Show Navigation

Search Results

Refine Search
Match all words
Match any word
Prints
Personal Use
Royalty-Free
Rights-Managed
(leave unchecked to
search all images)
{ 723 images found }

Loading ()...

  • A young agricultural labourer is harvesting wheat in a field near the village of Shamli, pop. 1500, Saharanpur District, Uttar Pradesh, India, located dangerously near to Shamli Paper Mill, (visible in the background) a large industry discharging untreated wastewaters a few steps away from the field, on Friday, Apr. 18, 2008. Feru, 70, the owner of the field is forced to feed its crops water from the mill's drain. "We own this land since more than 200 years, while this factory was erected in 1981," he adds, "we filed many complains to the MP offices in both Meerut and Lucknow but nobody in the government listens to us. We are not important to them." He also laments that "the soil is becoming defective, and so are our crops whose yield is diminishing year after year."
    Slow_Poison_04.JPG
  • Hash, a common by-product of paper mills is photographed on the side of a wheat field in the village of Saini, pop. 4000, Meerut District, Uttar Pradesh, India, home to a large paper manufacture. The industry also discharges untreated wastewaters back into the Kali river (East), a tributary of the larger Ganges river, from which farmers collect water for irrigation purposes, thus allowing heavy metals and pesticides to enter the entire food chain.
    Slow_Poison_38.JPG
  • A large drain is pouring municipal and industrial waste into the Ganges River near Jajmau Industrial Area, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh. Many drains are scattered around the area and discharge contaminated wastewater into the nearby river tainting underground reservoirs and endangering the fresh water supply of local people.
    Kanpur_Leather_Industry_32.JPG
  • Three young men are working in a dark, dusty room where they smooth and cut leather in Jajmau Industrial Area, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh. Labourers use almost no protection against the cancerogenic particles generated by this industrial process.
    Kanpur_Leather_Industry_19.JPG
  • A young man in an illegal tannery inside Jajmau Industrial Area, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, is taking a break from the dark, dusty room where he works smoothing and cutting leather. Labourers use almost no protection against the cancerogenic particles generated by this industrial process. Many are oblivious to health and safety regulations, their rights as employees or the impact of a prolonged exposure to toxic chemicals and particles.
    Kanpur_Leather_Industry_13.JPG
  • A young girl from Joana, pop. 1800, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, is standing in front of her house. The inhabitants of the village are affected by the wastewater originated from the nearby Jajmau Industrial Area, the largest leather producing hub in India, discharging directly into the holy Ganges River.
    Kanpur_Leather_Industry_40.JPG
  • A worker in one of the tannery units within the industrial area of Jajmau, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, is pulling a large piece of leather from a chromium bath, where the skin has had hair and impurities removed in a process called liming, to be dried outside the factory.
    Kanpur_Leather_Industry_17.JPG
  • An elder and a young boy are using their bare hands to collect skins from a bath of contaminated water during the process of liming, removing hair and impurities with the use of various agents, in an illegal tannery unit located within the industrial area of Jajmau, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh.
    Kanpur_Leather_Industry_12.JPG
  • Workers in one of the larger tanneries within the Jajmau Industrial Area, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, are stockpiling pieces of leather while trimming impurities and scraps before proceeding to colouring and finishing.
    Kanpur_Leather_Industry_16.JPG
  • Agricultural labourers are collecting water devoted to irrigation from pools forming on the side of the polluted Ganges River in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, near Jajmao Industrial Area. Sustaining life for thousands of years along the Indo-Gangetic plains, the river's ecosystem is in grave danger of being damaged beyond repair while crops absorb the contaminants from the water and pass it on to those consuming the vegetables grown in this area.
    Kanpur_Leather_Industry_43.JPG
  • A man is moving a heavy load of half-processed leather on arrival from a different unit, to a new plant for further processing in Jajmau Industrial Area, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh. Knowing whether children were employed in the process is the real challenge when outsourcing leather in Kanpur.
    Kanpur_Leather_Industry_24.JPG
  • A child is sewing parts of what will be leather articles, inside a medium-size manufacturing unit in Jajmau Industrial Area, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh.
    Kanpur_Leather_Industry_23.JPG
  • The owner of a small tannery in Jajmau Industrial Area, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, is showing the leather just painted in their unit. Arrived from somewhere else, painted by the two children I have witnessed working here, it will depart to reach other hands, and later become an item for sale. In Jajmau this is a daily reality and an intervention is needed to curb the practice.
    Kanpur_Leather_Industry_22.JPG
  • Two men are moving a heavy load of half-processed leather using a severed horse pulling a wooden cart to a new plant for further processing in Jajmau Industrial Area, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh. Knowing whether children were employed in the process is the real challenge when outsourcing leather in Kanpur.
    Kanpur_Leather_Industry_21.JPG
  • Workers inside the warehouse of a large tannery in Jajmau Industrial Area, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, are counting, stockpiling and measuring pieces of dry leather while cutting out some impurities and scraps. They will then proceed with smoothing, colouring and finishing.
