Newspaper reaches Madhya Pradesh village finally

Shukrawasa in Parvatpura Panchayat of Dewas district in Madhya Pradesh had its ‘Swades moment’ recently.

Just as in the movie starring Shah Rukh Khan that revolved around a back of beyond village securing its electricity connection for the first time ever, Shukrawasa has also achieved something remarkably similar.

A few weeks ago, the village nestling amid forests and hills and largely cut off from the outside world for lack of proper roads has begun to receive newspapers daily.

That is no mean an accomplishment, considering the logistics involved.

Though just 45 km from Indore – Madhya Pradesh’s most populous city – Shukrawasa remains difficult to reach. Home to farmers, farm labourers, and industrial workers who are mostly tribals or from scheduled caste and backward classes, travelling to and from the village remains an arduous task.

The nearest bus stand is six kilometres away, involving a walk-through dense forests and undulating terrain. 

It meant no newspapers reached the village daily. Some odd people visiting nearby towns such as Barotha or the district headquarter of Dewas some 30kms away brought back some old copies of the newspapers sometimes. Still, such occurrences remained more of a rarity.

“Living without a daily supply of newspapers was like sitting alone in a dark room. We barely knew what was happening outside,” remarked Suresh Patel, a small-time grocery shop owner.

But then a local organisation stepped in.

Bringing news to Shukrawasa

The motto of the Parvatpura Panchayat Development Committee (PPDC) – a non-governmental body of villagers – has been Shikshit-Saksham-Sashakt (Educated-Capable-Empowered), and inspired by this, some enlightened members of the committee took the lead to ensure that newspapers reach the village every day.

“Nothing can happen without a newspaper. The necessity to bring a newspaper became a topic of discussion among the members. Finally, we decided to bring it on our own and make it available for free of cost,” said Devraj Rawat, PPDC’s general secretary. 

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Once the committee members made up their minds, getting hold of newspapers was not very difficult.

Prabhat Kiran is a Hindi daily printed from Indore. Copies of the paper came to Dewas. A bus travelling towards Shukrawasa picks them up now and drops them at a roadside eatery near the closest bus stop. Someone walks the distance to bring the copies to Shukrawasa thereafter.

The paper – a bundle of it rather – now arrives in the village by evening. Their arrival has been somewhat akin to opening the window to the world for the Shukrawasa villagers.

Returning from work, they now gather to read the newspapers and inform themselves about what is happening outside – from the war in Ukraine to the ongoing strife in Manipur.

“Newspapers not only provide information. They unite too,” pointed out Aniket Rawat, the teenager tasked with going to collect the paper bundle and bringing it to the village.

“I have not seen anyone reading the newspaper alone. There is always a group,” he said. It is a different matter that sometimes the collective reading of the paper trigger discussions and at times, heated debates resulting in fights. 

But Shukrawasa has taken the occasional burst of discord to stride. After all, the benefits of reading papers – including reading them out to those who cannot read – far outstrips anything else.

“We now get to know about what the politicians said, and also what the daily rates of our farm produce are in the market,” pointed out Lakshmi Rawat.

A ripple effect

That Prabhat Kiran is creating waves in Shukrawasa is welcome news for Prakash Purohit, the editor of the paper.

“One gets intoxicated by the romance of the newspaper. You start reading it and then you get addicted to it,” he explained. That the villagers of Sukhrawasa love to read his paper is understandable. 

The dynamics of Hindi dailies are interesting. They have a huge rural readership and many villagers act as the papers’ correspondents. Any news – big or small – on a village is hugely appreciated.

Manisha and Rajlakshmi, two young girls of Shukrawasa, have learnt to appreciate what Prabhat Kiran brings to them. They do not know about media jargon such as a lede or a banner, but they know that the most interesting story of the day could be found at the bottom of the front page that journalists call anchor. They focus on that section dutifully daily.

Meanwhile, the Parvatpura panchayat is firming up its future plans. With newspapers coming to the village, plans are now afoot to deliver a copy free to every household. Shukrawasa’s tryst with news has begun.

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The lead image shows young boys of Shukrawasa reading a newspaper (Photo by Pranay Tripathi)

Pranay Tripathi, an Indore-based upcoming filmmaker and a Rural Media Fellow 2022 at Youth Hub, Village Square.