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Natun Chithi, a leading Bengali weekly published from Burdwan, started its journey on 25th December 1977 with an unequivocal declaration of its subjective commitment to the interest of the toiling masses in fight for social change while remaining true to the objectivity of facts. ‘We do not create news, we build up public opinion’—is the basic slogan of Natun Chithi. It is a very hard path for a small newspaper to tread in a realm dominated by mega-houses of journalism which under the cover of neutrality is actually engaged in ‘manufacturing consent’ for the existing exploitative socio-economic system that nourishes them. To draw maximum possible financial benefit from this system they very often do not hesitate to take recourse to ‘yellow journalism’ and ‘paid news’ in their news-making processes.
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However small and arduous the path might be, Natun Chithi came out with a vow of professional integrity and a strong faith in the collective strength of all such small efforts in fighting the big vices and brining about a positive consciousness for change. Asoke Banerjee, a Marxist activist, was the founder, printer, publisher and editor of this newspaper. Habibullah Anwar was assistant editor. Sudhir Roy and Mridul Sen were the member of first editorial board. It got its RNI registration in 1978. In this initial phase Natun Chithi was immensely benefitted by the active support and help of the renowned. Marxist leaders like -
 Rabin Sen
Ramnarayan Goswami
Nirupam Sen
Madan Ghosh.
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The Natun Chithi family gradually expanded to include such persons as -
Ramkrishna Mukhopadhyay
Jyotirmay Bhattacharya
Arun Mjumdar
Jahur Alom
Dilip Routh
Debprasad Mukherjee
and later on Shankar Ghosal
Dinesh Jha
Imanul Haque
Fazlul Bari Midda
Kishor Makar
Partha Chowdhury
Shankar Sarkar
Sibananda Pal
Dukhdeb Mondal
Gopal Pal
Abdus Sadur and many others.
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It had to suffer from bereavements and voluntary exits of some of its members, but a new generation filled in the gaps. We were also fortunate enough to get active help from well-wisher from different corners of the district as well as the state. In 1989 Asoke Banerjee had to leave at the larger call of cooperative movement and Jyotirmay Bhattacharya became the editor with a full-time team. In 1977 Natun Chithi extended its efforts to launch a weekly audio-visual cable programmed entitled ‘Aajker Chithi’ which also arranged direct telecasting of Bardhaman Utsav every year. Natun Chithi stared a quarterly magazine ‘Prometheus’ in late eighties, but it could not be continued for long. In 2005 Natun Chithi was organized as a Trust. Maintaining a close link with all the journalists of big and small newspaper and audio-visual media and active participation in all their collective movements, Natun Chithi has reached its 36th year of uninterrupted journey.
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Although situated in a district of West Bengal, Natun Chithi tries to maintain a wider national and international perspective. We are proud that its special Autumn issue, enriched by contributions of eminent writers and intelligentsia across the country, has acquired a wide acceptability. Natun Chithi published a series of books. In the early 1980s it published –
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‘Swet parabater Sandhane, by Nirupam Sen
‘Bam Front O Bhumi Samskar’ by Ramnarayan Goswami
‘Elem Natun Deshe’ by Bamapada Mukherjee
‘Bharater Bhumi Byabastha, Congress O Krishak Shabha’ by Madon Ghosh
‘Sampradaikata Pratirodhe’, a collection of essays published in early 1990s, was one of the highest selling books
‘Sangbadikata O Tathya Samrajyabad’ was also prestigious publication of Natun Chithi
‘Chiner Diary’ by Nirupam Sen
‘Rana Bauler Diary’
‘Sampradaikata O Dharmiya Moulabad’ and a lot of booklets on current socio-political questions were published. Our ‘Tathya Katha Bale’ was a very popular publication during elections. We published ‘Swanirbharatar Sandhane’ by Ashok Bandyopadhaya & ‘Rog Baro Balai’ by Dr. Dipayan Nath. Our publication ‘Bardhaman Jelai Communist Andolaner Atit Prasanga’(1991) by Syed Sahedullah has acquired the recognition of an unavoidable book of reference in related studies. Natun Chithi, has a small library of its own which is maintained and upgraded regularly.
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Natun Chithi has been able to create a wide sphere of its own writers, subscribers, readers and well-wishers whom it meets regularly for interact on. Time to time, specially on the occasion of its anniversary, Natun Chithi organizes seminar of national level on current issues.
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Undeterred by the various odds it faced and are still now facing, Natun Chithi is determined to go on with its journey towards a new horizon.
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