Malati Murmu – The Editor of the only Santali Newspaper ‘Fagun’
India is so diverse with its cultures, traditions, and languages, and Indian women have been at the forefront of this cultural identity. However, they aren’t given enough credit for it. With the onset of Navratri, ChewDa hopes to empower these uncelebrated women! With English and Hindi increasingly becoming the common medium language of communication all over the country, even government schools have shifted their focus from local languages to these. It’s not a wrong step, but it’s equally important to sustain and preserve the legacy of the different tribal and local languages of India. That is where our woman superhero, Malati Murmu, and her initiative, Fagun, come into the picture!
Malati Murmu is a Santal tribal woman from the Mayurbhanj district of Odisha. It’s important to note that tribal women are often not encouraged to take up a career path like this, but Malati’s enthusiasm had no end. She knew the importance of learning mainstream languages but according to her, you can express yourself best in your mother tongue. Seeing the upgrade of tribal languages like Santali, Bodo, Dogri, and Maithili to official languages in the 8th schedule of the Indian Constitution, Malati got an idea. She decided to publish a monthly newspaper in Santali, her native language. ‘Fagun’, first published on April 9th, 2008, is the only official Santali publication. Malati hails from Mayurbhanj and has done her matriculation in Santali. She is the chief editor of Fagun too.
Santali has approximately 7.6 million speakers worldwide in 2020, as compared to 8.7 million in 2011. It’s not considered an endangered language yet, but the numbers have shown a decline. Yet, the members of the community didn’t have a prominent publication they could turn to, which would bring them the daily national, local, and regional events. That’s where the idea of Fagun popped up. Even though she did have trouble with finding investors and financing a newspaper, she didn’t give up hope and reached out to prominent members of the community from all over the country.
“While I don’t deny the fact that it is important to know other, more mainstream languages to do well, one need not completely lose touch with one’s mother tongue. I feel it’s important for Santali people to ensure that their children are familiar with our literature, culture, and traditions. So the monthly paper’s content is engaging. Apart from regular news items and editorials, you will find articles, short stories, poems, a special section for women and children, and a section on events.” – Malati
The inaugural print of Fagun had a mere 500 copies, but it has now reached up to 5,000. It finds its readers from all over the country, from states like Odisha, Delhi, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Assam, Jharkhand, to Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands too! Being a tribal woman of Santal, she did have to take help from her husband to start the newspaper off. She explains Fagun as a monthly newspaper that is designed to preserve a language and give her diverse audience a rundown of everything prominent happening in the Santhal tribe, other tribes, and their fight for survival in this era of modernism.
Murmu, in an interview about the contents of her newspaper, said, “While I don’t deny the fact that it is important to know other, more mainstream languages to do well, one need not completely lose touch with one’s mother tongue. I feel it’s important for Santali people to ensure that their children are familiar with our literature, culture, and traditions. So the monthly paper’s content is engaging. Apart from regular news items and editorials, you will find articles, short stories, poems, a special section for women and children, and a section on events.”
On the uniqueness of Fagun, she says that she publishes a lot of short stories, women’s pieces, and highlighted events. A lot of tribes often share their stories or events as well, and she tries to publish them as much as she can because the entire idea is to promote a community. Her thoughtfulness and initiative should be celebrated and invested in. According to an interview, she does hope that the Government of Odisha offers investments or assistance to Fagun to save this tribal newspaper. This Navratri, we celebrate Malati Murmu and other women like her, who want to bring a change, and do so as much as they can!
This is an article from our Navratri: Celebrating the Indian women series.