Founded by Pooran Chandra Gupta during the Quit India Movement in 1942 on the principle of reflecting people’s free will, the Jagran group of newspapers was started with the ideology of Hindutva.
Three men are responsible for the success of Dainik Jagran, India’s largest regional newspaper. Mahendra Mohan, Sanjay and Shailesh.
Jagran Prakashan is one of India’s leading Media and Communications Groups with leadership in Print, Digital, Radio, Out-of-Home (OOH) and Activation with content available in nine languages.
Jagran has a readership in excess of 80 million and produces over 100 editions of 12 print products across 15 states in five distinct languages.
Print media brands include Dainik Jagran and iNext as well as Mid-Day Gujarati (Mid-Day Gujarati), Nai Dunia (Punjabi Jagran), Inquilab and Punjabi Jagran.
Jagran New Media includes Jagran.com and Jagranjosh.com as well as Jagran Post, Jagran Junction, Jeetle and Jagran Junction. Jagran Pehel represents the social initiative of the company.
Awarded the highest honour of “Ambassador of Goodwill” by Lions Clubs International in 2005, Dr Mahendra Mohan Gupta is the CMD and Editorial Director of Jagran Prakashan Ltd.
From handling the finance function at Jagran in its early days to overseeing the printing of the newspaper to being imprisoned during the Emergency to signing the landmark FDI deal for Jagran to taking the Jagran Group public and putting it on course for future readiness, Mahendra’s inspirational leadership has left a stamp on every aspect of the Group’s functioning.
Mahendra, who was elected to the highest echelons of public life in 2006 as a Rajya Sabha member, has held key positions on the policy-making councils within the media industry.
He was a member of the Audit Bureau of Circulations, a President of Indian Newspaper Society, Chairman of United News of India and former Chairman of Press Trust of India.
He served as the Director of Merchant’s Chambers of UP, Member Regional Direct Taxes Advisory Committee, Kanpur (Ministry of Finance), Chairman -Multiple Council Lions Clubs International, Patron-Indian Academy of Management Sciences Mirzapur, Patron-U.P. Veterans Cricket Association as well as Patron-Kanpur Rotary Kidney Foundation are among his many other roles.
Mahendra was awarded the Indira Gandhi Priyadarshini award by the All India National Unity Conference in recognition of excellence in Hindi journalism. He has also served Lions Clubs International Multiple District as District Governor.
He is the driving force behind Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities carried out under the charitable trust of the group, Shri Puran Chandra Smarak Trust.
Sanjay Gupta has contributed greatly to taking Dainik Jagran brand to new heights. He is the Editor-in-Chief of Dainik Jagran.
Under Sanjay’s leadership, Dainik Jagran has been the largest-read newspaper of India since 2003 with its credibility, honesty and nation building.
For more than 75 years, this iconic voice of freedom and free expression has been benchmarking standards of excellence that have inspired readers and industry alike, says the media company’s website.
Dainik-Jagran is his greatest credit for consistently topping the Indian Readership Survey.
Sanjay wanted to create a connection with his readers, so he incorporated the language of their state into the newspaper. He also regionalised the paper using their dialect.
Sanjay had said in an interview that the paper stood by the principle of “Hindutva or Indianness” with which, according to him, a lot of society’s emotions are attached.
“The Hindi word for Indianness is Hindutva and we stand for it and will always write for it. We are against parties that appease voters by dividing society on the basis of caste and creed. Jagran is very clear about not supporting these things. We believe that we are objective and support Indianness, unlike a lot other dailies. Hindutva is not a bad thing. The media often criticizes Hindutva without realizing its true meaning. A lot of society’s emotions are attached to this sentiment. We respect your sentiment. That is the selling point and will continue to be our selling point.”
Appointed as the Part-Time-Member of Prasar Bharti Board in 2020 for five years, Sanjay holds a Bachelor’s degree in Science and has around 40 years of experience in the print media industry.
Sanjay is Director of Midday Infomedia Limited MMI Online Limited as well as Member of the Executive Committee of The Indian Newspaper Society. He is also Chairman of the Indian Institute of Management Board of Governors (IIM), Amritsar.
He is a director of Jagran Investment Network Pvt Ltd. This holding company owns the Company.
Sanjay has received numerous awards for his contribution to the film industry. The Editor of The Year award, given by Kiren Rijju, Union Minister, is the most notable.
He was also conferred with AIMA Managing India Award for Outstanding Contribution to Media and Lokmanya Tilak National Journalism Award for the contribution in the field of journalism by Kesari-Maratha Trust.
Shailesh gupta is the whole-time director of Jagran Prakashan Limited, one of the most respected media names in India.
Over the last 25 years, Shailesh has provided a new dimension to Jagran’s marketing strategy, and has been at the heart of driving transformational change at the Jagran group. He has also held positions as Director at Music Broadcast Limited.
During his dynamic career, he’s been at the helm of several Industry bodies, and is held in high esteem for his professionalism and his razor-sharp understanding of the media industry in India.
In 2019-20, he was elected President of the Indian Newspaper Society.
Shailesh became the ABC’s Chairman in 2012-13 after being elected the youngest member of ABC’s Managing Committee.
He held the Vice Chairman position in 2021 of Media Research Users Council, which is India’s most prominent media research body. It was formed solely to organize accurate, timely, and efficient media research across all forms media.
Recognised as the ‘Youngest Entrepreneur Of The Year’ by Rotary Club, India, Shailesh was also nominated by the Indian Newspaper Society to the board of the World Association of Newspapers, Paris.
Apart from the above accolades, Shailesh has also been conferred with ‘Excellence Award for Communication and Mass Entertainment’ By Merchants’ Chamber of UP and ‘Most Talented CMO of India’ by the World Marketing Congress in 2014.