The Hindu is an Indian English-language daily newspaper published since 1878. With a circulation of 1.46 million, The enterprise employed over 1,600 workers and gross income reached $40 million in 2010. According to the Indian Readership Survey (IRS) 2010 The Hindu is the third most-widely read English newspaper in India (after the Times of India and Hindustan Times) with a readership of 21.59 lakhs. It has its largest base of circulation in South India, especially Tamil Nadu. Headquartered at Chennai (formerly called Madras), The Hindu was published weekly when it was launched in 1878, and started publishing daily in 1889.
The Hindu became, in 1995, the first Indian newspaper to offer an online edition.
The Hindu is published from 14 locations—Bangalore, Chennai, Coimbatore, Delhi, Hubli, Hyderabad, Kochi, Kolkata, Madurai, Mangalore,Thiruvananthapuram, Tiruchirapalli, Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam.
History
The first issue of The Hindu was published on September 20, 1878, by a group of six young men, led by G. Subramania Aiyer, a radical social reformer and school teacher from Thiruvaiyyar near Thanjavur. Aiyer, then 23, along with his 21-year-old fellow-tutor and friend at Pachaiyappa's College, M. Veeraraghavachariar of Chingleput, and four law students, T.T. Rangachariar, P.V. Rangachariar, D. Kesava Rao Pantulu and N. Subba Rao Pantulu were members of the Triplicane Literary Society. The British-controlled English language local newspapers had been campaigning against the appointment of the first Indian, T. Muthuswami Iyer, to the Bench of the Madras High Court in 1878. "The Triplicane Six," in an attempt to counter the dominant attitudes in the English language press started The Hindu on one British rupee and twelve annas of borrowed money. Aiyer was the editor and Veeraraghavachariar the Managing Director. The first editorial declared, "[the] Press does not only give expression to public opinion, but also modifies and moulds it."
Three of the students soon left the paper and took up careers in law, while Pantulu continued to write for The Hindu. The founders of the newspaper maintained a neutral stance regarding British rule, and occasionally, as in an editorial of 1894, held that British rule had been beneficial to Indian people. "However, it was equally convinced that the Anglo-Indian Press should be challenged, despotic bureaucrats condemned, and the abuse of power exposed," writes historian S. Muthiah.
Initially printing 80 copies a week at the Srinidhi Press in Mint Street, Black Town, The Hindu was published every Wednesday evening as an eight-page paper, each a quarter of today's page size and sold for four annas (1/4 rupee). After a month of printing from the Srinidhi Press, the newspaper switched to the Scottish Press, also in Black Town. The earliest available issue of the paper is dated June 21, 1881. In 1881, it moved to Ragoonada Row's "The Hindu Press" of Mylapore, with the intention of making it tri-weekly. This plan did not materialize until it moved to the Empress of India Press, where, starting on October 1, 1883, is was published on every Monday, Wednesday and Friday evening; it continued maintaining the same size as before.
The offices moved to rented premises at 100 Mount Road on December 3, 1883. The newspaper started printing at its own press there, christened "The National Press," which was established on borrowed capital as public subscriptions were not forthcoming. The building itself became The Hindu's in 1892, after the Maharaja of Vizianagaram, Pusapati Ananda Gajapati Raju, gave The National Press a loan both for the building and to carry out needed expansion.
