Hello readers, and welcome to the April edition of the Reader’s Editor column.
This month, let’s look at news that rarely make news otherwise. Stories about people we seldom hear of or listen to in the din of political brinkmanship generated in the media.
I am thinking of stories at ThePrint: Of nine-year-old Sadhvi Digantpragnashreeji, diamond heiress in Gujarat — she and others like her renounced the world for faith and became Jain nuns and monks.
I am thinking of the girls at Chennai-based dance academy Kalakshetra Foundation, who found their voices and the courage to speak out against sexual harassment; I am also thinking of Kajal from Delhi’s Najafgarh whose aspirations to become an IAS officer were revived through online edtech platforms offering “affordable UPSC” classes; and a jobless Karanveer Singh from Fategarh Sahib, Punjab, who continually dreams of migrating to Canada.
And let’s not forget Faridpur Kazi in Uttar Pradesh’s Bjinor district, where students have stars in their eyes during the day – we’ll tell you why, in a bit.
By a strange coincidence, the subjects of these stories are young people; or maybe it is no coincidence at all. India is now the most populous country in the world with about 40 per cent of its population under 25 years, and if journalism is to stay relevant, it must record their personal histories, track today’s roads to their tomorrow.
Rama Lakshmi, ThePrint’s Opinion and Ground Reports Editor, considers these stories a crucial “journalistic intervention”. Each report reflects a ground reality – good or bad – often unseen or ignored by the media. “Through these stories we aim for a 360-degree perspective, and go deep into one region, one issue. This demonstrates our journalistic commitment – we invest time, resources and reporters for such stories.”
Look carefully and you’ll notice ThePrint has increased its ground reporting – not just the 400-800 words spot report but in depth reports that can go up to 4,000 words to gain that “360-degree perspective”.
And they’re not always confined to one story — there are series that allow reporters to take a deep dive, most recently into ‘Science and Community’.
Also read: Kalakshetra Chennai has a PoSH problem. Students fume, gag order imposed, art world shaken
Keeping a watch on PoSH
These are stories and series that provide readers with a comprehensive view and, perhaps, make them think.
And then there are stories that create a lasting impact.
In the past few months, there have been two outstanding pieces of journalism at ThePrint that have done just that. The first is an intrepid piece of fearless reporting by Shubhangi Misra. In the series ‘POSH Watch’, Shubhangi exposed sexual harassment allegations by teenage students at Chennai’s prestigious Kalakshetra institute, which the authorities disregarded. The story was not new but had been buried by the authorities and largely ignored by the local media. It took the stubborn commitment of Shubhangi to bring it to light.
The students’ protest forced the Kalakshetra institute to suspend an assistant professor along with three staffers while the National Commission for Women took note of the matter and an independent investigation committee headed by Justice K. Kannan (Retd) was constituted. Since Shubhangi’s break, the media has been flooded with stories about the institute.
“The hurdle was that complaints had been made by ex-students not current ones,” Shubhangi, a Senior Correspondent at ThePrint, said. “Students there were scared. But without them, there was no story.”
Shubhangi stayed put in Chennai. The first four days were fruitless – she made no headway with the students. “It’s tough to create a bond of trust, in a short space of time,” she said. But her persistence finally persuaded a few teachers and current students to come forward and speak to her. She had her story and ThePrint an ‘exclusive’: “The flight back to Delhi was turbulent. I kept saying to myself, ‘I can’t die right now—I have to write this story!’”
As part of the POSH Watch series, Shubhangi had earlier explored lax mechanisms in Bollywood’s production houses and in sports regarding the implementation of guidelines pertaining to Protection of Women from Sexual Harassment (PoSH) Act. But it is the Kalakshetra story that will, hopefully, lead to action and change.
Capturing extraordinary life choices
Some stories remain with you for their originality—and because they reveal something about human nature you hadn’t thought about.
One such example comes from Gujarat, told in photographs by National Photo Editor Praveen Jain and in words by Senior Assistant Editor Monami Gogoi: here is the unique and riveting account of young, wealthy, urban children in the Jain community who abandoned their homes, families, K-pop and toys to follow a monastic lifestyle – bal diksha. The central character of this story is nine-year-old Sadhvi Pragya.
