WUNRN
Via WOMEN'S FEATURE SERVICE
India - New Delhi
India
- Tribal Women Publish Grassroots Newspaper
of
Villages in Dialect Language
By Geeta Seshu
India-Mumbai (Women's Feature Service)-"Mainstream papers
don't talk to everyone. Usually, they talk to the
'sarpanch' (village head) and a few other important
people. But we talk to everyone. We are interested in
everyone," said Shanti, 45, ace reporter of 'Khabar
Lahariya', the country's first and only newspaper
brought out by women in Bundeli, a dialect of Hindi
spoken in the Bundelkhand region of Madhya Pradesh and
in Uttar Pradesh (UP).
Against all odds, an eight-member team of women drawn
from Dalit and the Kol tribal communities of
Chitrakoot and Banda districts of UP began 'Khabar
Lahariya' in Chitrakoot in 2002 and, consequently,
launched an edition in November 2006 in Banda. The
paper is supported and funded by Nirantar, a
Delhi-based centre for gender and education. The
eight-page broadsheet that is full of news,
photographs and illustrations covers the gamut of
local to national and global issues with a special
focus on local concerns.
With a print run of 3,500 copies, and an estimated 10
people who read each copy, priced at Rs 2 (US$1=Rs
40), 'Khabhar Lahariya', or KL, as its team calls it,
is all set to give mainstream newspapers a run for
their money. Especially when it will shortly turn into
a weekly from the fortnightly it is at present.
Fully living up to its name - which translated reads
'waves of news and information' - the publication is
managed by feisty women who take on the roles of
reporters, editors, illustrators, proof-readers, print
production workers, marketing executives and
distributors. 'Tazaa Khabar', a documentary on these
women, made by Bishakha Datta, captures a wonderfully
an amusing scene of reporter Shanti making her way
through a crowded train, hawking copies of the
newspaper.
"Yahan bhi taash khel rahe hain (Even here they are
playing cards)," she says, as she comes upon a group
of men playing cards. One of them says the card game
is 'time pass'. In a flash, Shanti fishes out a copy
of 'KL' from her bag and tells the group to read the
newspaper, saying it is the best way to be entertained
and informed.
('Taza Khabar' is a 31-minute documentary that was
commissioned by Nirantar. Made in Hindi, with English
sub-titles, it chronicles Issue No 62, as it follows
the reporters on their news-trail.)
Kavita, 28, who, along with Kiran, Meera and Nazneen,
looks after the Banda edition is proud of the fact
that sometimes, reporters of the major mainstream
newspaper 'Amar Ujala' have picked up stories that
appeared first in KL. Interestingly, the Chitrakoot
edition, looked after by Meera, 37, who is the
editor-in-chief; Shanti; Mithilesh and Tabassum;
carries reports in Bundeli too, but the language of
the reports is in the dialect spoken in this district,
slightly different from the version of Bundeli spoken
in Banda.
Its news is varied but, at all times, the focus is on
the 300 villages - there are at least 220 in
Chitrakoot district alone. The team comes from
different villages in and around Karwi, the
newspaper's head office and the headquarters of
Chitrakoot district. The reporters travel extensively,
juggling with aplomb their duties at home and their
assignments.
Most of the women that are a part of the KL team are
moderately educated with exception being Meera, who
has done her Bachelor of Arts in Sanskrit. Shanti
leant to read and write in a formal school only 10
years back; while Kavita had not even completed her
primary education till she prevailed upon her in-laws
and husband to let her go to a non-formal school and
study further.
Initially, the women say, their families were
skeptical and even frightened at the 'dangerous'
nature of their work. But they soon gained the respect
of both their families and the community. In fact, now
they are approached for help, and even feared.
A clip from the documentary shows, a reporter covering
a local 'panchayat' (village council) election and the
seat is reserved for women. As the result is
announced, guess who is adorned with garlands and
heaped with congratulation? The victorious woman's
husband, of course. And guess who notices this and
makes it into a story? The KL reporter, but naturally.
Rooted in strong sympathy for the story of the
underdog and of women, who are at the bottom of the
economic, social and political ladder, these reporters
seek to uncover the realities of their lives.
Like all newspapers that report on controversial
issues, KL has also had run-ins with the authorities
on several occasions. For instance, in 2004 in
Manikpur, Chitrakoot district, the death of a woman
over dowry demands was not written about by any
mainstream papers in the area because it involved a
local 'sarpanch'. When a KL scribe reported it, she
was threatened with dire consequences. More recently,
in Ramjupur in February this year, when the mainstream
press wrote about a woman, who was actually a victim
of a rape and assault, as if she were the culprit, it
was only the KL news team that broke the news as it
was.
In a marked departure from the single-issue focus of
most news bulletins brought out by NGOs, this
newspaper has separate pages for national and
international news, development, women's issues, the
'panchayat' and a letters column. Sensitive to the
needs of newly-literate readers, its font size is
larger and column-width wider than regular papers.
Photographs and illustrations accompany the text,
again to make it visually interesting for readers.
It has taken a while for KL to work out all these
formulae. Its precursor was 'Mahila Dakiya', a
single-page broadsheet brought out by the
government-sponsored Mahila Samakhya, a women's
education programme. 'Mahila Dakiya' was produced
between 1993 and 2000, along with Nirantar, for newly
literate women readers.
"It closed down along with the project but people
continued to ask for the paper. Chitrakoot is such a
remote district and people really have no access to
information," said Shalini, who works with Nirantar.
"'Mahila Dakiya' was, of course, for women, but when
we thought of starting a newspaper, we sought feedback
on the kind of newspaper we would have, the profile of
its readers and whether we would only target women and
women's issues. We then decided that our paper would
be for general readership," she added.
Today, Nirantar funds KL as a project and pays the
salaries for its reporters, though the organisation
hopes to make the newspaper sustain itself with
subscriptions and sale of copies. They have now also
decided to accept advertisements that are in line with
its policy. Nirantar works closely to support the KL
team from news-gathering to production, printing and
distribution and hopes to explore different forms of
organisation like trusts or cooperatives to help the
barefoot women reporters ride the waves of the
information revolution.
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