In 2002, dream was born. A dream of a group of women who wanted to break free of the shackles of society that had hither to held them ignorant and expendable. These women now write, design and run a rural newspaper entirely on their own that has not only stirred the locals but the world alike. Presenting Khabar Lahariya – a weekly 8-page paper circulated by the women of Uttar Pradesh.
Khabar Lahariya was the brain child of the women from backward classes for whom just making round rotis wasn’t an option. They wanted to work uplift the Chitrakoot sector, the place where the circulation was first started, through an infotainment medium. This led to the publishing for the first ever edition of Khabar Lahariya in Bundeli dialect in May of 2002. Cut to more than a decade later, the dream still lives on with Khabar Lahariya running at least 8,000 copies of each edition and boasting a readership of 80,000.
But numbers aren’t the story that make Khabar Lahariya. This newspaper shows the passion of women to be something more than what society designated them to be. What started out as just a coverage and awareness on the local topics of left wing themes and Dalit-dominated articles, the weekly now covers almost everything from politics to entertainment. However, the content is not commissioned by any kind of political leaders or powerful authorities. These women write for themselves and to give a channel to the voice of the oppressed. Articles that need to be told, stories that need to be reported, issues that need to be raised – only these find their way into the sheaves of Khabar Lahariya.
In 2012, Nirantar, a New Delhi based NGO that works for gender equality and education, recognized the efforts of these brilliant ladies and took upon themselves for the publication and distribution of the paper. Although the organization had already garnered much attention winning the Chameli Devi Jain Award for Women in Journalism in 2004 and the UNESCO King Sejong Literacy Prize in 2009, they still struggled with express printing and communication problems. Even for the publishing of one copy, they had to travel to Allahabad to get the print. Nirantar then came as a blessing after which they speedily expanded and won many more awards, one of them being Amazing Indian Award by Times Now in 2013. Today, the journalists sit in their editorial offices with computers that have decent broadband connections. And even now, they haven’t stopped growing. Continuous workshops and seminars are held by them to help their writers achieve the level of technical skills that are usually present in the national dailies. Their reporters do whatever it takes to cover a story and put in down in terms that are both simple and sophisticated. No wonder then that Khabar Lahariya is such a revelation.
These women have created an impact through the stories in the paper and of their even lives. The unsung heroes that they are, they have shown that no matter the circumstances, the tables can be turned. Through much blood and sweat, no doubt, these few have shown that a pen indeed is mightier than the sword.
