Raju Jangid, a resident of Jodhpur, Rajasthan has hit the headlines all over the country for his inspiring journey.
Raju is today one of the 11 contributors of Hindi Wikipedia, wherein he has helped millions gain information about COVID-19, history, sports, and geography, among many other such topics, in the language. This round up to around 1,880 articles contributed by him and over 57,000 that have been edited by him.
What’s even more striking is that he has been doing it all the while along with his primary occupation – carpentry and is also completing his studies.
It all began in the year 2011 when Raju was hardly in Class VIII. The young boy randomly searched Bollywood star Mithun Chakraborty on the browser and was directed to the actor’s page on Wikipedia. This led Raju to search a lot of other stuff and ending up on the free encyclopedia website.
This kindled curiosity and led Raju to research more on the website. Gradually he learned about the page creators, contributors, editors, and the organization at large. But being from a rural area and having limited resources and money in hand held him back. Nonetheless, he did all these web searches with his basic phone.
Soon Raju came in contact with the Wikipedia community and learned that it was a non-profit organization. Anyone could write or edit the content on the pages.
“There are discussions among members on the website, and I started reaching out to community members to get answers to any queries I had. I learned that the platform is non-profit, and the contributors do not get paid. Additionally, anyone can write or edit the content on the pages,” Raju shared.
The 22-year-old had quite a difficult life so far. Raju had to quit his education to support his farmer parents, who had about 7.5 acres of land.
But carpentry did not make Raju lose his interest in Wikipedia. By then he made his mind that he will contribute through his writing in Hindi.
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Soon he created a page for himself and his brother and wrote some more information about his village – Thadiya. To his dismay, the article was taken down as there were no references to support the information. But he didn’t cease his trials and eventually got blocked!
“I made repeated attempts over two years to upload the articles but failed. Eventually, the administrator blocked me thrice in 2013 and 2014. In the process, I learned that all the articles need to be unbiased and neutral. They cannot promote or advertise a person or celebrity. Most importantly, all of them need the support of citations and references for the information,” Raju tells us.
But who could stop Raju? In 2015, Raju learned the entire game and followed the community guidelines, creating a new account. His very first article was supposed to be on his village and so he finally made it and got it approved and there was no looking back.
“I started writing information about my village and neighboring areas. After they were approved, I wrote about cricket, as the sport interests me. Eventually, I progressed to composing articles on geography, history, and entertainment,” he says.
Raju was also invested in education. When his salary as a carpenter increased to Rs. 14,000, he would give Rs. 10,000 to his parents, and the remaining would be for personal use which he used to give Class XII boards.
“I worked a 12-hour shift from 9 am onwards every day, and found time between work to write on the website. I would also write till late at night,” he shared.
Yet, Raju had no laptop or smartphone. This was a major drawback. He had to struggle to get his articles, written from his primitive handset, and get them approved.
“I did not have a smartphone, so I couldn’t write any articles beyond 150-200 words. The software in the handset kept crashing, and all information would thus be deleted. I eventually bought a smartphone, but this problem continued. The new device helped me write longer articles, around 400 words, but the editing page refreshed every time I switched tabs to search for references and citations,” he shared.
Finally, in the year 2016, Raju received an opportunity to attend a Hindi Wikipedia conference in Pune, Maharashtra. There the Wikipedia community raised donations and provided him with a laptop and internet connection.
“The community members learned about technical challenges that editors face and decided to help. Two members knew about my weak financial condition and discussed the issue with others. They suggested raising a donation campaign to provide me with a laptop and internet connection. It’s a lengthy process, as all members and seniors need to nominate and vote in favor of the hardware donation. Six months later, in December, I received both devices,” he said.
Also one year after receiving the rightful resources from the conference Raju quit his job as a carpenter to pursue his education and make a career in writing. He completed his graduation in Arts in 2018 and also got a job with a content writing company in Jodhpur. Today Raju has been promoted from being an editor to a reviewer in Wikipedia.
“While I wasn’t earning from writing on Wikipedia, I had developed an interest in it. I loved the fact that millions were accessing the information I was writing. The platform allowed me to provide readers with accurate and useful information. I was proud to be writing for one of the most accessed websites in the world. Moreover, I didn’t have to invest any money in the cause,” Jangid says.
“My responsibilities have increased – they now involve fact-checking and correcting the articles, and improving their overall quality. On many occasions, there have been arguments between writers about the credibility of the information. My job involves resolving such conflicts and allowing credible information for the readers,” he said explaining his role.
The Wikipedia Community has also nominated him to take on the responsibility of an administrator thrice which he has declined.
“I do not feel confident enough to take on additional responsibilities as of now, but will rethink my decision when the next opportunity arises,” Raju says.