    Kanpur_Leather_Industry_18.JPG
  • A labourer is moving a heavy load of half-processed leather destined to reach a new unit to complete another step of the production chain. In Jajmau Industrial Area, Kanupu, Uttar Pradesh, the leather passes hand in hand many times before being ready for the final product manufacturing stage. This 'outsourcing effect' creates a considerable risk for local underprivileged children to become involved in hazardous activities and subjected to lifelong exploitation.
    Kanpur_Leather_Industry_15.JPG
  • Two young boys are collecting skins from a bath during the process of liming, the removal of hair and impurities with the use of water and various agents, in an illegal tannery unit inside Jajmau Industrial Area, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh. Children are largely employed to work on scraps, or little pieces of skin, like the head and the ears of the animal, which will become a small bag, a wallet, or maybe a cheap phone leather case.
    Kanpur_Leather_Industry_04.JPG
  • A labourer is moving a heavy load of half-processed leather destined to reach a new unit to complete another step of the production chain in Kanpu, Uttar Pradesh. In Jajmau Industrial Area the leather passes hand in hand many times before being ready for manufacturing stage. This 'outsourcing effect' creates a considerable risk for local underprivileged children to become involved in hazardous activities and subjected to exploitation.
    Kanpur_Leather_Industry_03.JPG
  • A section of the slum growing along Jajmau Industrial Area in a maze of houses and tannery units is seen from the surrounding hilltop. A local boy is flying his kite, in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh.
    Kanpur_Leather_Industry_02.JPG
  • Two children are walking near the banks of the polluted Ganges River in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, near Jajmao Industrial Area. Sustaining life for thousands of years along the Indo-Gangetic plains, the river's ecosystem is in grave danger of being damaged beyond repair.
    Kanpur_Leather_Industry_34.JPG
  • Young men are drying fresh painted leather under the Sun in front of the tannery where they work in Jajmau Industrial Area, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh.
    Kanpur_Leather_Industry_20.JPG
  • Children are playing on the banks of a large drain flowing on the side of Joana, pop. 1800, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, a poor agricultural village affected by the untreated water discharged regularly in the Ganges River from the large industrial area located nearby.
    Kanpur_Leather_Industry_42.JPG
  • A child is collecting skins from a bath during the process of liming, the removal of hair and impurities with the use of water and various agents, in an illegal tannery unit inside Jajmau Industrial Area, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India. Children are largely employed to work on scraps, or little pieces of skin, like the head and the ears of the animal, which will become a small bag, a wallet, or maybe a cheap phone leather case.
    Kanpur_Leather_Industry_07.JPG
  • A truck driver and his co-workers are waiting to deliver their load of sugarcane inside the Daurala Sugar Works industrial complex, near Daurala village, Meerut District, Uttar Pradesh, India, on Monday, Apr. 14, 2008. Sugarcane-related manufactories, like sugar mills and distilleries rank between the 17 most polluting industries by the Indian Ministry of Environment and Forests and special conditions apply to the release of their wastewaters back into the environment. If Daurala Sugar Works, whose drain reaches the Kali river (East), have implemented a fairly efficient Effluent Treatment Plant, many in the sugarcane-rich area have not, and keep releasing contaminated water into nearby rivers. Even if levels of pollutants are believed to be largely reduced at the Complex, the Kali river (East) cannot absorb any more amount of wastewaters and its situation remains critically unhealthy... ..
    Slow_Poison_15.JPG
  • A truck driver and his co-workers are preparing to deliver their load of sugarcane inside the Daurala Sugar Works industrial complex, near Daurala village, Meerut District, Uttar Pradesh, India, on Monday, Apr. 14, 2008. Sugarcane-related manufactories, like sugar mills and distilleries rank between the 17 most polluting industries by the Indian Ministry of Environment and Forests and special conditions apply to the release of their wastewaters back into the environment. If Daurala Sugar Works, whose drain reaches the Kali river (East), have implemented a fairly efficient Effluent Treatment Plant, many in the sugarcane-rich area have not, and keep releasing contaminated water into nearby rivers. Even if levels of pollutants are believed to be largely reduced at the Complex, the Kali river (East) cannot absorb any more amount of wastewaters and its situation remains critically unhealthy.
    Slow_Poison_39.JPG
  • Farmers are delivering a load of sugarcane from their buffalo-cart inside the Daurala Sugar Works industrial complex, near Daurala village, Meerut District, Uttar Pradesh, India, on Monday, Apr. 14, 2008. Sugarcane-related manufactories, like sugar mills and distilleries rank between the 17 most polluting industries by the Indian Ministry of Environment and Forests and special conditions apply to the release of their wastewaters back into the environment. If Daurala Sugar Works, whose drain reaches the Kali river (East), have implemented a fairly efficient Effluent Treatment Plant, many in the sugarcane-rich area have not, and keep releasing contaminated water into nearby rivers. Even if levels of pollutants are believed to be largely reduced at the Complex, the Kali river (East) cannot absorb any more amount of wastewaters and its situation remains critically unhealthy.
