When RITAM app was launched in February 2019, there were people who were skeptical. Most of the skepticism was from the self-proclaimed liberal media groups that had speculated that it would not become a success story. In fact, the Economic Times had reported that there were not many takers of the app; however, today the story is entirely different as the App is going from strength to strength.

Moving from strength to strength

Today there are more than 100000 downloads of the application and users have given an aggregate of 4.7 rating out of 5 which shows they are liking the features. Currently, Ritam is distributing news stories from more than 364 news portals and nearly 170 YouTube channels. Most of them are indigenous and local news story tellers from the depth of the nation whose voices are not heard in the mainstream media. Thus, the news aggregator is playing a vital role in giving voice to those media outlets that could not get a platform in mainstream media.

Ritam also distributes news stories from nearly 40 TV news channels and bring the breaking news for the subscribers. The fundamental aim of the app is to bring news stories for the users from India’s perspective i.e. serve the stories that matter for the nation.

RITAM – inspired from Rig Veda  

Although the app RITAM which is available in iOS and Android users both is an acronym for ‘Reliable, Informative, Trusted, Authentic and Motivating’, I think there is more than the acronym as RITAM is also a Sanskrit term for ‘Truth’ or ‘सत्य’. The people behind the app are rooted deep into the culture and civilization of India seems to have got inspiration from Rig-Veda where the term ‘Ritam’ has been used widely for ‘Truth’.

The Rig-Veda says ‘ऋतं च सत्यं च अभिधात्`(1) which means both Ritam and satyam are attained from consciousness. However, the question is, if they are the same why are they used differently or do they have different connotations and context. The question was answered quite well by the famous commentator on the Rig-Veda, Sayanna(2) who explained that the truth perceived by mind was RITAM and the truth which was spoken was SATYAM or Truth.

Pandit Madhusudan Ojha(3) clarified it little further when he argued that satyam was born out of Ritam and ritam was rooted in satyam. According to him Ritam was infinite and it finds its form in satyam.

RITAM News App for the TRUTH We Perceive

Going through ‘About Us’ of the Ritam app visitors could see the people behind the venture are trying to carve a niche by offering something that readers have been vying for long. For instance, a major concern in India has been corporate control of media where truth is scarce. Readers and viewers are misled by mainstream media; if they want to unearth the truth they have limited sources. Over the years Congress has built an ecosystem, appointed media professionals, journalists, academicians at profitable positions that they are still serving the party in one or the other capacity.

The existing mainstream media has huge vested interest in serving Congress and left parties as they benefited a lot from the ‘favors’ over the years. Ruling the nation for 60 years has its own perquisites and Congress is definitely not going to lose any of the returns that it could expect from the people it helped. In such a situation an app is definitely a major relief for the people who want ‘RITAM’ i.e. the truth the mind perceives which is universal.

As the website says, “Ritam is an attempt at providing a common platform for disseminating news, views and thoughts from people and publications who believe in the eternal nature of this land called Bharat.”

Features that make RITAM a great news app

Multilingual App

Multilingual App offers news stories in nearly a dozen languages like English, Hindi, Marathi, Bangla, Telugu, Malayalam, Tamil, and Kannada.

High-end User Experience

Browsing through the app users could see the app aggregates news and articles from more than 40 news portals. The new sources are added to enhance content and capacity for users to have diversity in news and views.

Quick browsing

Since most of the users have paucity of time, the app helps them browse content from various news portals together at one place. Curated from the finest and reliable sources, news stories can also be added in the ‘My Feed’ where only the stories the user wants would be added.

Available on Android and iOS

Download the app at bit.ly/TheRitamApp

  • Sources:
  • [1] ऋग्वेद  १०.१२.१९०
  • [2] ऋतं मानसम् यथार्थसंकल्पं सत्यं वाचिकं यथार्थभाषणम्। ऋग्वेद, सायणभाष्य १०.१२.१९०
  • [3] ऋतादुत्पद्यते सत्यमृतं सत्ये प्रतिष्ठितम् ।अमितं तद् ऋतं सत्यशरीरे तन्मितं भवेत् ॥ ३॥ ब्रह्मसमन्वय अव्ययानुवाक पृ. ३३ कारिका ३

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