Sukanya Shantha won the K P Narayana Kumar Memorial Award for Social Impact Journalism, 2020. Shantha’s winning entry, ‘From Segregation to Labour, Manu’s Caste Law Governs the Indian Prison System’, published in The Wire, looks into ongoing caste discrimination in jails across the country.
The final jury comprising Andrew Whitehead (Chairperson), Anuradha Raghunathan and Parry Ravindranathan chose the winners from shortlisted entries.
The award, which comprises a trophy, a citation and INR 100,000/- in prize money, was presented to the winner by the Chief Guest Prof. Pratap Bhanu Mehta, Political Scientist, at the online Convocation of the ACJ Class of 2020-2021.
The jury’s citation read as follows:
“This is only the second year of the K.P. Narayana Kumar Memorial Award for Social Impact Journalism, yet it has attracted an impressive field of entries across platforms and reflecting different approaches to the reporting of social problems and inequalities.
The winning entry succeeds emphatically in giving voice to the voiceless and in shining a light on under reported issues. Sukanya Shantha, writing for The Wire, focusses on one of the most hidden of social issues – what happens behind bars in India’s prisons. The entry convincingly reveals the persistence of caste-based segregation, discrimination and division of labour within the prison system in states which have chosen not to adopt the ‘model’ prison manual. The official connivance in this persistence of caste-based inequality is shocking. The seeming reluctance of prisoner welfare organisations to address the issue is almost equally disturbing.
Sukanya Shantha’s article – From Segregation to Labour, Manu’s Caste Law Governs the Indian Prison System – powerfully meets the two essential requirements of successful social impact journalism: it exposes an injustice which has been very largely concealed from public view, and it lays the groundwork – through well researched and clearly expressed reporting – to stimulate and inform a campaign for redress.”
“This is only the second year of the K.P. Narayana Kumar Memorial Award for Social Impact Journalism, yet it has attracted an impressive field of entries across platforms and reflecting different approaches to the reporting of social problems and inequalities.
The winning entry succeeds emphatically in giving voice to the voiceless and in shining a light on under reported issues. Sukanya Shantha, writing for The Wire, focusses on one of the most hidden of social issues – what happens behind bars in India’s prisons. The entry convincingly reveals the persistence of caste-based segregation, discrimination and division of labour within the prison system in states which have chosen not to adopt the ‘model’ prison manual. The official connivance in this persistence of caste-based inequality is shocking. The seeming reluctance of prisoner welfare organisations to address the issue is almost equally disturbing.
Sukanya Shantha’s article – From Segregation to Labour, Manu’s Caste Law Governs the Indian Prison System – powerfully meets the two essential requirements of successful social impact journalism: it exposes an injustice which has been very largely concealed from public view, and it lays the groundwork – through well researched and clearly expressed reporting – to stimulate and inform a campaign for redress.”
Other entries which were accorded special mentions by the jury (in no particular order) are as follows:
Shooting Up – Himachal Pradesh’s spiralling heroin problem by Diya Gupta published in The Caravan.
Ennore: Living in Ashes, an Asiaville Tamil documentary film by Aparna Ganesan, Vigneshwar K, Vivek Manoharan and Prajeesh K.
Buzz of hope: After numerous tiger encounters, traditional honey gatherers of the Sundarbans get a new lease of life by Tanmoy Bhaduri published in Gaon Connection.
Corona Cyclips, an Asiaville Interactive feature by Sruthin Lal and Dibyaudh Das.
