Jayanti Buruda: Telling stories of the jungles and people of Malkangiri

Journalist Jayanti Buruda Image: Madhu Kapparath
 
From wandering in the forest as a young girl with little interest in studies to becoming a journalist and shining a light on the lives of tribals through a social media platform, Jayanti Buruda has come a long way.

 Belonging to the Koya tribe, Buruda—ninth of 11 siblings—would help her mother gather wood, graze cows and pluck mahua flowers in the jungle surrounding her adivasi village, Serpalli, until she was forced to enrol in the only school in the village in Malkangiri district, Odisha. But her two teachers, who taught all the subjects, helped her develop an interest in academics and she went on to become the only girl to clear her 10th standard exam in a class of 10 students.

Buruda wanted to study further and despite the fact that her father was against it, moved to Malkangiri town, where after classes she started giving tuitions to children of labourers in the neighbourhood slum area. She realised that she enjoyed social work and also decided to volunteer for the Indian Red Cross Society.

It was while visiting offices as part of her social work that Buruda got her first taste of patriarchy. As a woman, she was ignored by men in higher positions who would not respond to her questions or requests.

That was when she decided to study journalism. “Mujhe journalism karna chahiye. Tab yeh log respond karenge, respect bhi denge, meri baat sunenge aur darenge bhi [I must study journalism. That’s when these people will respond, respect me, listen to me, and be scared of me],” she says. She completed her two-year journalism and mass communication course at Central University, Koraput.  Post that, during her one-month internship at Ajira Odisha Studio in Bhubaneswar, under the guidance of filmmaker and journalist Biren Das, she learnt how to handle the camera, conduct an interview, and edit a film. 

Though Buruda got a job with a regional news channel in Bhubaneswar, she would be undermined and not given credit for her stories. But none of it weakened her resolve.

It was not all bad though. Buruda’s friends helped her at various junctures with financial assistance, accommodation and other aid. One such person was Vasanthi Hariprakash, founder-CEO of Pickle Jar Media, who met Buruda at a brainstorming session in Chhattisgarh in 2016. She recounts, “Being in remote Odisha, it wasn’t easy for Jayanti to access education.” Hariprakash was impressed to learn that she was the first journalist from her tribe and immediately connected her with the Network of Women in Media or NWMI, India—a collective of women from print, broadcast, electronic and digital media—that she was part of. That same year, Buruda was invited to the annual meet of NWMI in Hyderabad. Even though her travel was paid for, Buruda had walked up to a point, taken a ferry to another village, travelled by bus to Vizag, and finally taken the flight she was booked on to reach Hyderabad, where she met over 500 women from all over India. “Those who have been reporting on India for so many years could get a firsthand account of what it means to be in that part of India and how the digital divide and the infrastructure divide are so deep,” says Hariprakash. “Jayanti instantly became a favourite [at the event].”

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In 2017, Buruda became the first recipient of the NWMI Fellowship for Women Journalists. Besides monetary support, she was also given a laptop. “Her ability to learn to operate the laptop and pick up a new language, Hindi, demonstrated her determination and willingness to learn,” says Hariprakash.

In 2018, Buruda started Bada Didi Union (translated as Elder Sister Union), a young female volunteer-led movement to increase awareness about menstrual hygiene and reproductive health in tribal communities. They also started a small roadside open library in Malkangiri to encourage reading among children in the nearby villages. 



To empower her community, she started the Jungle Rani initiative in 2023, a social media platform for adivasi stories that do not make it to mainstream media. “We want to create our own media house, our own platform and wish to present these stories,” says Buruda.

Since last year, she has also been associated with the Bharti Institute of Public Policy, an independent think tank of the Indian School of Business. As a cluster coordinator, her work involves talking about CFR (The Community Forest Resource rights). These rights of tribals provide for the right to protect, regenerate, conserve or manage any community forest resource for sustainable use and the allocation of forest land for developmental purposes to fulfil basic infrastructural needs of the community. Baruda looks after all the processes and communication with the government.

Also read: Janice Pariat, the forest seeker

As a member of the Tribal Advisory Council, Buruda has been provided a PWD quarter in Malkangiri town, where she continues to add more to her social work plate—she has been providing for four children for the past six years and given refuge to six girls. “Jayanti is an elder sister and a mother figure to these children. The way she has taken ownership of these kids goes to show what mettle Jayanti is made of,” says Hariprakash.

Shubhranshu Choudhary, former BBC Hindi journalist and founder of CGNet Swara, says, “Jayanti is a brave and kind girl. Her work of training tribal girls in journalism will be a great asset for the community.”

Hariprakash says Buruda is not a firebrand or a placard-holding journalist. “Jayanti has pushed the boundaries of what she can do and let it not be a handicap. That’s her biggest achievement.”