    Slow_Poison_14.JPG
  • A young girl from the village of Beghrajpur, Muzaffarnagar District, Uttar Pradesh, India, is collecting grass for her family's buffaloes from the banks of a large drain originating from the Beghrajpur Industrial Complex, mainly composed of chemical factories, a few hundred meters upstream, on Sunday, Mar. 30, 2008. The white drain, completely covered in foam, will reach the Kali river (East) in Usampur Bhopara village. At the end of its journey, the watercourse will eventually join the largest Ganges river injecting a deadly dose of pollutants into its Holy waters.
    Slow_Poison_46.JPG
  • The unrecognised village of Wadi el Na'am, pop. 4000, is located in close proximity to the Israel Electric Company, in BeerSheva, the capital of the Negev, a large deserted area in the south of Israel. Wadi el Na'am is located near a large industrial site, Ramat Hovav, and has no infrastructure or electric energy. Water is provided only via storage tanks. It has no health services as the only clinic is deemed illegal and bound to be demolished, as the rest of the structures in the area. Numbering around 200.000 in Israel, the Bedouins constitute the native ethnic group of these areas, they farm, grow wheat, olives and live in complete self sufficiency. Many of them were in these lands long before the Israeli State was created and their traditional lifestyle is now threatened by subtle Governmental policies. The seven Bedouin towns already built are all between the 10 more impoverished towns in Israel. .
    Bedouin_Negev_Israel_03.JPG
  • Pratap Singh, 52, a farmer from the village of Saini, pop. 4000, Meerut District, Uttar Pradesh, India, is portrayed while cleaning the way to his irrigation pump next to a paper mill drain flowing directly into the Kali river (East) waters, on Wednesday, Mar. 19, 2008. Pratap laments that the groundwater he was using for irrigation until one year ago has now finished and accuses the local industries to be taking it all for manufacturing products while discharging severely contaminated and untreated waters back into the environment. Not even after the monsoon season the village aquifers are able to fully recharge.
    Slow_Poison_03.JPG
  • Bedouin family homes stand in unrecognised village of Wadi el Na'am, pop. 4000, close to Beer Sheva, the capital of the Negev, a large deserted area in the south of Israel. Wadi el Na'am is located near a large industrial site, Ramat Hovav, and has no infrastructure or electric energy. Water is provided only via storage tanks. It has no health services as the only clinic is deemed illegal and bound to be demolished, as the rest of the structures in the area. Numbering around 200.000 in Israel, the Bedouins constitute the native ethnic group of these areas, they farm, grow wheat, olives and live in complete self sufficiency. Many of them were in these lands long before the Israeli State was created and their traditional lifestyle is now threatened by subtle Governmental policies. The seven Bedouin towns already built are all between the 10 more impoverished towns in Israel. .
    Bedouin_Negev_Israel_41.JPG
  • Young girls from the village of Beghrajpur, Muzaffarnagar District, Uttar Pradesh, India, are collecting grass for their family's buffaloes from the banks of a large drain originating from the Beghrajpur Industrial Complex, mainly composed of chemical factories, a few hundred meters upstream, on Sunday, Mar. 30, 2008. The white drain, completely covered in foam, will reach the Kali river (East) in Usampur Bhopara village. At the end of its journey, the watercourse will eventually join the largest Ganges river injecting a deadly dose of pollutants into its Holy waters.
    Slow_Poison_24.JPG
  • Anuj, (right) 20, from the village of Bhanera Khemchand, pop. 2000, Saharanpur District, Uttar Pradesh, India, is photographed in his house while being washed by his mother, Leelaweta, 48, on Wednesday, Mar. 26th, 2008. Anuj developed a neurological disorder at the age of five and doctors believe it to be associated to water contaminated with alarming levels of pesticides and heavy metal the family is drinking on a everyday basis. Their hand-pump, at the shallow depth of 70ft, provides water they lament is regularly causing them allergies and stomach pain. Their house is located extremely near the Krishni river, joined by a large industrial drain a few hundred meters upstream that has been flowing unabated for more than 25 years. Only Leelaweta remembers how they used to bath and wash clothes into the clear waters of what was once considered the life-stream of the village.
    Slow_Poison_22.JPG
  • A young boy is walking on the hilltop surrounding the tannery area of Jajmau,<br />
Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, located on the most polluted stretch of the mighty Ganges River.
    Kanpur_Leather_Industry_01.JPG
  • A group of slum dwellers on the hills surrounding the tannery area of Jajmau are busy collecting fresh water being provided to the colony daily by the government in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh. The inhabitants are complaining that too little water is provided for the large population of the area, while in case of power cuts, a very common event in Kanpur, the pumping station can shut down completely for days at the time. Rows and arguments over water collection here are an unfortunate daily reality.
    Kanpur_Leather_Industry_41.JPG
  • A young woman is covering her eyes during a sandstorm, in the heavily polluted city of Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, the largest leather production hub in India.
