Khabar Lahariya

Khabar Lahariya
Type Rural Weekly Newspaper
Format Broadsheet
Editor-in-chief Meera Jatav
Founded 30 May 2002 in Chitrakoot, Uttar Pradesh, India
Headquarters Karwi, Chitrakoot, Uttar Pradesh
Website khabarlahariya.org

Khabar Lahariya is an Indian newspaper, published in certain rural dialects of Hindi, including Bundeli Bajjika dialect and Avadhi. The newspaper was started by Nirantar, a New Delhi-based non-government organisation which focuses on gender and education.[1] Initially seen as a women-only publication,[2] it now covers local political news, local crime reports, social issues and entertainment, all reported from a left-wing and feminist perspective.[1] As of September 2012, its total print-run, all editions included, is around 6000 copies; the management claims an estimated readership of 80,000.

Circulation and Reach

Started in 2002, today Khabar Lahariya is an eight-page weekly local newspaper. The first issue of the paper was published in May 2002 from the town of Karwi in Chitrakoot district of Uttar Pradesh, in the local Bundeli dialect of Hindi. In 2012, the newspaper launched editions from Mahoba, Lucknow and Varanasi districts of Uttar Pradesh in Bundeli, Awadhi and Bhojpuri dialects respectively. The newspaper also has an edition published from the Sitamarhi district of Bihar in Bajjikka dialect, and from Banda, Uttar Pradesh, in the Bundeli dialect.[2] As of September 2012, its total print-run, all editions included, is around 6000 copies sold in about 600 villages in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar[3] with an estimated readership of 20,000.[1]

The website of Khabar Lahariya, Khabarlahariya.org was launched on 13 February 2013 in Mumbai.[4] The website, which bears a striking resemblance to the printed newspaper, curates and republishes the best articles of the newspaper. It is also the only website where content is available in the local dialects in which the newspaper is brought out.

Distinctive features

The intellectual input for the newspaper is provided by a collective of 40 rural women journalists. The newspaper is written, edited, produced, distributed and marketed entirely by rural women from backward communities (Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, Dalits and Muslims).[3] The women who report the stories also edit, produce, distribute and market the newspaper. Meera Jatav is the Editor-in-Chief and has been working from Karwi since the newspaper was started in 2002. The newspaper specialises in loud name-and-shame shenanigans and in exposing various local scandals, ranging from petty corruption to instances of wife-beating. It carries mainly local news that is primarily of interest to its rural readership, supplemented with some national and international news.

Awards and Recognition

In 2004, the collective of women journalists bringing out Khabar Lahariya was awarded the prestigious Chameli Devi Jain Award for Women in Journalism. In 2009, the newspaper was awarded the UNESCO King Sejong Literacy Prize.[5] Following this, plans to expand the newspaper were made.[1] In 2012, the newspaper went on to win the Laadli Media Award for gender sensitive reporting. Also, in the same year Indian news channel Times Now awarded Khabar Lahariya the Amazing Indian Award. In 2013 the newspaper was presented the Kaifi Azmi Award in memory of poet Kaifi Azmi. The award is presented by the All India Kaifi Azmi Academy every year on his death anniversary.[6]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "After UN award, rural Indian women's weekly has expansion plans". Deccan Herald. Retrieved 18 September 2012.
  2. 1 2 Sharma, Kalpana (23 March 2008). "And Now The Good News". The Hindu. Retrieved 17 September 2012.
  3. 1 2 Wander, Andrew (8 September 2012). "Reading the Future". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 17 September 2012.
  4. ↑ Mazumdar, Anurag (14 February 2013). "UP to Bihar: Why a group of rural women journalists went online". First Post. Retrieved 14 February 2013.
  5. ↑ "Newspaper by rural Indian women wins UN literacy award". The Hindu. 4 August 2009. Retrieved 23 February 2012.
  6. ↑ "Kaifi Azmi's 11th death anniversary".
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