Khabar Lahariya journalist Usha Jaatav shares her experience as a journalist as she investigates a story, faces challenges being a neo-literate and dreams of a bright future.
Khabar Lahariya is an eight-page weekly rural newspaper written, edited, illustrated, produced and marketed by a group of women – most of them from marginalised Dalit, Kol and Muslim communities. The publication began in 2002 in the Chitrakoot district of Uttar Pradesh in North India. The newspaper has six active editions in Chitrakoot, Banda, Mahoba, Lucknow, Banaras, and Sitamarhi (Bihar). Each week, 6,000 copies of Khabar Lahariya are sold across 600 villages of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, reaching a readership of 80,000. In March 2004, Khabar Lahariya received the prestigious Chameli Devi Jain Award – an annual award for outstanding women journalists from Media Foundation, New Delhi. In 2009, it won international recognition by being awarded the UNESCO King Sejong Literacy Prize, a prize honoring outstanding contribution to literacy.
