Introduction:
As the mainstream media is becoming more urban centric with less emphasis on developmental news, activists are looking for means to develop alternative media channels to bring forth meaningful news to the masses and awaken them. With “journalism of courage” reduced to journalism of mediocrity and where “a leader that guards a reader” turning into a leader that manipulates a reader, there seems little hope to those development writers who want to create awareness and empowerment through the media. But hold on, one need not despair when one comes to know about a unique press agency, silently working since the last 45 years for raising development issues and providing space to those development writers, human rights, Adivasi rights, women rights, Dalit rights activists.
Sarvodaya press service is a feature agency providing news and views to the Hindi press, NGOs, Gandhian foundations and people’s movements all across the Hindi belt in India. Unlike PTI or UNI, which provide news releases to media groups, Sarvodaya provides social issue related articles to the grass root Hindi press. It is an example of sustainable commitment, action and of how a feature agency can work without glamour, tons of money, advertisements, Ad men and management experts.
Brief History:
Started way back in May 1960 during the Bhoodan Movement when Archarya Vinoba Bhave visited Indore, Sarvodaya since the last 45 years has been championing the cause of the marginalised people through the print media. In the early 60s when the Sarvodaya movement and ideology was gaining momentum along with the Bhoodan movement, Vinobaji felt there was a need for a Press service to propagate Sarvodaya ideas, social and developmental issues to the masses, which could be done through a grass root press feature service. Mahendra Kumar, a Sarvodaya worker, Gandhian and one of “the three Indras” (the other being Narendra of Khadi Gram Udyog and Diwendra of Centre for rural science and technoglogy, Wardha) as called by Vinoba Bhave, took the task of establishing such a press service laying emphasis on social news and views to awaken the masses. Sarvodaya Press was therefore established with the following objectives:
* To propagate the ideas of M. K Gandhi, Vinoba Bhave and Jaiprakash Narayan and the concept of Bhoodan and Gramdaan.
* To free society from alcoholism through constant awareness.
* To write, discuss and bring forth to the masses Human Rights, Women’s, Environmental and Public Interest issues.
Since then the Sarvodaya Press Service has been largely successful by reaching out, with many great personalities such as J. P. Narayan, Sunderlala Bahuguna, Medha Patkar being associated with it and supporting its activities.
How does the service work?
SPS receives many articles, letters, opinions, reports from various writers, journalists, citizens, activists every week. These articles may be either in English or Hindi and must be socially relevant as per the objectives of SPS. Three articles are selected from these numerous submissions and every week a bulletin of these three articles is released to various Hindi newspapers all over the country by ordinary post and railway mail. If the articles are in English and of social importance, then Sarvodaya even translates these articles into Hindi, for which a special translator comes in twice a week. Articles should be within the 1000 – 1200 word limit. If it extends this, SPS edit the articles but the content and the meaning of the articles is preserved at best.
The bulletin consisting of three articles, posted every Friday, reaches approximately 175 Hindi newspapers spanning across 17 states in India, primarily in the Hindi language belt, besides many NGOs, individuals and Gandhian Institutes. The newspapers, on receiving this bulletin of three articles, then select the ones they would like to publish in their forthcoming issues. Sometimes, when an author has sent an article to Sarvodaya Press Service, which then is routed to 175 print media houses, it gets published in as many as 10 – 20 papers. In one instance, an article sent by an author to Sarovdaya Press Service was published in 72 newspapers, the highest that Sarvodaya Press Service has a record of.
After publication of these articles, the newspapers send complimentary copies of the publication to Sarvodaya Press Service. SPS which daily receives 50 Newspapers, on receiving these published articles, keeps only two copies of it, behind which it maintains a record of the newspapers and the date the article was published. The remaining number of clippings are posted to the author for his/her record. Basically the people who contribute articles do not write with the expectation of money but with the objective of reaching out.
Since Sarvodaya press Service bulletin reaches 17 states, “it makes the print embargo clear so that newspapers do not print the articles as soon as it reaches them, which otherwise would make it appear stale for other newspapers”, says Samyak Kumar.
