OneWorld.net (U.S.)

Seven years ago, these rural newsletters started off as communication tools for limited use by women self-help groups. Their purpose was to initiate a dialogue between the women, encourage them to share information and also, give them an opportunity to voice their opinion. Hand written, hand designed, they were a perfect reflection of women’s empowerment in rural Uttar Pradesh.

Today, these newsletters have emerged as the voice of not just these groups, but also of their villages. Various rural newsletters of Uttar Pradesh not only carry reports of the groups’ activities, but also the problems of the villages, their issues and as a bonus, give a peek into the happenings around the world. And to think of their presence on the national scene, one of these newsletters, Khabar Lehariya has even won the prestigious Chameli Devi Jain Award.

The April 2004 issue of the rural newspaper Gunagar of Jaunpur talks about the life of Bhimrao Ambedkar coinciding with his birth anniversary. The December 2004 issue of Mitra from Oraiyya tries to focus on the problem of the caste bias in the village primary school and even goes ahead to show the issue to the block development officials. The development officials record the copy as an official complaint and take action against the erring schoolteachers.

Several other newsletters like the Purvai of Varanasi, Bhinsaar from Pratapgarh, Dehriya from Sitapur, Bhaiyli from Mathura, Mahila Dakiya (the very first one in the series) from Chitrakoot are also making their mark. Mahila Samakhya, a prominent NGO working for the education and empowerment in Uttar Pradesh, supports these. Nirantar, a support group from New Delhi, supports Khabar Lehariya from Chitrakoot. While some of them are quarterly, others are bi-annual and some are even monthly.

The matter in these newsletters range from local civic problems like conditions of the hand pumps and the kharanjas(brick roads), local social issues like dowry, intoxication, violence against women and even murders and other crimes. Household tips, gardening tips and details about latest researches are the added features of these newsletters, which are collected by the women themselves.

A peek into the newsrooms of these newsletters is an interesting task. The editorial comprises of the resource person of the Samakhya centre, the clerk and a few of the sangha women who are literate. Some of them are also involved with the designing aspect, trying to merge the folk designs in the newsletters to give them a better and more rustic look.

The news is collected on the basis of the activities of the centre and also, as provided by these women. It is compiled and written on the newspaper or even typed by the women who are best in this work. Then, the print is carried to the printer (who is located as far as 25 to 30 kms) by the women themselves and selected copies of the newsletter are printed.

Every month or every quarter, some 700 to 1000 copies of these newsletters are printed with an estimated cost of around Rs 2,500 to Rs 3,000, which is partially given by Mahila Samakhya and partially by the women through various IG (income generation) activities.

According to the women who are involved in bringing out these newsletters, people have now started coming from all over the village to give details about their problems to be carried in the newspaper. For us, this is the most effective medium for voicing our problems.

We started them to share the knowledge between our collectives, but now, even the villagers have got connected to these newsletters, say Kiran and Sushma of Mahila Samakhya Jaunpur. She cites several examples where villagers have told them about the problems and they have highlighted them in their papers. She adds that since these are the only newsletters, which can carry any and every news, the villagers flock to them.

Some of the issues, which have been highlighted in these newsletters, have ended up bringing a change in the villages. Like once, one of the villagers told the sangha women about his repeated requests to the pradhan to get the only access road to his village repaired.

The women noted the case in their newsletter and sent a copy to the Block development officer. Reading the news, the BDO ordered immediate construction of the road. Says Rajumari of Ujala Mahasangh of Mahila Samakhya, We felt like real reporters, for our story had managed to show an impact. We published the acknowledgement letter from the villagers in an issue of our newsletter.

Read the full story at India Brand Equity Foundation.