    Kanpur_Leather_Industry_38.JPG
  • Labourers are collecting and dividing the thin black dust obtained by boiling leather scraps in one of the many dumping and burning grounds near the tannery area of Jajmau, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh. This dust is the first process to fertilisers and chicken food.
    Kanpur_Leather_Industry_28.JPG
  • Workers in one of the large tanneries located in Jajmau area of Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, are processing leather in chromium baths, or liming, while complying to little, if any, health and safety regulations.
    Kanpur_Leather_Industry_14.JPG
  • A young boy is removing contaminated water from a bath after the process of liming, the removal of hair and impurities with the use of water and various agents, in an illegal tannery unit inside Jajmau, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh. Children are largely employed to work on scraps, or little pieces of skin, like the head and the ears of the animal, which will become a small bag, a wallet, or maybe a cheap phone leather case.
    Kanpur_Leather_Industry_10.JPG
  • A young boy is collecting skins from a bath during the process of liming, the removal of hair and impurities with the use of water and various agents, in an illegal tannery unit inside Jajmau, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh. Children are largely employed to work on scraps, or little pieces of skin, like the head and the ears of the animal, which will become a small bag, a wallet, or maybe a cheap phone leather case.
    Kanpur_Leather_Industry_08.JPG
  • A man is bathing in the polluted Ganges River in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, at dawn. Sustaining life for thousands of years along the Indo-Gangetic plains, the river's ecosystem is in grave danger of being damaged beyond repair.
    Kanpur_Leather_Industry_47.JPG
  • Six boys are sitting on the banks of the polluted Ganges River in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, near the tannery area of Jajmau. Sustaining life for thousands of years along the Indo-Gangetic plains, the river's ecosystem is in grave danger of being damaged beyond repair.
    Kanpur_Leather_Industry_46.JPG
  • Koren, 5, is one of three children presenting a similar neurological disorder and living on the same road in Joana village, pop. 1800, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh. He is portrayed while in the arms of his father. The village is located onto a series of drains joining the Ganges River nearby and the community is entirely.reliant on the poisonous groundwater. Koren has serious cognitive limitations while his body's right side is affected by a semi-paralysis and muscular defection. His family cannot afford even a rudimental medication.
    Kanpur_Leather_Industry_44.JPG
  • A child with a neurological disorder (2nd from left) is portrayed with his underprivileged family inside their rudimental home in Joana, pop. 1800, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, a poor agricultural village affected by the tanneries' untreated water discharge in the Ganges River.
    Kanpur_Leather_Industry_35.JPG
  • The polluted Ganges River in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, is seen at dawn from its banks, bordering the large tannery area of Jajmao. Sustaining life for thousands of years along the Indo-Gangetic plains, the river's ecosystem is in grave danger of being damaged beyond repair.
    Kanpur_Leather_Industry_33.JPG
  • Workers at one of the illegal dumping and burning grounds on the outskirts of Jajmau, near the Ganges River, are portrayed while taking a break on a pile of scrap leather destined to be boiled and reduced to a thin dust: the first process to fertilisers and chicken food, in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh.
    Kanpur_Leather_Industry_31.JPG
  • Young workers are feeding a series of large boilers in an illegal dumping and burning ground located on the banks of the holy Ganges River near the tannery area of Jajmau, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India. The scrap leather is destined to be boiled and reduced to a thin dust: the raw material for fertilisers and chicken food production.
    Kanpur_Leather_Industry_29.JPG
  • A child labourer in one of the illegal tannery units inside Jajmau, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, is holding to the side of a pool while stepping on buffalo's skins inside a bath during the process of liming, the removal of hair and impurities with the use of water and various agents. Children are mostly employed on scraps, or little parts, like the head and the ears of the animal, which will become a small bag or maybe a cheap phone leather case.
    Kanpur_Leather_Industry_05.JPG
  • Shukaran Nishad, 10, is one of three children presenting a similar neurological disorder and living on the same road in Joana village, pop. 1800, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh. He is portrayed while sitting in front of his father's little local shop. The village is located onto a series of drains joining the Ganges River nearby and the community is entirely reliant on the poisonous groundwater. Shukaran has serious cognitive and motorial limitations. His family cannot afford even a rudimental medication.
    Kanpur_Leather_Industry_45.JPG
  • A small section of the slum located on the banks of the Ganges river within the tannery area of Jajmau, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, is seen from a hilltop surrounding the area.
    Kanpur_Leather_Industry_39.JPG
  • A group of slum dwellers on the hills surrounding the tannery area of Jajmau are busy collecting fresh water being provided to the colony daily by the government from 4 am to 7 am and again from 5 pm to 6 pm in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh. The inhabitants are complaining that too little water is provided for the large population of the area.
    Kanpur_Leather_Industry_37.JPG
  • A degraded and abandoned ghat (riverbank) on the most polluted stretch of the Ganges River is seen near the tannery area of Jajmau, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh. Due to the extreme conditions of the river many of the once colourful and busty riverbanks of the Ganges have been deserted by many locals.
