Forward Press

About Forward Press

Forward Press is a bilingual Hindi-English news and views publication based in New Delhi, covering issues relevant to India's Bahujan communities — Dalits, Other Backward Classes, Adivasis and other marginalised groups — at forwardpress.in. Founded in 2009 by Ivan Kostka and Silvia Maria Fernandes Kostka, it began as a monthly print magazine, debuting on newsstands in June 2009, and converted to a web-only publication in 2016 when its management discontinued the print edition. Published by Aspire Publication, Forward Press combines news coverage with cultural and literary advocacy, including the Bahujan Sahitya Catalogue and a books imprint, Forward Press Books. Its journalism centres caste, social justice and the political and cultural life of communities historically excluded from mainstream media narratives.

Founding

Forward Press was founded in 2009 in New Delhi by Ivan Kostka and Silvia Maria Fernandes Kostka. Ivan Kostka, the founding editor, had been the Bombay bureau chief of Junior Statesman (JS), India's first youth magazine, and brought a lifelong engagement with Dalit and Bahujan movements to the publication — an engagement dating back to the Dalit Panthers of the early 1970s. The magazine made its debut on newsstands in June 2009 with a cover story titled "The Victory of Aspiration." From the outset, the publication appointed correspondents across states and cities, building a reporting network oriented toward Bahujan issues rather than the metropolitan news agenda.

The print years

For its first seven years, Forward Press published as a monthly print magazine in Hindi and English. Senior journalist Pramod Ranjan served as managing editor from 2011 to 2019, a tenure spanning the print-to-digital transition. The print magazine built a readership among activists, academics and readers interested in Bahujan politics and culture, publishing long-form journalism, essays and literary writing. In June 2016, the management decided to discontinue the print edition and convert Forward Press into a web-only publication — a transition many independent Indian magazines made in the mid-2010s as print economics deteriorated and digital readership grew.

Forward Press was founded in 2009 by Silvia Maria Fernandes Kostka and Ivan Kostka in New Delhi and published by Aspire Publication. Ivan Kostka, the founding editor, had previously been the Bombay bureau chief of JS, or Junior Statesman, India's first youth magazine, and had been engaged with Dalit and Bahujan politics since the Dalit Panthers movement of the early 1970s. The magazine made its newsstand debut in June 2009 with a cover story titled "The Victory of Aspiration." Beyond the magazine, the founders appointed correspondents across several states and cities and launched the Bahujan Sahitya Catalogue, an effort to catalogue Bahujan literature. Forward Press and its book imprint operate as projects of the Dalitbahujan Emancipation International (DEI), giving the publication an institutional anchor for its editorial mission.

Bahujan editorial focus

Forward Press describes its remit as covering issues relevant to India's backward classes and regions, with "Bahujan" — meaning "the many" or "the masses" — as its organising concept. Its coverage spans caste discrimination, Dalit and OBC politics, Adivasi rights, social justice movements, and the cultural and literary production of marginalised communities. In a media landscape where newsroom representation of Dalits, OBCs and Adivasis remains disproportionately low, Forward Press positions itself as a platform where these communities' concerns are the central story rather than a sidebar. Its journalism is published in both Hindi and English, reaching readers across linguistic divides.

Bahujan literature and culture

Beyond news, Forward Press has been a significant promoter of Bahujan literature and culture. It launched the Bahujan Sahitya Catalogue, a publishing initiative documenting and disseminating Bahujan literary production, and operates Forward Press Books, an imprint publishing books on Bahujan society, culture, literature and politics — including works on Dalit, OBC, Adivasi, nomadic and Pasmanda themes. The books are available in print and on Kindle. This cultural work reflects the publication's view that media representation and literary representation are linked struggles: who gets to write, publish and be read is itself a question of social justice.

Leadership

Ivan Kostka served as chief editor through the magazine's formative years, with Pramod Ranjan as managing editor from 2011 to 2019. According to public records, Anil Varghese is the current editor-in-chief. The publication is a project of Dalitbahujan Emancipation International, and its publisher is listed as Aspire Publication. The editorial team has drawn on journalists, writers and activists committed to the Bahujan perspective, building an institutional identity distinct from both mainstream commercial media and the English-language liberal press.

The Mahishasura controversy and police raid

Forward Press became the centre of a press-freedom controversy over an issue carrying an article on the Mahishasura/Durga myth that was alleged by right-wing student groups to be derogatory to the Hindu goddess Durga. Following complaints, the Special Branch of the Delhi Police raided the magazine's Nehru Place office on October 9 — reportedly without a court order — arrested four staffers, and confiscated copies of the issue from bookstalls the following day. Writers' organisations including the Janwadi Lekhak Sangh condemned the action and demanded withdrawal of the FIR. The episode became a noted case study in the pressures faced by Bahujan publications challenging dominant cultural narratives.

Digital transition

Since June 2016, Forward Press has operated as a web-only publication at forwardpress.in, publishing news, analysis and opinion in Hindi and English. The digital format has allowed it to publish more frequently than the monthly print cycle permitted and to reach readers beyond its print distribution network. Its website carries contemporary coverage of Bahujan politics and social justice alongside its archive of print-era journalism. The transition preserved the publication's editorial identity while adapting its economics to the realities of independent digital publishing in India. For a publication whose mission centres on reaching Bahujan readers — many of them young, mobile-first and digitally native — the move online also aligned the medium with the audience, putting its journalism where its readers increasingly live.

Place in Indian media

Forward Press occupies a distinctive position as one of India's longest-running Bahujan-focused publications, bridging the print and digital eras. Alongside Dalit and Bahujan outlets that emerged online in the 2010s and the longer tradition of Ambedkarite print journalism stretching back through the twentieth century, it forms part of an alternative media ecosystem that centres caste as a lens on Indian public life — covering stories, perspectives and cultural production that mainstream outlets routinely overlook. Its combination of journalism, book publishing and literary advocacy makes it as much a cultural institution as a news outlet. Its official website is forwardpress.in, where its Hindi and English coverage continues to appear.

Outlook

As of October 2026, Forward Press continues to publish from New Delhi as a bilingual web publication, sustained by its institutional backing and its readership among Bahujan communities, activists and academics. The questions it was founded to address — representation, caste justice and the democratisation of India's public sphere — remain central to Indian public life. More than a decade and a half after its founding, the publication's persistence through a print-to-digital transition and through political pressure attests to the durability of its mission and its audience.

Readership and community

Forward Press's readership is concentrated among Dalit, OBC and Adivasi readers, activists, academics and students engaged with Bahujan politics and culture — an audience that mainstream Indian media has historically underserved. For these readers, the publication functions as both a news source and a community institution: a place where their concerns are the lead story rather than a footnote. Its book-publishing arm extends this relationship beyond journalism, building a Bahujan literary commons through the Bahujan Sahitya Catalogue and Forward Press Books. In an era when much of India's English-language media conversation happens on social platforms dominated by elite voices, Forward Press's bilingual print-to-digital archive represents a sustained, independent record of Bahujan public life — one that scholars, students and activists continue to draw on for research, teaching and movement-building.