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| M.C.Varghese, Mangalam, Kottayam |
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55 years ago, when 15-year-old M.C.Varghese joined Deepika Daily for a salary of Rs.15 per month, would he have dreamt that one day he would be running his own newspaper? Yes, with perseverance and will power, he has been able to mark a place for himself in vernacular publishing and has channelised a part of the profit from business to humanitarian ventures.
After 7 years of service at Deepika, Varghese started a small press with the money lent to him by Peelikunju of Olassa who pawned his gold ring for the purpose. It would be right to say that with that venture, Varghese had pawned his life to letters and their propagation.
In the press, he worked hard both as worker and as manager rolled into one. Later he started a printing school, where he trained around 150 persons. Some of them even obtained job in Government Press.
In April 1969 the 1st issue of Mangalam came out. Later it had to stop publication due to paucity of funds. The encouragement of his wife Claramma prompted Varghese to restart the publication with renewed vigour. And on March 15, 1989 came the day that Varghese had dreamt. At 8 pm he switched on the machine that was to print Mangalam Daily.
Mass marriages without dowry, providing houses for the poor etc are some of the activities of Mangalam Group. In addition, by increasing the price of Mangalam weekly by 10 paise for 4 issues, the group was able to generate funds to construct a ward for cancer care in Medical College, Kottayam.
Engineering College and other educational institutions, Diagnostic scan centre and confectionary are some of the other areas where he has been able to reap success.
Rajiv Gandhi award, Harmony National award (1995), Best Citizen of India award (1998) etc are some of the honours that have come his way.
Courtesy: Kishore Abraham, Malayalam, June 27, 2003
Contributed by: Administrator