Watch her come alive as a young nun, in pictures by Praveen—you are startled by the slight figure in a white dhoti, cheerful and lively as she performs her daily chores.
Monami captured the complexities of this extraordinary life choice by writing about it with sensitivity and simplicity. “The challenge was not to be judgmental. I found the experience overwhelming,” she said. “The circle of our lives is so different – I am still trying to understand the deep hold of their faith. This was the most difficult assignment I have done,” Monami added.
The idea for the story came to Praveen who then researched on it for two months. “Why would such rich people, young children give up their wealth for this ascetic, nomadic life? That fascinated me,” he explained. Travelling through rural Gujarat, to be with the nuns and monks, it took time for Praveen to convince them of his sincerity. “They didn’t want to talk to us. I showed them my photographs, I got people I knew to persuade them — only then did they agree. But it was an awkward assignment because I was one man among sadhvis. They told me not to speak, just click photos.” The result is quite stunning.
Praveen said that once in a while along comes a story that gives you satisfaction: this was one of them. “Dil se,” he revealed.
Also read: Surat’s diamond heiress is a 9-yr-old Jain nun who now walks ‘bubble-like sansaar’. Barefoot
Ground beneath the young feet
There are other stories that have increased my understanding of the India we live in. Here are a few.
One is the online coaching classes for UPSC aspirants, which is revolutionising what is a very expensive undertaking in person—physical coaching classes can be anything upwards of Rs 5 lakh, and out of the reach for the disadvantaged and less privileged. Correspondent Nootan Sharma trawled the internet and social media, and noticed the growing popularity of affordable online classes in urban and rural areas. “Poor aspirants can attend these without going anywhere or spending all their parents’ savings,” she said.
And then there was Journalist Sonal Matharu’s report on Punjab’s unemployable youth — thousands of young people like Karanveer Singh who can’t find a professional job because they haven’t got the requisite skills. With many private institutes in the state, handing out ‘useless’ degrees without properly skilling them, and with fresh graduates not willing to settle for Rs10,000-12,000 monthly salaries, Punjab’s youth now dream of migration to countries like Canada. The story of Punjab, the land of wasted opportunities, is laid bare in Sonal’s story.
Also read: Astro labs are the new wave in UP village schools. Delhi man revolutionising physics
Making science popular again
Another favourite takes us from Punjab to Uttar Pradesh, not that far away from each other — except for Senior Editor (Science) Sandhya Ramesh, who had never been this far north before. Faridpur Kazi in Bijnor district was a long way from her home in Bengaluru.
She was there to see for herself a unique initiative: astronomy laboratories for schoolchildren, developed by 23-year old Aryan Mishra. “I knew about it, but to see how much the children have learnt science, is incredible,” Sandhya said. “They’re fascinated by the equipment, the possibilities before them.”
The report was the result of her one week visit to the state. Since I hadn’t heard of this programme in UP, the story was an eye-opener. It’s the kind of report that explores developments on the ground that many know nothing about.
Of course, ThePrint has always had a special corner for science. Sandhya, along with Mohana Basu (Assistant Editor, Science and Health) regularly write on scientific discoveries. “We want to popularise science,” said Rama Lakshmi. “To help create a scientific temperament.” Towards that, Sandhya now travels out in search of science at work in our daily lives.
Also read: Lights, camera, storytelling—how ThePrint photojournalists tell news and win awards
Counting stars to calculating data
Another way to explore how India lives is to look at the numbers, stupid – and ThePrint is doing that, too. “Data is not just about economics, it’s crucial for information about education, health care—just about anything,” said Sharad Raghavan, Deputy Editor (Economy). And, if you don’t believe him, read this story by Nikhil Rampal about who consumes more milk in India.
Or, learn about fuel prices becoming mysteriously stable just before elections—this data deep dive by Sharad caught Congress MP Shashi Tharoor’s attention and he quoted from it in the Lok Sabha—which, as Sharad said, now makes it “a piece of history”. “Cool.”
Cool indeed.
A few last words about the editing team for these ground reports: without their hard work in wading through thousands of words, fact-checking, name-checking and giving shape to a mass of information and opinion, these stories may never have been told.
(Edited by Prashant)