“Kavita Devi is an inspiration for all of us” says Shah Rukh Khan on TED Talks India Nayi Baat

MUMBAI: Star Plus’ recently launched its latest show TED Talks India Nayi Baat on 2nd November. With its impressive set of speakers and performers, audiences were enthralled to the core. In the upcoming week, another inspirational speaker – Kavita Devi will be seen on the mantle along with Super star and host of Ted Talks India Nayi Baat – Shah Rukh Khan!

Kavita Devi is the co-founder and digital head of ‘Khabar Lahariya’. Started in 2002, Khabar Lahariya is a rural women-run hyperlocal digital platform that shines a light on rural issues with a feminist perspective. The collective consists of nearly 30 women and the platform covers 10 districts in the northern states of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. Kavita Devi exclusively recruits women from discriminated backgrounds.

As Kavita Devi enthusiastically shared information about ‘Khabar Lahariya’, Shah Rukh Khan had an interesting question for her and asked if she would also recruit men to work in her esteemed publication. Kavita Devi smiled and denied the request stating a valid reason that there are multiple jobs available for men in different sectors and she will only recruit women in her publication. The only job she would ever hire men for would be as distributors for her newspaper. Shah Rukh Khan in his signature style complimented Kavita and made an appeal to men to help Kavita Devi in her noble endeavour.

Kavita Devi hopes that ‘Khabar Lahariya’ becomes the country’s largest rural news network. The entrepreneurial woman wants to grow their network from 20 reporters and 5 Mn viewers per month to 100 reporters and 10 million unique viewers per month over a period of 3 years.

Watch TED Talks India Nayi Baat, Saturday – Sunday at 9:30PM only on Star Plus