Satya Samācāra Sāptāhika was a popular regional newspaper/magazine that was published for twelve years (April 14, 1983 A.D. – February 10, 1995 A.D.) from Palpa. Late Vinay Kumar Kasajoo (1947 V.S. – 2019 V.S.) was the publisher and editor of the newspaper. The paper was renowned for its struggle for democracy and Mr. Kasajoo was jailed in 1985 AD and 1987 AD for reporting, writing and publishing articles against the then Panchayat system.
The weekly newspaper was published from Tansen, Palpa nearly 300 km west of the capital Kathmandu. Tansen is a hill region located in the western part of Nepal. The popularity of the newspaper was immense from hill to Terai of Western and Mid-Western Region i.e. Palpa, Syangja, Kaski (Hill region) and Rupandehi, Kapilvastu, Nawalparasi, Dang (Terai district). As one of the pioneering journalist and editor, Kasajoo mixed the content as hard/soft news, investigative reporting, articles and opinion along with fictions (poem, satire, and story) along with some special edition/issues of the newspaper. Its non-political content became popular among younger generation but the main objectives of the newspaper remained same until the end of the Panchyat system. The various experiments such as content, theme, design and occasional special editions of the newpaper makes it one of the unique and popular publications of western part of Nepal. After restoration of democracy and establishment of multiparty parliament with constitutional monarchy, Satya Samācāra Sāptāhika stopped its publication by publishing farewell issue. Then, Kasajoo started one of the pioneer rural magazines of South Asia named Gāum̐le Deurālı̄ that carries the news of villagers (the stories of success, inspiration, struggle, problems and solution) from the village and for the villagers in their own simple local language.
Since Satya Samācāra Sāptāhika is a publication from outside the Kathmandu Valley, it represents a voice from the periphery, so to speak. This adds to the significance of the collection in the context of Nepal, where only the publications from the centre thus far have been prioritized for archiving.
The purpose of this project is to digitize the issues (Vol. 1 No. 1; Baisakh 1, 2040 V.S. – Vol. 12 No. 36; Magh 27, 2051 V.S. ) of weekly periodical titled “Satya Samācāra Sāptāhika”.