Explanation:

The mortality rate of newspapers is high worldwide. In India the rate is still higher. Consider this: in India there are only about 50 newspapers which have been published before independence in 1947 still surviving. In this situation a newspaper completing 100 years of existence is in itself a cause for celebration. And if the newspaper happens to be published from a place located about 200 km away from the capital and happens to have a rich legacy and contribution in the social history of the state- it is cause for double celebration. But for some strange reasons Dainik Asha, the first Odia daily is low key about the celebration. Asha was established by Shashi Bhusan Rath, a great freedom fighter in the undivided Ganjam district (which was under the Madras Presidency then) in 13 April, 1913. It was Odia New Year’s day. It became a daily in 1928 (on 13 April, again) and was titled Daink Asha. As a media historian says: “If Gouri Shankar Ray was credited to have printed Odisha’s first newspaper Utkal Dipika in 1866, it was only in early 20th century that journalism got wider acceptance in Odisha following the publication of Asha”.