Tarun Bharat, published from Belgaum in Karnataka, has taken away 6,000 out of the 18,000-odd Gomantak circulation.

It was at the Herald that I first met Elston Soares alias Paku (some years later, we met again at Newslink, the Belgaum-published English-language sister publication of Tarun Bharat).

Fifth, that is, if one includes the now defunct West Coast Times and Newslink, an English-language newspaper launched by the Tarun Bharat Group, and targeted at Goa, though like the Tarun Bharat in Marathi earlier, it too was printed from the neighbouring city of Belgaum.

Fifth, that is, if one includes the now defunct West Coast Times and Newslink, an English-language newspaper launched by the Tarun Bharat Group, and targeted at Goa, though like the Tarun Bharat in Marathi earlier, it too was printed from the neighbouring city of Belgaum.

Strangely, the Tarun Bharat group then thought that they could do another Tarun Bharat with Newslink, that is, to produce a newspaper for the Goa market from Belgaum.

We did not have the wide correspondent network of Tarun Bharat.

Trying to fill up six broad-sheet pages with material translated from Tarun Bharat was way too optimistic a goal, to put it mildly.

A comprehensive coverage of Goa, aided by a network of stringers spread all over the state, ensured that the Marathi Tarun Bharat was a newspaper of choice for anyone looking for a bird's eye-view of Goa every morning.

Tarun Bharat's strategy to topple existing market leader Gomantak by investing in people and technology makes an interesting case study in the newspaper business.

That Tarun Bharat has still not found favour among Goa's Marathi-speaking intelligentsia is another story.

Gomantak, Tarun Bharat, Navaprabha and Rashtramat have been product of Marathi journalism flourishing in this Konkani-dominated state.

The Goan newspaper reader's search for quality has resulted in Tarun Bharat, for long published from Belgaum, becoming the state's highest-read daily, pushing even the market leader Gomantak to second place.

The success of Tarun Bharat stems from its management's professional approach to journalism.

With a wide network of young stringers without any ideological orientation spread across the state, Tarun Bharat provides comprehensive coverage of Goa like no other newspaper sold in the state.

Tarun Bharat also ushered in winds of change in the Goan media with supplements and booklets to cater to popular tastes.

While cannibalising a large chunk of Gomantak readers, Tarun Bharat also attracted new readers from among the youth and women, thereby revolutionising Marathi journalism.

Gomantak's management never realised the threat posed by Tarun Bharat till it was too late.

In my opinion, the Gomantak management's lackadaisical attitude towards its readers worked in favour of Tarun Bharat.

For instance, Gomantak's staff strength is higher than Tarun Bharat's, but most of them are concentrated only in Panaji.

Tarun Bharat also invested heavily in news gathering operations.

Tarun Bharat also set up district-level bureaus and local offices all over the state as a strategy to source local content.

(Tarun Bharat then managed to steam-roll even smaller newspapers like Rashtramat which lost its readership base.

Gomantak's failure in the face of Tarun Bharat's onslaught is an example of how a market leader can fail by sitting on its laurels.

In my opinion, although Tarun Bharat has a greater circulation than its immediate rival Gomantak, I would still give full marks to the latter for its vigorous fighting spirit.

At that time, all the significant Goa-based papers, with the exception of Herald and Tarun Bharat, were owned by mining corporations.