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| | Post New Topic | | Indradhanush - a magazine that is making a difference in lives of children in Himachal | Views: 42 | | Oct 06, 2009 1:09 am | | Indradhanush - a magazine that is making a difference in lives of children in Himachal | # | 
Basab Ghosh | | Folks, Indradhanush is an attempt to create a wholesome children's magazine in Hindi started five years back by Anshumala, an IIT Kanpur Alumni based in HP at that time. With very limited resources and a lot of determination she has produced this monthly magazine for last five years and distributed among the rural population of Himachal Pradesh, bringing literacy, awareness and a quest for learning among children in difficult to reach areas. Indradhanush now needs a boost in terms of content contribution, graphics & design, publicity, sponsorship, advertisement etc. Needless to say this is not a big business venture and she can't pay contributors. May be you can help her to make it a commercially viable enterprise and also gain from it. A flier, in her own words, is attached below and her contact details are given at the end. You can contact her directly to discuss how you can help. Anshumala is also a Ryze member, though she does not use Ryze very much.
Best Regards,
Basab
In the famous Shivratri mela of Mandi, HP, almost every five minutes, a child comes pulling a parent by the arm, towards a certain stall 'Look Ma, our stall!'....scanning through various issues, she will say 'I have this one, this one, this one....I don't have this Indradhansuh !'
In an inter-school competition, the chief guest asks children 'what is it that you mostly read?' All, but one, pipe in 'Indradhanush!'
A National Literacy Mission team visits rural Himachal and asks women what they read as neo-literates and semi-literates, and to their utter surprise, the women name the same children's magazine!
You don't see many written words in these villages, in homes, bazaars or fields. No newspaper reaches here. The only written words existing faintly in people's memories are of school text books, gladly pushed out of mind....for children, printed words mean the horror text books evoke; that of boredom, fear and revulsion, to be dumped at the first opportunity.
What can a magazine, entering with a different spirit in these lives, do here? Ignite minds, taking children beyond their tiny hamlets into the vast expanse, full richness and diversity of human living, through the tremendous transforming power of the written word!
This is what Indradhanush, the monthly children's magazine, has been doing, as a voluntary venture, created, run, distributed through a network of dedicated volunteers in rural Himachal, and in villages of Uttaranchal, Chhattisgarh, UP, Bihar as well... If you go to Shojha, near Mandi-Kullu border, you would need to climb up 6 kms of a hard climb to reach....but you will still find a simple villager takes Indradhanush for children of this village, four of whom contribute Rs. 3 each to read the monthly issue.
This has been possible because of All India People's Science Network, a voluntary network existing as Himachal Gyan Vigyan Samiti in HP. The 52 page magazine is priced deliberately low at Rs.12/- to be able to reach all these children (annual subscription: Rs 140), and also to sustain itself. It has completed 5 years and 60 issues so far, without dropping a single issue, with a discipline to match any commercial venture, fighting vagaries of distribution in hard areas and school vacations....Meant for 9-15 years age groups, its circulation has varied between 4000 to 10,000, and the only reason it is not reaching greater number of children is for lack of promotion and publicity. All this has been possible because of the will to make a difference in lives, children’s lives....
Would you like to bring the joy and power of reading to more children's lives, utterly deprived so far? Help and support us!!
You can help us in many ways:
• Help in content generation
• Give us publicity, Get subscribers
• Give a personal donation, sponsor some pages, or paper for one or more issues
• Gift subscriptions to your friend's children, or to orphanages
• Give ads.
Contact us at : anshumala@yahoo.com or +919990343475
Private Reply to Basab Ghosh | | Oct 07, 2009 7:37 am | | re: Indradhanush - a magazine that is making a difference in lives of children in Himachal | # |
Basab Ghosh | | 12 views! That's a start. How about committing something?
Private Reply to Basab Ghosh |  | |
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