Thursday, September 20, 2012

Have You Read the Paper Today?

India Art Journal Aug 24 2012 by Meera Rao
 
The Indian Express noted in an article in jan 2012 that 'Circulation of newspapers in the country grew by 8.23 percent in 2010-11 as per the 55th Annual report of Registrar of Newspapers for India(RNI)."  This is significant especially in light of the decline faced by the print media in the West.  The article points out that out of the 14,508 newspapers published in all the different Indian languages as many as 11,775 are owned by individuals. Circulation runs into crores of copies and number of readers even more!   Further in the article: "With a combined readership claim of its 12 editions reaching 37,46,929 copies, Times of India was the leader among multi edition dailies the RNI report said. "  What astonishing numbers!!!!
 
It is a common sight to see people engrossed in reading on the steps,  on the park benches, crowded into the tiny branch libraries, waiting in the bank.... Ricksha, taxi drivers waiting for the customers; Store keepers, vendors can be seen reading the paper whenever they get a few minutes. I was curious to know what the literacy rate is in India and discovered that as per the Population Census of India 2011, the literacy rate in India is 74.04% up from 65.38% in 2001. With it, the people's hunger for information has also gone up!
 
I love watching people reading and have sketched a couple of pieces so far - like the old man I saw early one morning on my walk, sitting on a bench by the road, his bicycle by his side completely engrossed in the paper.
 
And here is sketch from June 30, 2012 getting its due : ) 
India Art Journal June 30 (Sketch 2) by Meera Rao
Please check here for more information on it.


10 comments:

Sadami said...

Hi, Meera,
Thank you for the beautiful sketch and sharing the very interesting info. "Language rights" is very important. May many languages, particularly endangered minorities would live in India.
Kind regards, Sadami

Introverted Art said...

How I missed your drawings. I haven;t been here in a while, so I have to go browse your past sketches.

padmaja said...

Newspapers are favorites of auto drivers too, they buy the 2 rupee Sanje vaani with so much of passion, it is nice to see people try to catch up with whats happening in the world. Lovely subject you picked up!

Meera Rao said...

Sadami,thank you very much for your comments. Recently I have been made`aware of languages being endangered. Literacy is the only way to go !

Meera Rao said...

Thank you,Ana, Hope you will like what you see- Enjoy :)

Lisa Graham said...

I am loving this sketch today!

Meera Rao said...

Padmaja, thank you ;) I love watching people reading with intense concentration ! Actually I have seen quite a few readers reading aloud to a few buddies and sharing information.

Meera Rao said...

Thanks Lisa, I am pleased that I have enjoyed doing everyone of them and that I have been able to continue doing them everyday!

Krishna/കൃഷ്ണ said...

Thanks for sharing

Meera Rao said...

Krishna, thank you !

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