But beginning with the January 10 special meet in New Delhi, followed by a series of other workshops held in Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh and Amravati in Maharashtra, a concerted movement has started which is bound to change the tone and face of the small and medium newspapers, mostly belonging to the Indian vernacular sector, and spread all over the country, closer to the masses in terms of influence and opinion still making, but sadly far from the official notice by both the Union and the state governments.

In the Delhi workshop, which was attended by the top brass of the INS and steered by its Small and Medium Newspapers Committee chairman, Sunil Dang, the focus was on modernization and production cost cutting of small and medium newspapers. It raised the morale of the small and medium newspaper publishers and editors who came to New Delhi to participate in the interaction of this kind held for the first time in INS history. Credit for this naturally went to the present INS leadership who had the courage and foresight to break with the smug tradition and indifferent attitudes of the past. It made the small and medium newspaper publishers feel that the big ones cared for them and were willing to help them turn a corner if they were ready to take the first vital steps towards professional and technological modernization. It was at this interaction that Union Ministers like Shri Santosh Mohan Deb and top brass of the DAVP, Press Information Bureau and Registrar of Newspapers of India found time to participate, ensure help to bring about change and answered questions from small and medium newspaper on issues of great concern. It was also at this interaction that the Small and Medium Newspapers Committee chairman put forward the proposal of a "SINGLE WINDOW POLICY" by the Union and the State governments to deal with the problems of the small and medium newspapers to save their publishers and editors continuously knocking different doors of different government departments for certification, registration, release of official advertisements and allocation of newsprint quotas. The idea has been catching up and by now has become one of the major and consensus demands of the small and medium newspapers of India, fully endorsed by the INS leadership.

The Bhopal meet of the small and medium newspapers on the encouragement from the Committee Chairman Mr. Dang, took the Delhi agenda some steps further. The Madhya Pradesh Governor, Dr. Bal Ram Jakhar underlined the importance of the small and medium newspapers role in the life of the nation and said this was the instrument which would clean up the polluted vessel that held the sacred Ganges water – the Gangajali – and they wanted should be given due importance and support. The voices in Bhopal rose to pose questions to know why governments did not want to help tackle the problems of small and medium newspapers of the country. It was pointed out that India’s national father, Mahatma Gandhi; first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru and his daughter Mrs. Indira Gandhi, who also became a distinguished Prime Minister of India, gave utmost importance to small and medium newspapers, most of which were Indian languages newspapers which spread the flame of change and Indian freedom struggle. Harijan led the great small newspapers of the country that fought for the freedom of the country in the face of oppressive laws and repression let lose by the then Imperial government.

Important sessions of the Bhopal meet were inaugurated by the Chief Minister Shri Babu Lal Gaur and the Vidhan Sabha Speaker, Shri Ishwar Das Rohini. The State Director of Public Relations, Shri Pankaj Rag also participated in the deliberations. The focus of the Bhopal interaction was on new technologies.

The May 20 interaction at Amravati was inaugurated by the Amravati Mayor Milind Chimote and its closing session was addresse by Sunil Dang. The focus at the Amravati meet was on the changing media scenario in the country and modernization needs of the media.

Anil Agerwal (Amravati Mandal),Nanak Ahuja (Pratidin Akhbar) along with Vilas Marathe (Hindusthan) were the soul of the seminar

Sources close to the INS said that the series of meets to organize and activate the small and medium newspapers movements would continue to cover all regions and languages of India. In mid-July, a small and medium newspapers meet would be held in Chennai. In mid-August, a meet would be held in Guwahati to cover the North-eastern region. Before the year end, two more regional meets were slated to be organized for the northern states possibly in Chandigarh and one for the Uttar Pradesh and Bihar region.

The participants at the Delhi, Bhopal and Amravati meets recalled how the late Lal Bahadur Shastri and Mrs. Indira Gandhi, during their prime ministerial tenures had dreamt of spreading networks of district newspapers to cover the entire country to spread he message of change and development among the masses through the languages they understood and hope someone would perhaps take up the unfinished task where they had left.

Dr. Balram Jakhar, Governor of Madhya Pradesh was there to congratulate the SAEF Editors on their bold initiatives for promoting peace and friendship through language media.

The prominent Indian, Pakistan and Nepalese language newspaper editors, who assembled for the two-day conference on May 27th and 28th, unanimously elects Mr. Zahid Ali Khan, editor of the Siasat daily as the Chairman and Mr. Fasih Iqbal, Editor-in -Chief of the daily Balochistan Times and the daily Zamana, Quetta, as the President.

It is significant that as an aftermath of the events that led to the Kargil crisis in 1999 and polarization of relation between India and Pakistan, some courageous South Asian media leaders met in Colombo in July 1999 and in Kathmandu in September 1999. At a series of interactions organized on the initiatives of Mr. Sundeep Waslekar of the International Centre for Peace Initiatives. Mumbai, with support from the South Asian Media Association and former Pakistani Information Minister and prominent journalist Javed Jabbar, led to the decision to create SAEF, the South Asian Editors’ Forum. It was resolved that SAEF will strive to promote peace and regional cooperation. Its Advisory Committee members were also elected from among eminent editors of language newspapers of South Asian countries.

Mr. Girish Sanghi, Managing Editor, Vaartha, from India was elected the Chairman of the Advisory Committee and Kazi Asad Abid, Chairman Ibrat Group of Publications, Pakistan and Mr. Ashwini Kumar, editor Punjab Kesri and Hind Samachar from India as Vice Presidents.

The Vice Chairmen were Mohammed Sham, Group editor of Jang from Pakistan and Kumar Ketkar, editor, Lok Satta from India.

While Mr. Jyotirmaya Sharma of The Hindu was elected the Secretary General, Ms. Babita Bsent of Nepal and Ms, Pinki Dala of India were made Joint secretaries. The treasurer was Mr. Gulab Kothari from India,alternated by K. Vadodria also of India.