Today, January 1, 2017, the Daily Excelsior enters 53rd year of its inception and service to the people of the country and the State. It was in 1965 that the visionary journalist, late Shri S.D. Rohmetra, started Daily Excelsior as a modest tabloid to cater to the tastes of a limited segment of society. As days rolled by, the society began showing signs of expanded urge to remain abreast with current situation in the country and the State. Modern India was in making and so was the State.The late founder rose to the occasion and gradually updated the Daily Excelsior when readership increased rapidly and intellectual segment of society began evincing keen interest not only in scanning the material that the newspaper published but also in making Daily Excelsior their spokesman. Articles, commentaries, write-ups, letters and entertainment stuff began to pour in. We did not want to deprive our readers of valuable readable material and therefore, more pages had to be added to Daily Excelsior. All this led to building remarkable trust between the paper and the reading public. Its popularity with the people in the State grew to the extent that it has now acquired a position of prestige among the leading English dailies of Northern India. Its circulation has grown manifold and it caters to almost all tastes and aspects of life.
Daily Excelsior is a model of excellent teamwork of functionaries in the field and in the office rooms. Without cooperation of highest order, the achievements made over the period of time could not have been possible. Our senior correspondents have been on the forefront of bringing cases of blatant corruption into the public domain without fear or favour; it has not lagged behind in bringing into public glaze the blatant shortcomings in the functioning of the executive as well. Some vital issues which we hammered out fearlessly as these were of public interest were those of wanton encroachments of Government or forest lands, scandals of Roshni Act, non or half-hearted implementation of District Development Board (DDB) decisions and recommendations of House Committees, advertent delay in sanction of prosecution against corrupt officials and ingenious bureaucratic bottlenecking tendencies. We did not mince words in exposing these aberrations.
During the year that has just ended, Daily Excelsior found that many centrally- sponsored developmental schemes remained suspended for one or the other reason. Daily Excelsior argued that if implemented in right earnest, these projects and schemes could have immensely contributed to the progress of the State. As a result of Daily Excelsior’s insistence, the Government has constituted a high power committee to go into the reasons for inordinate delay or even shelving of some of the Centrally Sponsored Schemes in our State.
The preceding year has been highly troublesome for our border population in vulnerable areas along IB and LoC in Jammu and Kashmir. Pakistani Rangers have been indulging in unprovoked and reckless firing not only on our forward posts but also on civilian population causing great damage to lives, cattle and crops. Daily Excelsior forcefully pleaded for adequate security and compensation for these distressed people.
Last summer, Kashmir valley saw a long spell of unrest, stone throwing and strikes as the machination of the separatists and their handlers from across the border. Daily Excelsior not only kept close track of these events but also intervened as dispassionate and responsible fourth estate to help sanity prevail on all sides and with all stakeholders. It brought out numerous commentaries reflecting the need and importance of restraint and return of peace particularly when the long strikes caused grievous loss to the student community of the valley. Besides, Daily Excelsior has been foremost in paying homage to our martyred soldiers who lay down their lives fighting a deadly proxy war against the terrorists sponsored by the neighbouring country and supported by anti-national elements at home.
On a positive note, Daily Excelsior has launched its App – which can be accessed from across the globe and provides news updates to its users on regular basis. The State Diaspora in foreign countries has welcomed the addition of this facility and now they are able to keep themselves abreast with what is happening in our State on day to day basis. Daily Excelsior has also launched its web video channel www.excelsiornews.com – which contains video coverage of developments taking place in all regions of the State. These novelties have gained immense popularity. A significant achievement made by the paper during past year is that we have been able to invite and associate with us some reputed scholars and journalists in the country and their contributions have immensely enriched the edit page.
All these achievements could not be possible without dedication, hard work and cooperation of our staff. Their disciplined input makes publication of Daily Excelsior a matter of prestige and pride.
Finally, we are hopeful that we shall continue to bring the grievances of the people to the ears of the Government and also Government’s action and reaction to issues of public interest. We are proud to State that we have been performing our professional duty without fear or bias thereby upholding the recognized norms of fair and honest journalism.
-Kamal & Neeraj
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