Comics bring about social change in India Unshining

NEW DELHI: The children of Khatima village couldn't take it anymore.The headmaster in their government school had been turning up drunk for over five years. That is, when he turned up at all. Last year, they finally took matters into their own hands. Activist Devendra Ojha had held a cartooning workshop with them. The comics produced by the children were photocopied and pasted all over the village: behind rickshaws, near the paan shop and on the walls.Soon, the village headman took note. Two meetings and a month later, the headmaster was expelled from the school in Uttarakhand's Udham Singh Nagar district.
It's called the Grassroots Comics movement and in India's back-of-beyond areas it works as a cheap and effective weapon to fight illiteracy, alcoholism and domestic violence. Mostly drawn by local activists, these illustrations can be appreciated even by those who cannot read or write.
Sharad Sharma, who started Grassroots Comics in the mid-1990s, believes comics can empower people and be used for development communication. The campaign has taught hundreds the art of using comics as a tool for social campaigns. "There is a great sense of ownership and responsibility among those who draw these comics. The audience also takes these comics seriously because they are about issues closer to their reality and come from people they know," says Sharma, who has created two compilations called "Development Comics".
These feature illustrations on social issues from across the country. Sharma calls it "comics journalism".
Grassroots Comics has travelled across the country: Mizoram, Jharkhand, Kerala and Orissa. When Sharma realized this was getting big, he got in touch with World Comics Network in Finland in 2000 – a collective of professional cartoonists who develop comics on social issues. Since then, there have been similar grassroots comic workshops in Nepal, Brazil and Pakistan. Now Grassroots Comics comes under the umbrella of World Comics India.
In February this year, they organized a workshop in Muzaffarpur, Bihar, where a group of children is trying to be heard in governance. Their campaign tool? Photocopies of black and white comics they made. In these strips, they ask for their birth certificates and an end to corporal punishment. With the help of Adithi Plan, an NGO working in the village, this was developed into a full-blown campaign called "Ab Shaasan Humro Hoi" (Now It'll Be Our Rule). On February 23, they took their comics to an Aanganwadi meeting to raise their voice against the inadequate supplementary food given to children there.
"These things never get talked about in mainstream media," says 38-year-old Sharma, sitting in his Mayur Vihar studio. Every inch in the room is plastered with comics and posters made by participants in his workshops. Two speech bubbles on the wall say "Comics Power". The drawing is basic, often with disproportionate figures. The handwriting in speech bubbles is, at best, a scrawl. But the messages tackle everything from drug abuse to women's rights.
It all started in the mid-1990s in Rajasthan where Sharma hails from, when he was working with Sanjoy Ghose of Charkha Development Communication Network. Sharma, then a painter, had some experience as
a cartoonist for local newspaper Nyay. As a part of the NGO, he was involved in a writing workshop for rural people where they were given tips on how to communicate better. In the workshop, he introduced pictures into their work. "The people we were working with just loved it. Sixty percent of all communication happens just through pictures," says Sharma.
Sharma himself is busy training trainers these days. "I don't even know where these workshops are happening now. The manuals are online for everyone to see. Trainers anywhere can replicate this workshop," he says. Pens, A4 size sheets and a photocopy machine are about all the resources you need.
Once a comic is made, Sharma says it is common for people to stop by and catch hold of someone who can read to tell them what's happening. Knowledge has a way of spreading.