S.D. Rohmetra

Born in a modest family in village Mulla Chak in RS Pura tehsil, SD Rohmetra received his early schooling at Model Academy, Jammu, and completed higher education from St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata. He took to the profession of journalism from early life. With the passage of time, his interest in journalism deepened and there was a strong urge to become a medium to raise the voice of people.

Deciding to step into the realm of regional and national print media, Rohmetra launched a weekly English language newspaper - Daily Excelsior in Jammu on January 1, 1965. With its pronounced nationalistic outlook and faithfully voicing the aspirations of the people, weekly Daily Excelsior received large scale public appreciation.

The mission he set forth for himself and his paper was of strengthening ties between J&K State and the rest of the country. This brought him into close contacts with a large variety of people drawn from different walks of life including politicians, administrators, scholars, intellectuals, public leaders, unionists and plebeians. He endeared himself to his friends and associates, one and all, by being honest and soft spoken.

Finding that the weekly Daily Excelsior was making strong impact on its readers and the civil society in general, Rohmetra was prompted to convert the weekly into daily newspaper in 1977.

The Daily Excelsior soon scaled great heights to become the most popular daily with the readership, spread across the State. Rohmetra’s vision, understanding of political complexities, dedication to professional ethics and enviable nationalistic beliefs and viewpoints soon made Daily Excelsior the most liked and largest circulated English daily in the State. On several occasions, he was member of the Press Corpse that accompanied the Indian Prime Minister on his foreign tours.