With 4 bulletins in one month and on an average 160 articles in an year, SPS does not encourage poems, songs or articles related to “power politics”, but articles on people’s politics are welcome. “Infact everything that is of social significance is political. However the organisation is clear about staying away and “propagating power politics that political parties indulge in” says Rakesh Diwan, a key Sarvoday Press Service worker. Sarvodaya is a totally neutral organization dedicated to bringing forth social and developmental news and views to the people.
In these past 45 years, Sarvodaya Press Service has covered diverse number of issues from development, to human rights, Adivasi and Dalit issues, Women’s issues, health, legal programmes, innovative alternative initiatives by people, policies of the government, grass root organisations and people’s movements. Its reach has been in all fields which are beneficial to the masses at the lower rung of the society.
Sarvodaya Press Service has such an excellent track record of providing enriching and thought-provoking articles to newspapers that some newspapers, in particular the ones at the grass roots, heavily rely on the bulletin of Sarvodaya Press Service. However, sometimes there are a few newspapers that plagiarise entire columns as editorials without acknowledging. SPS then writes protest letters to these papers.
SPS, besides being a medium for people and projecting regional news at national level, its members participate in People’s movements, NGO and Gandhi foundation meetings as supporter, activist and as a press person.
The players in Sarvodaya Press Service and the resources:
Sarvodaya Press Service is an organization run by dedicated family members of Mahendra Kumar and a group of Sarvodaya activists. There is no specialized office, center or infrastructure, in terms of a social organization functional over 45 years.
SPS was never seen as a means of livelihood for the Kumar family. They have pursued the work as part and parcel of their lives. Sarvodaya Press Service is run by Siddharth Kumar and his wife, Samyak Kumar and wife Neerja, along with Rakesh Diwan, a journalist-activist in Indore working for Sarvodaya Press Service, as and when they have the time. Samyak and Siddharth work as a Doctor and Social Worker respectively, to take care of their livelihood. In their free time and as a passion, they work and take forward the activities of Sarvodaya Press Service.
SPS works on a shoe-string budget, completely on a non-profit basis, “spend as you get”; honorary service, no karmacharis (employees). Infact, Sarvodaya Press Service is an organisation that stands out today from the present form of the NGO sector in India that largely depends on heavy infrastructure, funding, administration.
SPS which receives a humble honorarium from Gandhi Peace Foundation doesn’t completely rely for any funding from any single agency. It relies mainly on people’s contributions and at times the payment made by the Hindi press for the articles published. Some papers pay per article basis, some subscribe to the service which is an annual fee of Rs. 3,600. SPS recommends a contribution of Rs. 750 for individuals and organizations, but this is not compulsory. However, SPS’s objective is not to increase subscriptions but to get associated with social writers. SPS looks forward to collaborating with genuine people and relies on their interest and goodwill.
Over the last 45 years, Sarvodaya Press Service is widely known to many activists working at the grass roots and people’s movements, besides its wide reach within the Hindi media. Hence, regular donations small or big, keep coming into the kitty. Some time ago when Arundhati Roy won a prize of Rs. 1.5 crore, she distributed it among some 50 media and social organizations, of which Sarvodaya Press service received Rs. 2 lakh. Thus, without having to run around or give proposals for funds, Sarvodaya remains financially functional. Its name has spread far and wide and been supported by Survival International, Amnesty International, Panos Institute, Third World Network, Earthscan etc.
Further, all the writers who contribute to Sarvodaya Press service do not expect an iota of money in return for the articles contributed, which greatly reduces the cost of a social press service. Infact, writers are keen to get their articles published and feel elevated when they see them appearing in newspapers. “That itself is the payment they receive for their contributions. A feeling of satisfaction is there when a writers sees his/her articles published and is reaching to the masses. Writers therefore don’t expect any money for it. Infact they are grateful to us for providing them all the clippings of the articles appearing in the newspapers” says Samyak Kumar, further adding that even well known activists like Medha Patkar, route their articles in Hindi many times through Sarvodaya Press Service.
