NATIONAL HERALD, NAVJEEVAN DAILIES TO BE RELAUNCHED

NEW DELHI: The Congress on Wednesday said it will revive the National Herald and Navjivan newspapers and appointed senior journalist Neelabh Mishra as their editor-in-chief nearly eight years after the publications were pulled out of circulation.

All India Congress Committee (AICC) treasurer Motilal Vora, who is also the chairperson of Associated Journals Limited (AJL) that runs the newspapers, made the announcement. The relaunch of the newspapers comes ahead of assembly elections in several states early next year. They were closed in 2008 due to financial crunch.

Mishra, a former editor of Outlook Hindi magazine and a columnist, has been actively involved in Right to Information campaign and civil liberties movements.

Both the newspapers — National Herald in English and Navjeevan in Hindi — will resume publication in the “coming months” followed by Urdu newspaper Qaumi Awaz, a Congress statement said. Sources said the plan is to go digital first and then print them.National Herald, which was founded at Lucknow in 1938 by freedom-fighter Jawaharlal Nehru, was banned by the British during the 1942 Quit India movement.

It faced brief shutdowns in the 1940s and 70s. AJL owns a number of properties across India, including the Herald House in Delhi from where the papers were last published.