    Kanpur_Leather_Industry_36.JPG
  • A young boy is using his bare hands to collect leather scraps a few meters away from the banks of the Holy Ganges River, in one of the illegal dumping and burning grounds surrounding the area of Jajmau, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh. The scrap leather is destined to be boiled and reduced to a thin dust: the raw material for fertilisers and chicken food production.
    Kanpur_Leather_Industry_30.JPG
  • Two labourers having a meal of boiled potatoes before beginning their daily work in one of the illegal dumping and burning grounds surrounding the area of Jajmau, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh. After being bathed in chromium and other chemicals to remove hair and impurities in a process called liming, the skins are examined by hand and the useless parts are cut and sent to one of these fields where they are boiled and reduced to a thin black dust. The resulting dark powder will then be used as a fertiliser or for the first stage of poultry food production.
    Kanpur_Leather_Industry_26.JPG
  • Two boys are feeding a large boiler in an illegal dumping and burning ground located on the banks of the Holy Ganges River near the tannery area of Jajmau, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh. The scrap leather is destined to be boiled and reduced to a thin dust: the raw material for fertilisers and chicken food production.
    Kanpur_Leather_Industry_25.JPG
  • A boy is taking a break while working inside a bath during the process of liming, the removal of hair and impurities with the use of water and various agents, in an illegal tannery unit inside Jajmau, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh. Children are largely employed to work on scraps, or little pieces of skin, like the head and the ears of the animal, which will become a small bag, a wallet, or maybe a cheap phone leather case.
    Kanpur_Leather_Industry_11.JPG
  • A boy is removing contaminated water from a bath after the process of liming, the removal of hair and impurities with the use of water and various agents, in an illegal tannery unit inside Jajmau, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh. Children are largely employed to work on scraps, or little pieces of skin, like the head and the ears of the animal, which will become a small bag, a wallet, or maybe a cheap phone leather case.
    Kanpur_Leather_Industry_09.JPG
  • Two children are using their feet to find the remaining skins in a bath during the process of liming, the removal of hair and impurities with the use of water and various agents, in an illegal tannery unit inside Jajmau, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh. Children are largely employed to work on scraps, or little pieces of skin, like the head and the ears of the animal, which will become a small bag, a wallet, or maybe a cheap phone leather case.
    Kanpur_Leather_Industry_06.JPG
  • A child is using his bare hands to collect leather scraps a few meters away from the banks of the Holy Ganges River, (visible in the background) in one of the illegal dumping and burning grounds surrounding the area of Jajmau, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh. The scrap leather is destined to be boiled and reduced to a thin dust: the raw material for fertilisers and chicken food production.
    Kanpur_Leather_Industry_27.JPG
  • Women are collecting water contaminated with heavy metals and pesticides from a hand-pump on the streets of Jaibheem Nagar, pop. 10000, a large slum located near the banks of the Kali river (East), Meerut District, Uttar Pradesh, India, on Sunday, Mar. 16, 2008.
    Slow_Poison_19.JPG
  • Students from the Laksha Grawha Ashram are bathing in a pool using groundwater that will later be devoted to irrigation in the village of Barnawa, pop.6000, Baghpat District, Uttar Pradesh, India, located along the banks of the severely polluted Hindon river, on Thursday, Apr. 17, 2008.
    Slow_Poison_12.JPG
  • Residents of Jaibheem Nagar, pop. 10000, a large slum located near the banks of the Kali river (East), Meerut District, Uttar Pradesh, India, are showing the contaminated yellow-coloured water from one of the hand-pumps many residents use as the only source for drinking and washing, on Sunday, Mar. 16, 2008.
    Slow_Poison_25.JPG
  • Doli, 5, (middle) from the village of Barnawa, pop.6000, Baghpat District, Uttar Pradesh, India, located along the banks of the severely polluted Hindon river, is shaking in the arms of her father, on Wednesday, Apr. 2, 2008. Doli is affected by a neurological disorder since birth. Doctors believe her condition to be associated to water contaminated with alarming levels of pesticides and heavy metals the family is drinking on an everyday basis. Her skull is underdeveloped and she has serious cognitive limitations that have left her unable to frequent school or carry on any sort of educational activity. The family is now using a nearby governmental hand-pump that provides better quality water in comparison to the 20ft deep private one they priory used.
    Slow_Poison_10.JPG
  • The blackened, contaminated waters of the Krishni river are photographed in the village of Chandenamal, pop. 1500, Muzaffarnagar District, Uttar Pradesh, India, on Friday, Apr. 4, 2008.
    Slow_Poison_01.JPG
  • Pardip, a 12-year-old boy from Simlana village, pop.4000, Saharanpur District, Uttar Pradesh, India, is leaning on a government-installed hand-pump, on Saturday, Mar. 29, 2008. Pardip developed a neurological disease due to the long-term effects of consuming contaminated water at the age of two. His family and him still regularly use the same 40 ft deep hand-pump located in their courtyard which provides water with large quantities of heavy metals and pesticides leaked through the ground from the nearby drains and the severely polluted Hindon river.
