The Undeterred Journey

123 years ago today lit a light – a light of awareness, a light of consciousness.  On the initiative of the then Prime Minister Dev Shumsher Jung Bahadur Rana, Gorkhapatra began printing on May 6, 1901. It was bold for the time, for a ruler to understand the need to inform the citizenry and the state to begin publication of a newspaper. But it happened; and served as an early motivation for Nepali society to seek democracy.

A witness to nearly a century and a quarter of political change and social transformation, Gorkhapatra is the living embodiment of an era. It is not only a newspaper but a university and an institution in Nepali journalism, an institution, with which, our culture and civilisation are connected and an institution that has made an incomparable contribution to the development and promotion of our rich literature and linguistic diversity. As the country's oldest newspaper which has been in continuous publication for 122 years, Gorkhapatra is history in its own right.

In terms of its manpower, content variety, access and technical resources, Gorkhapatra is the largest publication house in Nepal. Along with Gorkhapatra, we also have the nation's first English-language broadsheet daily The Rising Nepal, the prestigious Nepali literary magazine Madhuparka, heartbeat of the youths Yuvamanch and children's beloved Muna in continuous publication.

We have also prioritised the development and expansion of Gorkhapatra Digital, an important component integrally linked with our organisation's future. We have our sites gorkhapatraonline.com and risingnepaldaily.com in operation under Gorkhapatra Digital. Our digital platforms have become very effective and we have become active on social media as well. We have also been striving to promote national unity and communal harmony by publishing contents in over 38 national languages.

We have a glorious past that we can be proud of. However, our present has not been as beautiful and strong. To have a robust presence in the competitive market of today's digital age, we must change our thinking and working style, in addition to our pace. It is necessary to use the available infrastructure and the physical, technical and human resources at our disposal to digitally shift this organisation which has thus far functioned in a traditional style. 

We announced the beginning of our 'smart' journey when we entered the 122nd year of Gorkhapatra’s publication and we have been resolutely moving forward on that path since then. We have formulated a new action plan to help our Gorkhapatra Corporation keep pace with time and technology. We have also initiated the process of connecting the tasks related to our newsrooms, advertisement, financial transactions, storage and distribution with technology and making them more efficient and reliable by purchasing international-standard software. We have already implemented the Integrated Office Management System to execute our daily work through a digital system. We are the first corporation to introduce this digital work management system. 

The results of this effective utilisation of resources, improvements in the internal administration and working procedure, changes in the design and layout of our publications (Gorkhapatra, The Rising Nepal and others) and enhancement of content quality are visible in our earnings. Compared to last year, our net income from advertising has gone up by 20 per cent. This remarkable increase in the corporation's earnings, even at a time when the overall advertising market is shrinking due to the economic downturn, has further encouraged and motivated us on our path to self-sufficiency. We have moved forward with a new strategy and action plan for advertising, business promotion and income growth.

To document and preserve every content and picture published in Gorkhapatra and its sister publications since their inception, which are not only our property but a heritage of the country, a state-of-the-art lab has been established in our corporation and our digital archiving project is steadily moving forward. We are also collaborating with the National Archives, Press Council Nepal, Madan Puraskar Pustakalya, Tribhuvan University Central Library and other agencies for this project. Once prepared, we have a concept for using this digital archive to boost our organisation's income.

By completing the audits of the previous fiscal years, paying the principal and interest owed to the government and clearing our tax dues, we have tried to bring the financial system of this organisation back on track. Our procurement master plan and procurement action plan have made Gorkhapatra's procurement and other businesses more managed and transparent. We have successfully entered the Nepal Financial Reporting Standards (NFRS) system.

State-owned and operated institutions have a special character. We realise this and have tried to uphold the highest standards of professionalism while remaining aware of our responsibility to the state and being accountable to the citizens. People's belief that Gorkhapatra only prints the government's narrative and our own unnecessary self-censorship driven by a conjectural fear of the government have both been shattered. Gorkhapatra is even ahead of the private media in publishing investigative stories about social malpractices and issues of direct public relevance.

We have received a very enthusiastic response from our readers too. Gorkhapatra's news creates discussions and debates online. 

Similarly, we have prepared guidelines to clarify news priority and editorial policy. We have brought a new stylebook into use to bring uniformity in the use of language and grammar.

We express our special gratitude to Right Honourable President, Right Honourable Prime Minister, Honourable Minister for Communication and Information Technology and the Secretary for their gracious wishes on the occasion of our anniversary today. We would also like to thank all our respected readers, supporters and well-wishers for their unwavering love and encouragement throughout our 122-year journey.

We also want to express our appreciation and respect to the members of our Gorkhapatra family who have contributed and are still contributing their skills and creativity to this organisation. We would like to thank the Government of Nepal for providing us with constant guidance and guardianship to be professional and responsible.

On this auspicious occasion, we vow to become a beloved, reliable and responsible media organisation that can be easily read by all readers and that speaks the voice of the entire nation in the coming days. 

Thank You!

Bishnu Prasad Subedi

Executive Chairman