he breeze of the 'neo' is definitely blowing towards the east. After industrialists made a beeline for West Bengal with different propositions, it is the turn of one of India's largest publishing houses to land there. After a long hiatus, Living Media launched a regional edition - India Today Bangla last month. The last regional edition launched was Telugu about 16 years ago.

The last general news magazine that was published from the state was Sunday from the house of ABP and that too in English. In the regional language space, India Today Bangla, it can be said with near-certainty, will be almost unchallenged in Bengal. The print run of the India Today Bangla is 70,000 copies and is available at news-stands at a price of Rs 15. The only other general news magazine Saptahik Bartaman from the house of Bartaman is a poor rival and only deals with local issues - production quality is nothing to talk about too. ABP, on the other hand, has magazines in the literary space (Desh), one for women (Sananda), a children's magazine (Anandamela), and all in Bengali but no general news magazine. ... more