New Delhi: The Wire‘s senior editor Arfa Khanum Sherwani and freelance journalist Rohini Mohan were jointly awarded the Chameli Devi Jain Award for Outstanding Women Mediaperson, 2019, on October 12.Past recipients of the annual award, which recognises social concern, dedication, courage and compassion, include Neerja Chowdhury, Tavleen Singh, Priyanka Dubey, Barkha Dutt, Supriya Sharma and The Wire’s public editor Pamela Philipose.The award, named after freedom fighter and community reformer Chameli Devi Jain, was first given in 1982 and since then has named a woman journalist who has made a difference through her work.Sherwani, who hosts two video shows on The Wire – ‘Arfa ka India’ and ‘Hum Bhi Bharat’ – was awarded for “her insightful investigative reports about the rise of private militias and growing sectarian and caste clashes in the town of Gorakhpur, and the brutal suppression of the revolt of beleaguered Dalits and tribals in Sonbhadra”.Recognising “her grit and honesty”, the citation also noted that Sherwani was “one of the first journalists to visit the Kashmir Valley after the revocation of Article 370” and that she “reported frequently from inside the Valley, at considerable risk to herself” and documented “the failures of the democratic State, detailing those who have bent democratic institutions depriving already weaker sections of our society”.Sherwani has won several awards in the past, including the RedInk Award for TV journalism and the Committee to Protect Journalists recently released a statement urging BJP leaders to stop encouraging online vitriol directed at her.Also read: Justice Lokur: Our Fundamental Rights to Free Speech and Protest Are Being Eroded and MauledRohini Mohan was awarded for “exceptional reportage from Assam on the events surrounding the controversy over the citizenship issue” which “filled a major gap in the nation’s understanding of a distant part of India”.Recognising her “integrity and perseverance”, the statement said that she “demonstrated a capacity for combining a reporter’s curiosity and inquisitiveness with an admirable sensibility and respect for decency”. The citation also noted Mohan’s work in troubled spots like Sri Lanka and lauded her “courage, clear-headedness and a commitment to tell it as it is”.Mohan is the winner of several awards and has published two books based on her journalistic work on Sri Lanka’s civil war. She has won the The Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize and Tata Literature Live! First Book Award (Nonfiction). She has written for The Wire several times.Additionally, Rukmini S, an independent data-journalist from Chennai, received honourable mention for “her sharp and analytical journalistic work” and “her ability to interpret dry data into interesting stories on contemporary issues”“Her data-driven approach for election coverage has added a new, more credible way through which the media looks at election coverage,” the citation said and added that her work was marked by “meticulous research” and was “well contextualised”.The jury for the annual award comprised of political scientist Zoya Hasan and journalists Sreenivasan Jain and Manoj Mitta.The presentation of the award scheduled for Saturday and which was to be followed by the BG Verghese Memorial Lecture by former Supreme Court judge Madan Lokur was postponed due to the coronavirus threat.Harish Khare is the current chairperson of the Media Foundation which instituted the Chameli Devi Jain Award in 1980.The Media Foundation’s citations for the three journalists are reproduced below.§Arfa Khanum Sherwani Arfa Khanum Sherwani, the joint winner of the Chameli Devi Jain Award for A Woman Journalist 2019, has spent nearly two decades in broadcasting and is currently senior editor at the news portal, The Wire. She has covered various elections, reported from conflict zones from Kabul to Iraq, always taking care to introduce her audiences to the politics of despair and the politics of backlash that have created those conflicts. In this connection her insightful investigative reports about the rise of private militias and growing sectarian and caste clashes in the town of Gorakhpur, and the brutal suppression of the revolt of beleaguered Dalits and tribals in Sonbhadra, one of the most backward districts in Uttar Pradesh, are remarkable.In 2019, Arfa was one of the first journalists to visit the Kashmir Valley after the revocation of Article 370. She reported frequently from inside the Valley, at considerable risk to herself, since the area was in a state of lockdown. In all her body of work, Arfa comes across as a sensible, and a truthful reporter of what she has witnessed. She can dive into the minds of the deprived, marginalised and