Abdussalam Puthige Biography 
Abdussalam Puthige is a writer and prominent journalist. He is the Editor-in-Chief of Varthabharathi, a Kannada daily newspaper published from Mangalore and Bangalore. The first issue was published on 29 August 2003 from Mangalore. The Bangalore edition of this daily was launched on 29 August 2006. He is the founder director of many institutions in Mangalore including Madhyama Kendra (Media Centre) and Institute for Media Studies. He is the Managing Trustee of Community Media Trust, Mangalore and Managing Director of Maadhyama Communications Ltd, Mangalore. He is Member of Executive Council, Human Development Initiative, New Delhi.
Puthige was born on 2 April 1964 in Ganjimutt, a small village of Dakshina Kannada district, Karnataka. His father’s name is Moulana Shafi. He studied at Bailur and Adi-Udupi where his father was employed. After completing his education, he took journalism as a profession. Very soon he became an associate editor for a Mangalore based Kannada weekly. He wrote columns as well as reported news during this period. He started translating many Urdu books into the Kannada language as well. He has also authored many books in Kannada and English languages. ‘Towards Performing Da'wah’ is his most popular English book.
He was one of the members of the committee that translated the Qur'an into Kannada - Qur'an Vyakhyana. In 1996, Puthige set up a trust, Madhyama Kendra to create awareness among youth to promote Kannada media and encourage youngsters to write stories and news reports. He is the founding director of this Mangalore-based Madhyama Kendra which offers 6 month diploma courses in journalism. He has been deeply influenced by late Vaddarse Raghuram Shetty who launched a short-lived Kannada paper "Mungaru" which employed backward communities.
Published: N/A
Updated: February 13, 2014