    Slow_Poison_44.JPG
  • Boys are playing on a road of Jaibheem Nagar, pop. 10000, a large slum located near the banks of the Kali river (East), Meerut District, Uttar Pradesh, India, on Sunday, Mar. 16, 2008. Due to the heavy metal contamination of underground water sources, many of the residents are forced to walk 2-3 kilometres to reach a safer hand-pump, and those who are unable to do so, have to drink unsafe water which is the cause of many of the diseases affecting the local population.
    Slow_Poison_43.JPG
  • A drain from a local paper mill is pouring wastewaters back into the surrounding environment by the banks of the Kali river (East) in Jaibheem Nagar, pop. 10000, a large slum located near Meerut District, Uttar Pradesh, India, on Sunday, Mar. 16, 2008.
    Slow_Poison_42.JPG
  • Children residing in Jaibheem Nagar, pop. 10000, a large slum located near the banks of the Kali river (East), Meerut District, Uttar Pradesh, India, are in line to receive water and other goods from a governmental agency that provides essentials to the poorest residents once a week, on Sunday, Mar. 16, 2008. Due to the heavy metal contamination of underground water sources many of the residents are forced to walk 2-3 kilometres to reach a safer hand-pump, and those who are unable to do so, have to drink unsafe water which is the cause of many of the diseases affecting the local population.
    Slow_Poison_29.jpg
  • Amnoor, a 5-year-old boy from Simlana village, pop.4000, Saharanpur District, Uttar Pradesh, India, is being washed by his father using contaminated water delivered by their private hand-pump, on Sunday, Mar. 30, 2008. Amnoor was diagnosed a nervous damage due to the long-term effects of consuming unsafe water at the age of three. Before that he even used to run and was very healthy. Now, his reality is a semi-paralysis to both his left arm and leg. The family, whose only breadwinner is Vinod, 35, an agricultural labour, had to incur in a Rs 30000 (USD 600) expense for Amnoor's first treatment at the PGA Hospital in Chandigarth, Punjab, and in more than Rs 1000 (USD 12) a month for the cost of his medicines. With an average daily wage of Rs 50-60 and two more children to provide for, Vinod is facing a dire economic situation.
    Slow_Poison_18.JPG
  • Children belonging to Furkhan's family, a 35-year-old agricultural labourer living in the village of Shamli, pop. 1500, Saharanpur District, Uttar Pradesh, India, located dangerously near to Shamli Paper Mill, are throwing stones into the drain running right at their doorstep, on Friday, Apr. 18, 2008. Originating from the untreated wastewaters of Sikka and Maruti paper mills, another two large factories in the area, this drain is a serious hazard to the health of the people residing in the surrounding area as well as for the environment. Furkahn laments that their house was built long before the drain started to flow, and even though he complained various times to the government in both Muzaffarnagar and Meerut, two large cities near the district, there has not been any tangible improvement to the situation.
    Slow_Poison_23.JPG
  • Sakib, 7, from the Patanpura Colony, Saharanphur District, is leading his buffalo out of the Dhamola river, a severely polluted small-size watercourse, in reality more similar to a drain, that joins the Hindon river a few kilometres downstream, on Friday, Apr. 18, 2008. Sakib regularly comes here with his family to wash their buffaloes and provide them water to drink, unaware of the consequences the contamination could have on himself and his animals.
    Slow_Poison_02.JPG
  • Rakesh, 25, from the village of Chandenamal, pop. 1500, Muzaffarnagar District, Uttar Pradesh, India, located along the banks of the severely polluted Krishni river, is sitting on a bed in front of his house, on Saturday, Apr. 29, 2008. Rakesh has been diagnosed a neurological disorder since one and a half years; it has left his legs and left hand almost paralysed while his cognitive skills have been severely affected. He can now walk only with the help of metal crutches and cannot carry on any sort of work or activity. Doctors believe his condition to be associated to the water contaminated with alarming levels of pesticides and heavy metals the family is drinking on an everyday basis.
    Slow_Poison_28.JPG
  • Sunita Kashap, 23, a housewife from the village of Bhanera Khemchand, pop. 2000, Saharanpur District, Uttar Pradesh, India, is portrayed while washing dishes near a hand-pump providing water contaminated with alarming levels of pesticides and heavy metals, on Wednesday, Mar. 26, 2008. Sunita is affected by a cancer on her right eye that has started to develop about two years ago. Doctors believe its cause to be the unsafe water she is drinking on an everyday basis.
    Slow_Poison_37.JPG
  • Chandrabhati, 50, is portrayed while sitting on a bed in her house, located in the village of Simlana, pop. 4000, Saharanpur District, Uttar Pradesh, India, on Saturday, Mar. 29, 2008. Due to the contaminated water she has been drinking, originating from a hand-pump at the shallow depth of 70 ft, she was diagnosed a severe case of eye disease that made her totally blind seven years ago. She visited two different hospital in Saharanpur to no avail. The family has since time stopped drinking from the pump delivering yellow-coloured water and has been able to install a safer one, at the depth of 100 ft. As pollution grows unabated, and penetrates the soil deeper and deeper, there is a risk that even the newest pumps, some as deep as 200 ft, will soon be showing signs of contamination.
