circulation of the paper to have been 42,869 and 41,597 respectively. , the monthly pageviews of the ''Siasat'' website was estimated to be 4.23 million.
On 1 June 2006, ''The Siasat Daily'' entered into an advertising alliance with ''
The Hindu
''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the secon ...
–
Eenadu
''Eenadu'' () is the largest circulated Telugu-language daily newspaper of India sold mostly in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. In the subsequent years the paper launched editions in
Bangalore
Bangalore (), List of renamed places in India, officially Bengaluru (), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan area, metropolitan population of a ...
and
Hubli
Hubli, officially known as Hubballi, is a city in the Indian state of Karnataka. The twin cities Hubli–Dharwad form the second largest city in the state by area and population and the largest city in North Karnataka. Hubli is in Dharwad distr ...
with primary investors for the expansion being the I Monetary Advisory. However due to the collapse of the investment firm, the editions were discontinued after June 2019. Following the death of satirist and columnist Mujtaba Hussain on 27 May 2020, the publication launched a website named after him in commemoration, which features the whole body of work including correspondences, lectures, etc by the literary figure.
Editorial stance
The founder, Abid Ali Khan, was a former member of the
Progressive Writers' Association
The Progressive Writers' Association or the Progressive Writers' Movement of India or ''Anjuman Tarraqi Pasand Mussanafin-e-Hind'' (( ur, ) or ''Akhil Bhartiya Pragatishil Lekhak Sangh'' (Hindi: अखिल भारतीय प्रगति ...
and remained as the editors of the newspaper. He was reportedly associated with leftists causes and had
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...
sympathies, the paper as such had described itself as being
apolitical
Apoliticism is apathy or antipathy towards all political affiliations. A person may be described as apolitical if they are uninterested or uninvolved in politics. Being apolitical can also refer to situations in which people take an unbiased po ...
but infused with a progressive spirit. ''The Siasat Dail''y is noted to have been opposed to the emergence of sectarian political formations such as the
Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen
The All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen ( en, All India Council for Unity of Muslims) ( AIMIM) is an Indian political party based primarily in the city of Hyderabad. It is also a significant political party in the Indian States of Telangana ...
Krishan Kant
Krishan Kant (28 February 1927 – 27 July 2002) was an Indian politician who served as the tenth vice president of India from 1997 until his death 2002. Formerly, he was the governor of Andhra Pradesh from 1990 to 1997. He was a member of Lok ...
''The Daily Siasat'' is engaged in a number of philanthropic endeavours funded from the publication's own funds as well as through donation drives from readers; primarily focusing on improving literacy in both vernacular ( Telugu & Urdu-Hindi) and English, especially among women. The publication also supports a variety of small literary trusts. Since 2011, it hosts the ''ru-ba-ru'' programme for prospective marriages as part of an anti–
dowry
A dowry is a payment, such as property or money, paid by the bride's family to the groom or his family at the time of marriage. Dowry contrasts with the related concepts of bride price and dower. While bride price or bride service is a payment ...