This article should have been published in the 1st week of July, but better late than never.
Much thanks to the author, Charisma K. Lepcha.
-Admin
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Padris Journalism Award to Priyadarshi
By Charisma K. Lepcha

Fourth of July is a big deal for Americans. They remember the birth of their country.

Fourth of July is beginning to be a big deal for Hill people. They are beginning to celebrate the birth anniversary of a long forgotten pioneer.

Born on July 4, 1851, Padri Ganga Prasad Pradhan was not your regular Darjeelingay. While assisting Scottish missionaries with Bible translation work from English to Nepali, he was attentively grasping the workings of the publication world.

In due time, he was to buy the mission orphanage press, rename it “The Gorkha Press,” and start a monthly publication called the “Gorkhe Khabar Kagat.”

Commenced in 1901, “Gorkhe Khabar Kagat” became your monthly update of local, national, and international news. Older than Nepals “Gorkhapatra,” World War I reports, earthquakes in Myanmar, Darjeeling Hockey Cup account and random general knowledge information all found their places in the pages of this publication. From the available copies of “Gorkhe Khaar Kagat,” it is estimated that an average of thirty-six news reports were included in one single issue.
Besides news reports, “Gorkhe Khabar Kagat,” published home rental adverts in Aalu Baari to matrimonial classifieds. It has been assumed that the publication could very well sustain itself from the ad revenues.
Publishing a collection of news reports with world wide coverage from a faraway hill station was highly commendable even for this day. In a way, “Gorke Khabar Kagat,”had revolutionized the Nepali Journalism world. Padri Ganga Prasad Pradhan was to be the father of Journalism in the hills.

Unfortunately, he has been an inaccessible figure. People do not know much about him and he remains lost in the pages of history.

Accused of being a proselytizer because of translating the Bible, people stray from talking about his other contributions. But he was not just limited to religious translation work. He was a teacher, an author, a reporter, a poet, a lyricist and a pioneer in many ways.

Today, there is an attempt amongst teachers, authors, reporters, poets and lyricists to un-ignore the contributions of a man lost for more than a century.

On July 1, 2006, Kalimpong Sahitya Uthaan Samiti organized a program at the Ramkrishna Rangamanch (Town Hall) to celebrate the 155th Birth anniversary of Padri Ganga Prasad Pradhan.

It was where the first ever Padri Ganga Prasad Pradhan Journalism award was presented to a reporter whose contribution in the Nepali Indian Journalism field was remarkably significant.

Having spent the last 26 years with news dailies, weeklies and monthly publications, the award was presented to Mr. Samiran Chhetri “Priyadarshi,” a Darjeeling born reporter currently residing in Siliguri.

Thrilled on being the first recipient of this award, Priyadarshi called to honor the man who started it all. In conclusion of his acceptance speech, he urged the concerned crowd to revive the “Gorkhe Khabar Kagat.”
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REFERENCES:
Karthak, Solon. 2001. Padri Ganga Prasad Prahan ko Jeewan Bakhan, Kalimpong: Sarikar Prakashan, reprinted in 2002
Karthak, Solon. 2006. Gorkhe Khabar Kagat ko Ubaru Khabar, Kalimpong: Paper presented at the 155th Birth anniversary celebration of Padri Ganga Prasad Pradhan.