    Slow_Poison_47.JPG
  • Workers are collecting sand to be used in construction works from the bed of the severely polluted Hindon river, near the village of Barnawa, pop. 6000, Baghpat District, Uttar Pradesh, India, on Wednesday, Apr. 2, 2008. A full cart will be sold for about 100 Rs (USD 2).
    Slow_Poison_45.JPG
  • Children are lining up for an ice-cream on the road during a warm evening in the village of Barnawa, pop.6000, Baghpat District, Uttar Pradesh, India, located along the banks of the severely polluted Hindon river, on Thursday, Apr. 17, 2008.
    Slow_Poison_36.jpg
  • Arun Kashap, 8, is taking a bath in a pool of water used for building purposes in Jaibheem Nagar, pop. 10000, a large slum located near the banks of the Kali river (East), Meerut District, Uttar Pradesh, India, on Sunday, Mar. 16, 2008. Due to the heavy metal contamination of underground water sources, many of the residents are forced to walk 2-3 kilometres to reach a safer hand-pump, and those who are unable to do so, have to drink unsafe water which is the cause of many of the diseases affecting the local population.
    Slow_Poison_35.JPG
  • A young boy, walking the streets of Jaibheem Nagar, pop. 10000, a large slum located near the banks of the Kali river (East), Meerut District, Uttar Pradesh, India, stops to eat a candy near one of the contaminated water pools that regularly forms in the slum, on Monday, Mar. 17, 2008. Due to the heavy metal contamination of underground water sources, many of the residents are forced to walk 2-3 kilometres to reach a safer hand-pump, and those who are unable to do so, have to drink unsafe water which is the cause of many of the diseases affecting the local population.
    Slow_Poison_32.jpg
  • Villagers from Barnawa, pop.6000, Baghpat District, Uttar Pradesh, India, located along the banks of the severely polluted Hindon river, are collecting water from a government-installed hand-pump on the outskirts of the village, on Wednesday, Apr. 16, 2008. Governmental 200 ft deep hand-pumps, although fewer in number, provide better quality water in comparison to the 40-80 ft deep private ones many people have installed when building their homes.
    Slow_Poison_31.jpg
  • Nila Kashap, 40, from the village of Bhanera Khemchand, pop. 2000, Saharanpur District, Uttar Pradesh, India, is portrayed while resting on her bed, on Tuesday, Mar. 25, 2008. Nila started to be affected by a stomach cancer that has grown into her ovaries about one year ago and has since then incurred into 12000 Rs (USD 300) medical expenses to try and treat her disease. Doctors believe its cause to be the unsafe, yellow water she is drinking on an everyday basis from her family's private hand-pump, defined by them as being 'smelly' and 'distasteful'. Her husband, a local agricultural labourer earns as little as 50-60 Rs (USD 1) for a hard day of work in the fields and he faces regular expenses of more than 1500 Rs per month (USD 40) to try to mitigate the effects of his wife's illness. Their son, also working in the fields, is helping the family to face their dire economic situation.
    Slow_Poison_30.JPG
  • Nusarat, (right) 7-year-old girl from the village of Barnawa, pop.6000, Baghpat District, Uttar Pradesh, India, located along the banks of the severely polluted Hindon river, is completing her homework while her brother, Sahanawaj, 9, is playing on a bed inside their house, on Thursday, Apr. 17, 2008. Both children cannot either speak or hear, while their younger brother, Sarik, 4, was born with a neurological disorder that have left him unable to walk and with minor cognitive skills. The family laments the water delivered from their hand-pump to be yellow at times and of a particular, different odour and taste.
    Slow_Poison_26.jpg
  • An elderly woman is bargaining the price of her vegetables with a local shop owner in the village of Barnawa, pop.6000, Baghpat District, Uttar Pradesh, India, located along the banks of the severely polluted Hindon river, on Thursday, Apr. 17, 2008. As contamination endanger the yield of the fields, a large agricultiural country like India cannot keep up with production and demand thus fuelling the latest food inflation crises that has sparked riots in Haiti, Cameroon, Indonesia and Egypt and that has already plunged 100 millions people into poverty worldwide.
    Slow_Poison_16.JPG
  • An agricultural labourer is harvesting sugarcane in a field near the village of Barnawa, pop.6000, Baghpat District, Uttar Pradesh, India, located along the banks of the severely polluted Hindon river, on Friday, Apr. 18, 2008. Labourers earn as little as 50-60 Rs (USD 1) for a hard day of work in the fields.
    Slow_Poison_13.JPG
  • Workers are collecting chemical sludge outside a local paper mill in the village of Saini, pop. 4000, Meerut District, Uttar Pradesh, India, to be then sold at the price of Rs 3000 for a full tractor, on Wednesday, Mar. 19, 2008. The sludge, used to manufacture boxes and invitation cards, come to create when heavily contaminated waters discharged by the paper mill mix with the mud nearby, while also penetrating the soil and reaching the aquifers the population of Saini has been reliant on for generations.
