Source: One World South Asia
By: Indu Gupta and Priyanka Gulati

Children from two slums, Madangir and Khanpur, in Delhi have launched their own newspaper, hitherto a terrain of the educated elite. Udayachal , as the newspaper is called, has become a vehicle for highlighting the problems and concerns of the slum dwellers.

Launched on July 25, 2004, the quarterly newspaper is a reflection of the views and understandings of the children about various issues that are of critical concern to their community. In a similar initiative, children from some other colonies in Delhi also came together to launch their own newspaper, The Yamuna -- Creating Waves. These children have been trained under the auspices of Gandhi Smriti and Darshan Samiti, the national memorial of Mahatma Gandhi, as part of its Gandhi Media Literacy Programme. Initiated in 2003 to celebrate the centenary year of Mahatma Gandhi's Indian Opinion, the programme aims to develop a critical understanding of media amongst children, besides empowering them in bringing out their own publications.

According to Yogesh Nainavat, a class IX student and editor of Udayachal, the media training he and others received has not only enabled them to look at issues more critically, but also given them an opportunity to interact with and interview a lot of people.

"Just watch us for the next six months and we will be able to do wonders," says Jyoti, also a student of class IX and the associate editor of the newspaper. "Udayachal is not just meant to be a newspaper, we hope to initiate community action through this. We hope to create awareness on
issues such as sanitation and cleanliness in our locality through Udayachal," she adds enthusiastically.

The first issue of the four-page newspaper carries stories on street children, the dismal state of roads in the community, and the problems faced by today's youth, besides carrying a feature on Mahatma Gandhi as a journalist.

The children who launched Udayachal are associated with Kalyanam, a volunteer group working with their community. The unique highlight of the Udayachal plan has been the involvement of four students of journalism, who trained the children over a period of three months. Also involved in the training programme were the media volunteers of Samatvam -- a development communication initiative of the Volunteer Promotion Team of the United Nations Volunteers.

Shantum Seth, advisor, Volunteer Promotion, UNDP, underscores the need for more media persons to volunteer and work with underprivileged sections of the society. "More and more children can benefit if more media persons becomes volunteers of groups like Samatvam," he avers.

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