often brutalised disadvantaged groups to reveal the heart of real India where a ceaseless struggle for equality, independence and autonomy goes on ceaselessly. She also documents the failures of the democratic State, detailing those who have bent democratic institutions depriving already weaker sections of our society.Arfa’s work presents to us a honest balance sheet of where we stand as a democracy today and also how, since democratic aberrations are always man-made, they can be corrected while there is still time. For her grit and honesty she richly deserves the award named after Chameli Devi Jain, a gutsy freedom fighter whose spirited support for Gandhian values of truth and non-violence in the face of police brutality and incarceration remains a beacon for us all.The Media Foundation is honoured to salute Arfa Khanum Sherwani with the Chameli Devi Jain Award for an Outstanding Woman Journalist 2019.§Rohini MohanRohini Mohan is jointly presented the Chameli Devi Jain Award for an Outstanding Woman Journalist 2019 for her exceptional reportage from Assam on the events surrounding the controversy over the citizenship issue. Her work is characterised by two essential qualities of a good reporter––integrity and perseverance. She has demonstrated a capacity for combining a reporter’s curiosity and inquisitiveness with an admirable sensibility and respect for decency; for blending the local and the specific with the larger perspective; for engaging with the affected without losing sight of the need for detachment and impartiality.Rohini is recognised for her consistent record of first-rate reporting from Assam and its many fault-lines, cascading into the entire Northeast region. Her reports and larger work have filled a major gap in the nation’s understanding of a distant part of India, bringing to attention complexities and complications behind recurring conflicts and contestations. To the extent her work is intelligently informed by a professional and intellectual honesty, she provides the first drafts of history.Beyond Assam, Rohini has done extensive reporting from Sri Lanka as well as from other troubled spots in India. In doing so, she has displayed courage, clear-headedness and a commitment to tell it as it is, a refusal to take at face value the official line, and a healthy willingness to question orthodoxy––all essential qualities of robustly independent journalism which are fast disappearing from the Indian media.Rohini is also recognised as a leading specimen of the new generation of woman journalists—educated, confident, unafraid and competent to make their contribution to the abiding values and obligations of good journalism. Her talent has already been widely recognised and her non-fiction work vastly appreciated. The Media Foundation is honoured to salute Rohini Mohan with the Chameli Devi Jain Award for an Outstanding Woman Journalist 2019.§Rukmini S.The Chameli Devi Jain Award aims to promote excellence in journalism through recognising the work of outstanding women journalists. The members of the jury for the Chameli Devi Jain Award 2019 decided to acknowledge Rukmini S. for an Honourable Mention for her sharp and analytical journalistic work. Rukmini skilfully handles data to analyse complex issues and provide insightful reports on those issues. Her work is not only marked with meticulous research but is well contextualised. Her ability to interpret dry data into interesting stories on contemporary issues is exemplary.Her data-driven journalism deals with topics and issues that do not attract the attention of mainstream media. Rukmini’s work has focussed on issues of critical importance; these issues range from displaying the ways in which State policies impact the marginalised and poorer sections of society, what are the factors that motivate voters, the masculinisation of the Indian work-force to statistics on sexual violence.Her data-driven approach for election coverage has added a new, more credible way through which the media looks at election coverage. Through the use of data during the general elections of 2019, Rukmini has sought to illustrate how and why voters make the choices that they do. This has helped to create a whole new awareness about the ground realities of our electoral process. It has also expanded the way elections are reported upon in the Indian media, going beyond opinion polls and the impressionistic reportage of touring journalists.Rukmini is recognised and honoured for the intellectual rigour she brings to unearthing the connections between different sets of data and illustrate emerging trends and the correlations between them. Her stories using the tools of statistical interpretations are an example of modern journalism at its best.
