History and Evolution of Printing Industry in Gadag | Gadag Printing Presses | Bengaluru News

There’s a saying in north Karnataka that if one throws a stone in Gadag, it’ll land both at a printing press or on the compositor’s doorstep. Although Gadag was once a hub for textile, oil, and flour mills to start with of the twentieth century, its printing business is what has earned it the utmost fame.

In 1872, Gauri Shankar Mishra, a railway contractor from Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, laid the muse stone for Jnana Chandrodaya Printing Press, thereby marking a watershed second within the metropolis’s historical past.His intention was to publish Kannada literary works. Later, he established Rasika Ranjini Chhapkhana from the place ‘Rasika Ranjini’, thought-about to be the primary weekly journal of Gadag, was rolled out in 1884. Although some books have been additionally revealed by the missionaries of Basel Mission Church in Gadag, these have been printed in Mangaluru. At this time Gadag is well-known for e book works in addition to job works. Many presses have been established right here to publish newspapers specializing in non secular, philosophical, and religious matters.

Notably, these presses have been named after newspapers akin to ‘Satyavritta’ (1888), ‘Karnataka Bandhu’ (1930) and ‘Praja’ (1946-47). Notably, the Vijaya Dhwaja printing press revealed ‘Kritapura Vaibhava’ in 1899-1900. Lady journalist-cum-freedom fighter Tarabai Vajpayee, a kin of Mishra, who had migrated from Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, restarted ‘Rasika Ranjini’ in 1925 to propagate Gandhian ideas and create consciousness on the liberty wrestle amongst commoners. Manjunath Naragund, a historical past fanatic, famous that the evolution of the printing business may be labeled into 4 phases: Litho Press, Letter Press, Offset Printing and Digital Printing.

“Since Gadag was the primary (in Kanaginahal village) to start out a cooperative society in Asia, the cooperative motion fed the printing business with accounts books for publication. Then, with the Indian freedom wrestle gathering steam and the Karnataka Unification Motion gaining floor, printing business noticed a increase. Even newbie theatre that emerged within the Nineteen Sixties supplied the printing business with copious portions of fabric to print,” Naragund stated.

In 1921, as electrification reached Gadag, it led to a world of change within the printing business, with handbook energy making manner for electrical printing machines. With this, treadle printing machines, that wanted to be manually pedalled, have been powered by electrical energy, making your entire course of extra environment friendly, and fewer laborious and time-consuming. Apparently, even beedi-making, which was then integral to the tobacco business, contributed to the expansion of the printing business in Gadag. Beedi makers wanted to print labels for the packaging of their merchandise and in 1958-59, Narasingasa Chhap Beedi, a number one producer since 1880, arrange its personal press to have its beedi labels printed.

The printing business additionally gave rise to a specialised workforce known as compositors. Legend has it that Maktumsab Kunneebhavi was the primary employee to be employed at Jnana Chandrodaya Printing Press in 1872. “Till the final couple of many years, there was not a single road or neighbourhood within the twin cities of Gadag and Betgeri that didn’t have a compositor residing there. Nevertheless, with the appearance of digital printing, this workforce misplaced its shine,” remembers Girish who had labored as a compositor in Gadag for 3 many years. Some proof of the excessive demand for compositors may be present in late Fakeersa Shivannasa Bhandage’s autobiography ‘Yaaru Naanu? Jeevana Kathana’ (Who am I? A life story). Bhandage, who had joined as a trainee compositor, later went on to turn into the proprietor of a printing press. “Press homeowners used to supply meals, lodging and different amenities,” he recalled. “They’d even sponsor weekend sightseeing journeys for the contract employees in Hyderabad,” Bhandage mentions within the e book. The compositors have been progressively changed with DTP operators. In keeping with Mrutyunjay Sankeshwar, CMD, Sankeshwar Printers Personal Restricted, the printing business continues to be surviving owing to its capability to maintain tempo with altering occasions. “In the case of Gadag, its aggressive pricing, coupled with technological upgradation, have helped guarantee high quality printing at reasonably priced worth,” Sankeshwar claimed.

Nevertheless, the present state of affairs is not all that rosy for the printing business in Gadag. In keeping with town’s municipal data, there are about 40 printing presses at present practical, although previous timers consider the precise figures could possibly be even much less – a far cry from the times earlier than the appearance of digital applied sciences. Veterans rue that what was as soon as a “cottage business”, has dwindled to just a bit over two dozen printing presses now. The pandemic has taken its toll on the printing sector, says Vinayak Khona, proprietor of Abhishek Offset Prints. “After the Covid-19 pandemic, the variety of books we print has come down by 75%,” he stated. The dwindling variety of printing presses however, many nonetheless consider that every one is actually not misplaced on condition that there are nonetheless a lot of individuals who “choose studying tales, poems, novels, and non-fiction within the type of bodily books”. This, regardless of the rising reputation of digital units. “There are a minimum of half a dozen publishers of literary books in Gadag,” Khona stated, citing a living proof.

Printers of Gadag proceed to obtain orders from publishers based mostly in Dharwad, Raichur, Kalaburagi, Ballari, Koppal, Vijayapura, Bagalkot and different locations within the north Karnataka area, he added. Ramesh Katti, a writer from Almel in Vijayapura, stated he had given print orders for all of the 40 titles he had introduced out up to now, to a printing press in Gadag. “Printing books is totally totally different from different jobs akin to pamphlets or magazines. DTP operators must pay much more consideration to the textual content, and people in Gadag are fairly environment friendly,” he defined. Katti additional stated: “So far as printing know-how is worried, Gadag is at par with any main metropolis within the nation – no compromise when it comes to high quality and supply is at all times on time.”

MN Kambale, who labored as a compositor and now owns Kambale Printers, recalled how he was interviewed by veteran author Ha Ma Nayak, 4 many years in the past. “I used to be working as a compositor in a printing press. Nayak as soon as got here to me and sought particulars about our livelihood. I defined the scenario to him. He then wrote about our plight in his column Samprati in ‘Prajamatha’, which was a preferred weekly in these days. He wrote that Gadag grew to become ‘Mudrana Kaashi’ (the Kashi of printing) – due to the blood and sweat of the employees. He additionally noticed that the wages of labourers in Gadag have been meagre in comparison with what was paid in Bengaluru,” Kambale stated.

“After studying about our plight in Nayak’s column, Jnanpith awardee Shivaram Karanth met me and appreciated the truth that I had spoken the reality. He even assured he would incorporate our story in his future novels,” Kambale recalled. Kambale additional stated that even now, employees within the printing business come beneath a variety of stress from the press homeowners resulting from stiff competitors. “We get a really small margin (of the revenue). Many presses don’t even present state-sponsored healthcare (ESI) or Provident Fund choices to their employees right here,” he added. “Whereas earlier, operating the printing press was a ardour, now it is simply an business,” Kambale rued.