Ashoka’s Edict is without a Pillar

This is our first Editorial, after taking over as the new team of The Edict.

Dear Ashokans,

Winter is a time for relaxation, introspection, wrapping up the year that has gone by and ushering in a new one. It is after indulging in the same, that we write to you, our first editorial after taking over as the new editorial team of The Edict. The beginning of the year provides an apt occasion to renew a promise, one that is perfectly put into words by Gulzar Sahab:

“Ahista chal zindagi, abhi kai karz chukana baaki hai.

Kuch dard mitana baaki hai, kuch farz nibhana baaki hai.”

(Move slowly, O Life, there are many debts yet to be repaid,

Some pain to be washed away, a few responsibilities yet to be fulfilled.)

However, before making any further promises, it is important to address certain well founded criticisms. We have chosen Gulzar Sahab’s lines for we realise that The Edict has fallen short of its pledge. To be a student newspaper requires careful reporting, incisive articles, a platform for airing all forms of opinions and most importantly, resilience. While we do believe that in the past we have failed to be whom we set out to be, we believe that The Edict has always remained resilient. With minimal audiences, far fewer writers, nominal praise and only token support (from the administration), The Edict could have shut down. Yet, the hard work and commitment of the previous editorial boards, ensured its perpetuity.

A new dawn is approaching our humble newspaper, and we hope to dust off the old allegations of being ‘biased, boring, qualitatively poor, quantitatively meagre and most importantly tabloid’ in nature. We are here to make The Edict an integral part of our campus.

Ashoka’s Edicts were inscribed on a Pillar. Our Pillar is you: the readers. The larger you grow in number, the more resilient our newspaper becomes. Our pledge is to ensure that we put out content not just to please audiences but to make them uncomfortable. The Edict shall be apolitical but shall offer a political platform. Debate, dialogue and dissent shall form our bedrock and we proclaim this far and wide. Let this be our undertaking to our readers and an invite to future writers. We shall strive to transform ourselves from being a ‘tabloid magazine,’ a charge often leveled against us, to being a full fledged newspaper.

It is also important to understand what a newspaper should be: when closing down as a mark of protest against the gag order issued by the British against the press in the aftermath of the Quit India Movement, the Indian Express issued a rather moving editorial by the name “Heart Strings and Purse Strings.” In their, so to say, farewell edition, they proclaimed: “The hard fact of the situation is that if we went on publishing, The Indian Express may be called a paper, but cannot be called a newspaper.” The Edict shall continue publishing. It will strive to be the robust newspaper that it set out to be and that this university deserves.

“Raftaar mein tere chalne se kuchh rooth gaye, kuch chhut gaye.

Roothon ko manana baaki hai, roton ko hasana baki hai.”

(In the swiftness that is Life, some are disappointed, some have been left behind,

The disappointed need to be made amends with, the distraught need to be made smiling again.)

This letter was directed towards Ashokans. Today, this refers to students (undergraduates and fellows), founders, administration and faculty, but in the future it shall evoke a sense of pride and excellence. In this future, that we are crafting together, The Edict forms an indispensable part. While the presence and flourishing of a meme group displays innovation, writing remains a noble pursuit of life, and the most important tool for articulation. The Facebook group can never replace the spot of a newspaper in any college campus, and the past year has reaffirmed this fact. However, it has been a failure of The Edict that so many had to resort to the Facebook group to raise important concerns that should have ideally been done through meticulously thought out articles. We are soon entering an era of less reading and more trolling, less absorption and more ridicule. In these times, only a newspaper can act as an antidote to the caustic comments that individuals have to face on their posts.

Let this be a reminder to those who might have forgotten that you do have a newspaper: if you wish to express an opinion, or even voice a concern (everything short of a rant, which after edits we promise to publish as well), approach the platform that you have created. While Facebook might offer an immediate venting ground, The Edict offers an opportunity of indelibility for it is only the written word which has the potential of immortality. We cannot be studying in a liberal arts college, taking multiple critical thinking and writing courses and not be devoting ourselves to reading and writing.

We have always believed that a carefully crafted letter can touch the right chords. This letter was meant to acknowledge, apologize, and reaffirm. We hope we have been able to fulfil the purpose with which we had begun this undertaking.

When the Yale Daily News, the oldest student newspaper in the United States started publishing in 1878, the newspaper’s first editors wrote:

“The innovation which we begin by this morning’s issue is justified by the dullness of the times, and the demand for news among us.”

Today, the editors of The Edict write:

“The Edict’s presence is a response to the unfortunate invasion of Ashokan discourse by a culture that encourages scrolling and ranting instead of reading and writing.”

We hope to assure our readers that we do take our work seriously, even though it might not have appeared so. As we step forward in this new year, here is our ailaan, which we hope to fulfill- by the year 2019:

1. At least 5 articles shall be taken from the Edict and published in external agencies

2. 100 students shall have contributed with at least one article

3. Faculty and founders writings shall become an integral part of The Edict

Kuch hasraatein abhi adhuri hain, kuch kaam bhi aur zaruri hai.

Aahista chal zindagi, abhi kai karz chukana baki hai!

(Some desires remain unfulfilled, some work is imminent,

Move slowly, O Life, there are many debts yet to be repaid!).

Signatories:

Nishant Kauntia (Editor-in-Chief)

Gauri Newatia, Himali Thakur, Ishaan Banerji, Aashay Verma, Ananya Damodaran, Arushi Jain, Zainab Ghafoor- Firdausi, Sparsh Agarwal (Managing Editors).