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From: shaikabutaha <[email protected]>
To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]>; "[email protected]" <[email protected]>; [email protected]; [email protected]; Afsar Pasha Saheb <[email protected]>; Bano Khan Parveen's friend <[email protected]>; Pak Media <[email protected]>; s mohd tajuddin arif kadapa-pa to mla <[email protected]>; "[email protected]" <[email protected]>; Peerzada Ashiq <[email protected]>
Sent: Saturday, March 16, 2013 5:27 AM
Subject: Daily

Assalam -o- Alaikum -wa- Rahmatullah -wa- Barkatahu

 

We pray to Almighty ALLAH Subhanahu-wa-Tala that this E-mail will find you and your esteemed Organisation along with your dedicated workers in good health and happiness.

Launching an English daily that specialises in covering Muslim affairs is an idea many have broached, even attempted. But it has remained illusory so far. While many attempts didn't go beyond the drawing board, the few that made it to a print-run didn't survive more than a few months, accentuating the challenges to launching a community-specific daily for India's Muslims. However, this hasn't deterred a group of Andhra Pradesh Muslims from reviving the idea with a new daily calledDeccan Age, which they promise to launch on January 1, 2014.

While there are many Muslim-specific dailies in Indian languages like Urdu and Malayalam, it's the lure of having one in English—the language of many decision-makers—that has proved elusive. There are English journals for Muslims, like theRadiance Viewsweekly, the fortnightly Milli Gazette and the monthly Islamic Voice. But there's no daily. Hoping to break this jinx, the Hyderabad-based Deccan Age was registered in September 2010.

Professionals will be hired to run the newspaper. But the management will completely remain with Muslims.

Explaining why they decided to take the risk, Sheikh Abdur Rahman, a freelance journalist who is promoting Deccan Age, says there is no Muslim mouthpiece even now to express the community's concerns. "We hope to be the professionals who will voice the problems of Muslims and other backward sections to the government and to the people," he says. While the paper will have non-Muslim employees and cover issues related to other marginalised groups, what is controversial is that the management will be completely Muslim. "We want our control, otherwise it is going to be just like any other paper," he adds.

If all goes according to plan, the paper promises to be a major player nationally with 15 editions, correspondents in neighbouring countries and a targeted circulation of 20 lakh copies (which is comparable to some of the major English dailies). Asked where the money will come from, all Rahman is willing to disclose is that he is backed by some "nris". He also refutes all accusations that his paper will have a communal tinge. "I think we should see it more as a voice of a community that is isolated, neglected and marginalised. Muslims too are paying their taxes but not getting their share," he says.

(Outlook,New Delhi dated Nov,19,2012)

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