SPS Karyakartas play a multi-faceted role. They participate in people’s movements, NGO and Gandhi foundation meetings as supporters, as activists and as press persons.
Challenges to Sarvoday Press Service:
While over these 45 years SPS has been greatly credited with networking and developing an alternative media channel for social and development writers, it also faces challenges. One of these has been the mushrooming of feature agencies nowadays, particularly since 1990. This has led to competition and more choice to the print media, which doesn’t solely seek articles from SPS. Hence, the number of newspapers subscribing to SPS has dwindled. At one point of time over 250 newspapers used to subscribe to SPS but nowadays it has reduced to 175 subscriptions. Some Newspapers have also come up with demands to “receive exclusive features” but SPS does not tow this line and has kept itself uniform. However, 20-25 articles are exclusively doled out to “state newspapers”.
Another challenge is the ‘corporatisation’ of Newspapers who are involved in increasing their empire. This has led to the press becoming a corporate house rather than a service. An example in point is the Dainik Bhaskar, whose pages at one stage, used to be filled with the articles of Sarvoday Press Service. Now they don’t publish articles sent by SPS so frequently.
Besides this, there are feature groups which use the internet widely, while SPS still uses the postal service. So some grass root newspapers which have entered the IT environment are not used to receiving articles by post. However, not all grass roots Hindi press uses the internet and so the articles SPS sends to them by post are still happily accepted. After all, the aim of SPS is not to reach only through the corporate media but mainly to create a thinking process through the regional press, among the rural masses.
Contact Sarvodaya Press Service :
29, Navlakha, Samvad Nagar,
Indore 452 001, Madhya Pradesh.
Tel: 0731 – 2401 083.
Mr. Rakesh Diwan: 98260 66153
Dr. Samyak Kumar: 98272 65544
Mr. Siddharth Kumar
Email:
sps2000@sancharnet.in What People say about Sarvodaya Press Service:
“SPS has been a pillar of strength for social activists and very useful to them. House was a centre for movement activists and has helped activists and has fought issues at institutional level.
Sarvodaya Press Service also does institutional work and is not only limited to press work. If called only a news and feature agency, is like de-evaluating it.
Sarvodaya press service is a channel to disseminate information and mobilise people.”
- Jawaharlal Rathod (Senior Journalist – Retd., Indore)
“Sarvodaya Press Service does coverage of the downtrodden, is involved in committed writing, anti-establishment writing. ……It caters to lowest of the last rung, raises their status, and gives current topic updates, provides food for thought and provokes a thought process”
- Sushim Pagare (Joint Editor - Chautha Sansar Hindi Newspaper, Indore)
“Main objective of Sarvodaya Press Service is to keep country together and establish people’s rule. …….To forward Gandhian values and people’s power is the mission of Sarvodaya Press Service. The effort of Sarvodaya Press Service is strong”
- Kranti Chaturvedi (Resident Editor - Navbharat Times, Indore)
“Sarvoday Press Service has helped people's movements to reach to a wide number of people by distributing their news to a large number of publications all over the country. It also helped committed activists to share their views in the mainstream media, by shaping up their scattered thoughts into well drafted articles. Mahendrabhai, always remembered for his commitment and humour, has been a guide and a friend to many activists and SPS, an abode and a source of inspiration.”
- Joe Athialy (on Editorial team of the People’s Movement Magazine)
This report is part of a work-scholarship of the Centre for Education and Documentation (CED), sponsored by Sir Ratan Tata Trust to document social issues and voluntary organisations. For more details see www.doccentre.org.
The writer thanks Mr. Rakesh Diwan, Dr. Samyak Kumar, Mrs. Neerja Kumar, Mr. Siddharth Kumar of Sarvoday Press Service for providing inputs and enabling this writer in studying the organisation.
* The writer is a Mumbai based human rights activist and regular letter-writer taking keen interest in Adivasi struggles and justice issues. He can be contacted on
yoursfrankly@rediffmail.com 
Email::