Poetic, Inspirational Living

Guarishankar Rajak lives in the eastern Indian state of Jharkhan. He is in his sixties, has had barely any schooling, works as a washer-man, and is a part of the ‘untouchable’ cast. However, despite such hardship, for the past 21 years he has consistently published a weekly newspaper whose purpose is to reveal the discrimination experienced by the poor and the problems caused by local corruption. The paper is hand written over four pages and then photocopied around a hundred times, before being sold at intersections, pasted on walls and sent to a number of government departments.

While caste discrimination was outlawed in India in 1947, 180 million Dalits, also known as ‘untouchables’, are still neglected and ignored by the government. The paper, named Din Dalit, is registered with India’s Registrar of Newspapers. The registration happened after Mr Rajak wrote to India’s first Dalit President, KR Narayanan.

While Mr Rajak reaps no financial benefit from publishing the paper and has to spend between 300 and 350 rupees producing it, he is dedicated to printing stories about the lives that are so often ignored.