Hormusji N. Cama

Hormusji N. Cama is chairman and managing director of Mumbai Samachar, a Gujarati daily described as the oldest newspaper in Asia still being published. He was named for the Padma Bhushan in 2024 in the field of literature and education, from Maharashtra ^[1].

Gujarati in print

Cama was born on 13 February 1961 and earned a BSc from the University of Mumbai ^[2]. Around 1982 he worked with the British firm Linotype to design Gujarati fonts for computers and helped get keyboards made in the Gujarati script ^[2]. This allowed Gujarati to be phototypeset and printed with modern photopolymer plates in place of the old cast-iron ones ^[2].

He believes that a morning newspaper should leave its readers in a good mood ^[2].

Press institutions

Cama has chaired the Press Trust of India, the Indian Newspaper Society and the Audit Bureau of Circulations, among other bodies, and spent nine years on the Press Council of India as a nominated member ^[2].

He has worked to keep people reading in Gujarati by holding Gujarati book fairs, distributing the books of Gujarati authors and sponsoring Gujarati plays ^[2].