Sujata Madhok spent eleven years in Hindustan Times working in various capacities before she moved on to become Editor of Women's Feature Service. She currently writes a column and has been active in the women's movement. Her report, "A Situational Analysis of Women and Girls in the National Capital Territory of Delhi" was recently published by the National Commission for Women. Excerpts from an interview:

You are a journalist but you are involved in social activism? Doesn’t your two professions come in conflict with each other?

I was involved in student politics and became interested in people’s issues. Journalism seemed to me a way to express social concerns. I did not see it as just a career. In the mid 1970s, I became involved with the growing women’s movement. During the feminist journal Manushi’s first year, I had a newspaper job but spent most of my spare time doing voluntary work for it — editing, writing, even distributing the journal. Later, I became involved with other feminist groups such as 'Saheli'. Holding protests, analysing gender issues, counselling and rescuing women in distress were the regular activities of women’s groups then.

How long have you been doing social work besides journalism?
I see it as social activism, not social work. I believe that theory should be linked to practice. I cannot remain an armchair intellectual. As my understanding of social and political issues has deepened over the years, I have felt the need to put into practice some of those ideas. Today, I unashamedly call myself a development journalist.

This is a tag that many of my journalist colleagues shun, since they think political and economic journalism, understood narrowly, is more important for a professional journalist. I have given up full-time journalism as I find myself a misfit in the newspaper world of today which trivializes news and focuses on page three style gossip, entertainment, sport and hardselling the consumerist lifestyle. The media is in celebratory mode; it is growing richer and more powerful. It has become an unashamed tool of the elite and the newly prosperous middle class and marginalizes the issues of ordinary people. It must share the blame for the deepening divide between India and Bharat.

Recently, you have been involved in some child rescue operations. Can you elaborate?
It is hard to see injustice and do nothing about it. In one recent case, I heard about a young man who had been beaten up and kidnapped for ransom by his own employer, from the café where he worked. His widowed mother was telephoned in Darbhanga and asked to bring a lakh of rupees. A friend and I intervened, we approached a couple of NGOs whom we knew and persuaded them to take up the case. After several days of frantic running around, contacting lawyers and police officials and the media, we were able to help the boy’s mother get her son back without paying the ransom.