In 4th week, farmers’ protest gets its very own newspaper

BATHINDA: As the

farm groups

’ agitation against the three contentious farm laws hits the fourth week, it has got its own newspaper. A team of half-a-dozen youngsters has come out with a four-page publication to keep every farmer putting up in

trolleys

or tents on

Delhi borders

abreast of the happenings pertaining to the protest and the sights and sounds at the stir sites spanning many kilometres.


The tabloid-sized newspaper,

Trolley Times

, covers the myriad moods of the agitation at the Delhi borders — the second home of the protesters for the last 23 days. The newspaper will be available as hard copy as well as on digital platforms. The first edition of the paper, in

Punjabi

and

Hindi

, was distributed among farmers on Friday, amid much curiousity and discussion.

The newspaper is a collaborative effort by siblings Ajaypal Natt and Navkiran Natt from

Mansa

, writer Surmeet Mavi, Gurdeep Singh Dhaliwal, Narinder Bhinder and songwriter Jassi Sangha. Now, they are finding ways to get donations to meet the Rs 10,000 per edition cost, including designing and printing of the paper from Delhi.

Before this, other youngsters have helmed digital platforms like "Kisan Ekta Morcha" and "Tractor 2 Twitter" to focus on everyday developments at the borders, including viewpoints of farm leaders and a wide section of protesters.

Speaking to TOI, Ajaypal Natt explained how Trolley Times came into being. "After farmers were dubbed anti-national and other controversies, we decided to come out with our own publication where every mood at both

Singhu

and

Tikri

borders, including happenings, art and poetry could be covered. As many of the protesters have reached the Delhi borders in trolleys and are spending nights in the trolleys, we thought Trolley Times was an apt name for the publication.

He said their team included writers and artists who wanted to showcase the different colours of the agitation as per the likes of the farmers and they had got lot of encouragement after the inaugural edition, which was widely liked by farmers. "We have incorporated a lot of suggestions to further refine the paper," he added.