Meena Kotwal

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Meena Kotwal
Meena Kotwal File Photo.jpg
Born
Uttar Pradesh, India
Alma mater Indian Institute of Mass Communication (2013-14 batch)
Jamia Millia Islamia
Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University
OccupationJournalist
Years active2015–present
Notable workthe founder of ‘The Mooknayak’

Meena Kotwal is an Indian journalist, and the founder of The Mooknayak , an online news channel and website focused on social justice for the Dalit, minority and marginalised people. [1] [2] [3]

Contents

Biography

Meena was raised in a Dalit neighborhood in New Delhi. [4] Her parents earned little from their work as laborers. [4] Meena attended the Indian Institute of Mass Communication, Delhi (2013-14 batch) and studied radio and television journalism. [5] She also attended Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI), Delhi, and Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University. [5]

Meena had worked as a broadcast journalist at the Hindi language division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in New Delhi, India from September 2017 to July 2019. [6] She has said her BBC contract was not renewed after she was outed as Dalit by a colleague and then experienced discrimination, and had her formal complaint denied as lacking "merit or substance" by the BBC. [4]

She also contributes opinion pieces for The Wire, The Print, The Shudra, Youth Ki Awaz and Feminism in India. [7] [8] Her open letter to popular Indian actress Kangana Ranaut was published by The Wire, [9] and the republished in Indian languages and Nepali. [2] She has also worked for National Dastak, an online platform which focuses on the stories of marginalised identities.[ citation needed ]

On 25 December 2021, she posted an online video of herself burning the Manusmriti. [10] She then began to receive death threats and rape threats, and the Delhi Police registed a FIR about the threats. [10] In January 2022, she explained her reasoning for burning the Manusmriti: "The Manusmriti contains a lot of anti-women and anti-Dalit content. Babasaheb Ambedkar had also burned the Manusmriti, on 25 December 1927. Since then, Ambedkarites have been observing the day as Manusmriti Dahan Divas." [10] In February 2022, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders and others at the UN wrote to the Indian government to express concern about the threats directed at Kotwal. [11]

She founded The Mooknayak in 2021, [1] and by 2023, employs 10 journalists. [12] She has described it as "a Dalit-centred newsroom." [12] The stories published in The Mooknayak cover issues concerning Dalits and other marginalized groups in India. [4] [3] By March 2023, the related YouTube channel for the online newspaper had 50,000 subscribers. [1]

Honours and awards

Personal life

Meena resides in New Delhi and has a daughter. She is married to Raja Pandey. [4]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Dalit journalist takes aim at changing history with stories of India's marginalized". Arab News. 15 March 2023. Retrieved 7 April 2023.
  2. 1 2 Singh, Stuti Paul (23 February 2023). "FII Interviews: Journalist Meena Kotwal On Minority Politics, Journalism Today And The Caste Divide". Feminism in India. Retrieved 7 April 2023.
  3. 1 2 Lal, Neeta (22 September 2021). "In India, calls for a caste census grow as more seek to benefit from affirmative action policies". South China Morning Post . Retrieved 29 July 2022.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Singh, Karan Deep (6 March 2023). "With Stories of Her Oppressed Community, a Journalist Takes Aim at the Walls of Caste". The New York Times . Retrieved 25 April 2023.
  5. 1 2 3 4 "Twocircles.net journalist Meena Kotwal wins IIMCAA Awards". TwoCircles.net. 12 February 2020. Retrieved 1 July 2022.
  6. ↑ "Dalit journalist accuses BBC Hindi of discrimination, says was let go due to caste". ThePrint. 13 August 2019. Retrieved 25 January 2022.
  7. ↑ "Meena Kotwal : Exclusive News Stories by Meena Kotwal on Current Affairs, Events at The Wire". The Wire. Retrieved 3 March 2022.
  8. ↑ Kotwal, Meena. "Author: Meena Kotwal". फेमिनिज़म इन इंडिया. Retrieved 3 March 2022.
  9. ↑ "A Letter to Kangana Ranaut On Caste and Reservation". The Wire. Retrieved 3 March 2022.
  10. 1 2 3 Bose, Meghnad (12 January 2022). "'Right Wingers Threatening to Rape Me for Burning Manusmriti': Dalit Journalist". The Quint . Retrieved 29 July 2022.
  11. ↑ "UN writes to India over inaction on death threats to Dalit journalist". Pakistan Today . 9 April 2022. Retrieved 29 July 2022.
  12. 1 2 Sharma, Saurabh (13 February 2023). "'Leading the voiceless' - how low-caste Indian journalists are crowdfunding their own newsrooms". Al Jazeera Journalism Review. Retrieved 21 February 2023.
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