Dear Reader,

There can be few occasions better than the 50th anniversary of India's Independence for introspection. On my part, I had over the last several weeks been mulling over how the Indian Express Group of Publications could commemorate the event.

Would it, for example, suffice to be a me-too and merely offer our readers a few supplements like most other publications? It clearly would not: the Express has prided itself in not being "just another publication''.

It is an institution that has assiduously been built on bricks of patriotism and fortified with the mortar of conviction.Happily, around the time I was introspecting, I recalled an editorial published in this newspaper in August 1942. Headlined `Heart-strings and purse-strings', it was a declaration by our founder Ram Nath Goenka that he would rather shut down his newspaper than comply with the British Government's desperate efforts to gag the press.

It is necessary for a mission to be financially viable if it is to continue, but it was an article of faith of our founder that black bottomlines on the balance sheets must not enjoy primacy over other, more important, responsibilities. A newspaper subserves a larger social purpose.

It informs people about events that affect their lives and their country and helps them make rational choices. A newspaper also binds scattered communities. It was precisely to perform this larger function that Ram Nath Goenka became a publisher. In fact , it was because Mahatma Gandhi spoke of the need for a national newspaper that Ram Nath Goenka started The Indian Express

.This was why he became the most combative newspaper owner in the country, repeatedly taking on the establishment - British or Independent Indian - in his relentless pursuit to sustain democratic values. It was probably the only national newspaper created to fight for India's Independence.

The mantle of a man of his stature is not easy to bear. But we have inherited it, and are committed to further this mission. Like him, I believe that a newspaper ought to be a medium of communication, not merely a profit centre. So, as our tribute to the nation on the 50th anniversary of Independence, we decided to take The Indian Express to Jammu.

It makes us the first national newspaper to print in Jammu and Kashmir and serve its people. In the days ahead, this edition will become a vital link between this most-troubled of states and the rest of the Union, a medium for the free exchange of ideas and the fostering of a climate of understanding.

After all, peace should prevail over politics.If communications is our business, it necessarily follows that our publications must be easily accessible in every part of the Union. So, though the group is by and large controlled by two companies, neither has hesitated to cooperate in venturing into territories where other national newspapers, sedulously guarding their profit margins, do not dare to tread.

This year alone, we have started editions at Bhubaneshwar and Belgaum, and specially printed ones for Rajkot and Surat. But surely their citizens are not undeserving of access to India's most independent national newspaper. In the months ahead, we intend to widen our presence even more.

And this process of expansion will never be controlled only by the profit motive. We will not be hostage to our purse-strings. We believe that the dictates of the heart are rather more compelling.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.