''Deenbandhu'', sometimes transliterated as ''Dinbandhu'' and spelled ''Din Bandhu'', was a weekly Marathi-language newspaper first published in

Pune Pune (; ; also known as Poona, ( the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million As of 2021, Pune Metropolitan Region is the largest i ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

in January 1877. It was the first newspaper in India to cater explicitly to the labouring people. The weekly articulated the grievances of the peasants and workers. ''Deenbandhu'' was founded by Krishnarao Pandurang Bhalekar (1850-1910) and served as an outlet for Jotirao Phule's Satyashodhak Samaj. Bhalekar was born in Bhamburde and came of a Mali family. Bhalekar ran Dinbandhu almost single-handedly till April 1880 after which the newspaper moved to Mumbai because of financial troubles. Narayan Meghaji Lokhande, who had already been writing for it, edited the newspaper from Mumbai from 1880. Deenbandhu was selling 1650 copies per week in 1884, thus making it the second-highest circulation Marathi or Anglo-Marathi newspaper in

Bombay Presidency The Bombay Presidency or Bombay Province, also called Bombay and Sind (1843–1936), was an administrative subdivision (province) of British India, with its capital in the city that came up over the seven islands of Bombay. The first mainl ...

, after '' Kesari''. Vasudeo Birje became the editor of this iconic newspaper in 1903 after he left Baroda and moved to Mumbai. After Birje's untimely death due to cholera, his wife Tanubai Birje took the responsibility of running the newspaper on her own. She was 32. Tanubai Birje edited Dinbandhu from 1908 till she died in 1913. According to Shriram Gundekar, Tanubai Birje is the first woman editor in the history of non-Brahmin journalism. It's possible that she was the first woman editor in Marathi journalism itself. While Lokhande published the ''Deenbandhu'' from

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' fin ...

, Vithhal Marutrao Nawle, an admirer of Phule, bought the rights to publish an edition in Pune. He imported a

printing press A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a print medium (such as paper or cloth), thereby transferring the ink. It marked a dramatic improvement on earlier printing methods in which the ...

from

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that continued to produce the newspaper until it ceased publication in the 1970s. That press still existed in Pune in 2013 and was still owned by the Nawle family. however, it was in a state of considerable disrepair and decay. The state government was considering whether it could be preserved.

References

{{reflist 1877 establishments in India 1970s disestablishments in India Marathi-language newspapers Newspapers published in Mumbai Jyotirao Phule