Andhra Patrika

Andhra Patrika was the weekly newspaper of the nationalist movement in the Telugu speaking region founded by Kasinadhuni Nageswara Rao in 1908. It later transformed into a daily newspaper before it closed down in 1991. It helped to shape both modern Telugu language and an identity that resulted in the creation of the state of Andhra Pradesh.

History

Kasinadhuni Nageswara Rao founded the weekly as he recognized the need for a Telugu language journal to campaign effectively for the Indian freedom struggle and founded the weekly, and the newspaper wandered all over the territories in which the Telugu language was spoken. Rao moved the newspaper to Madras in 1914 to get closer to Telugus, and after a few years turned it into the first enduring daily in Telugu. Gaining a reputation even among the British as the most efficiently managed Telugu newspaper, it backed the Gandhian nationalist movement from 1920, and Nageswara Rao served as president and treasurer of the Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee, the chief organizational body of the national movement in the Telugu areas. According to a British official, ''Andhra Patrika'' became "the most evil influence in the Telugu country". Dubbed "Viswa Datha" ("donor to the world"), Nageswara Rao put money and effort into his newspaper. He introduced good quality news photos from 1928 and is said to have distributed 800 copies of the paper free to village libraries. In 1931, in the heat of the civil-disobedience movement against the British, ''Andhra Patrika'''s circulation reached 10,000. At independence, it was the largest, best- known Telugu daily. Its proprietors joined forces with others like them from around India when they joined the Audit Bureau of Circulations formed in 1948. The ABC was intended to certify and guarantee circulation figures and thereby reassure and encourage advertisers. ''Andhra Patrika'' was the 33rd member, not far behind major English-language dailies like the ''Hindu of Madras'' (No 16) and ahead of the ''Statesman of Calcutta'' (No 57).

Decline of the Journal

''Andhra Patrika'' published only from Madras city until about 1969 when it started an edition from Vijayawada and established an office in New Delhi under the leadership of T. V. Krishna. Ten years earlier, it had been passed in circulation by ''Andhra Prabha,'' which was published from towns inside Andhra Pradesh from the 1950s. In 1960, ''Andhra Prabha'''s circulation was 53,000 for its two editions from Vijayawada and Chittoor. ''Andhra Patrika'''s sole edition from Madras sold 48,000 copies. Ten years later, ''Andhra Prabha'', then publishing from Vijayawada and Bengaluru, reached 1,16,000; ''Andhra Patrika'' remained at 48,000.

After Nageswara Rao's death in 1938 his son-in-law, Sivalenka Sambhu Prasad took over the operations. After Sambhu Prasad' s death, his successors closed the Madras edition and began publishing from Vijayawada and later Hyderabad, the capital of Undivided Andhra Pradesh. Circulation declined, and when the new Telugu daily Eenadu

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