    Slow_Poison_07.JPG
  • A young boy is portrayed while sitting on a bridge over the polluted waters of the Krishni river in the village of Bhanera Khemchand, pop. 2000, Saharanpur District, Uttar Pradesh, India, on Sunday, Apr. 6, 2008.
    Slow_Poison_06.JPG
  • A boy living in Jaibheem Nagar, pop. 10000, a large slum located near the banks of the Kali river (East), Meerut District, Uttar Pradesh, India, is playing near one of the contaminated water pools that regularly forms in the slum, on Sunday, Mar. 16, 2008. Due to the heavy metal presence within underground water sources, many of the residents are forced to walk 2-3 kilometres to reach a safer hand-pump, and those who are unable to do so, have to drink the polluted water which is the cause of many of the diseases affecting the local population.
    Slow_Poison_09.JPG
  • Rubina, 12, is helping her mother to separate some wheat grain from its chaffs in their home in the village of Barnawa, pop.6000, Baghpat District, Uttar Pradesh, India, located along the banks of the severely polluted Hindon river on Friday, Apr. 18, 2008. Rubina was born with a neurological disorder that have left her cognitive skills gravely affected. The family laments that their 80 ft deep private hand-pump is delivering yellow-coloured water that smells and tastes differently from fresh water, although they continue drinking it as they have no means of collecting safer water on a daily basis.
    Slow_Poison_08.JPG
  • Sholo, a 12-year-old girl from the village of Bhanera Khemchand, pop. 2000, Saharanpur District, Uttar Pradesh, India, is portrayed in her house, on Wednesday, Mar. 26, 2008. Sholo developed a neurological disorder that have left her cognitive skills gravely affected at the age of 5. The doctor that has visited her at the time indicated contaminated water to be the cause of her illness. Her mother has to help Sholo everyday for all her basic needs.
    Slow_Poison_40.JPG
  • Vishal, (right) a 12-year-old boy from Chandenamal village, pop. 1500, Muzaffarnagar District, Uttar Pradesh, India, located along the banks of the severely polluted Krishni river, is sitting on the floor of his classroom while being taught a math lesson, on Friday, Mar. 28, 2008. Vishal is affected by a neurological disease since the age of three, and while his mind is not fully developed, he also suffers of a partial paralysis of his body's left side. The doctor overseeing Vishal believes the cause of the disease to be strictly related to contaminated water consumption during his childhood.
    Slow_Poison_34.JPG
  • Contaminated water belonging to a drain passing through the village of Bhanera Khemchand, pop. 2000, Saharanpur District, Uttar Pradesh, India, is photographed flowing unabated under a local bridge, on Wednesday, Mar. 26, 2008.
    Slow_Poison_17.JPG
  • An elder villager is attacking Pardip, a 12-year-old boy from Simlana village, pop.4000, Saharanpur District, Uttar Pradesh, India, for no apparent reason, on Saturday, Mar. 29, 2008. Pardip developed a neurological disorder due to the long-term effects of consuming contaminated water at the age of two. Him and his family still use the 40 ft deep hand-pump located in their courtyard which provides water with large quantities of heavy metals and pesticides leaked through the ground from the nearby drains and the severely polluted Hindon river.
    Slow_Poison_21.JPG
  • Kapil, a 12-year-old girl from Jaibheem Nagar, pop. 10000, a large slum located near the banks of the Kali river (East), Meerut District, Uttar Pradesh, India, is sitting on her bed during a hot spring afternoon, on Sunday, Mar. 16, 2008. Her family is affected by water contaminated with heavy metals and pesticides delivered by their private hand-pump as they cannot collect it from far 2-3 kilometres away on an everyday basis. Throughout her body and face a skin allergy is noticeable, and her family laments the same problem as well as regular stomach pain.
    Slow_Poison_41.JPG
  • Women are walking on a road by the Khatauli Sugar Mill, (visible in the background) one of the biggest sugarcane mills in Asia, run by Triveni Engineering, located in the city of Khatauli, pop. 10000, Muzaffarnagar District, Uttar Pradesh, India, on Sunday, apr. 20, 2008.
    Slow_Poison_11.JPG
  • Children are collecting water from a tank delivered weekly from the Uttar Pradesh government on the streets of Jaibheem Nagar, pop. 10000, a large slum located near the banks of the Kali river (East), Meerut District, Uttar Pradesh, India, on Saturday, Mar. 15, 2008. Although 2-3 similar tanks of water are provided weekly many villagers lament that they are not enough for the large population of the slum and normally run dry after the first two days, leaving no alternative to many of the inhabitants than drinking the contaminated water delivered by their private hand-pumps or collect safer water from 2-3 kilometres away.
    Slow_Poison_20.JPG
  • Agricultural labourers are threshing wheat after having it harvested and collected during the past few days, in a filed near the affected village of Barnawa, pop.6000, Baghpat District, Uttar Pradesh, India, located along the banks of the severely polluted Hindon river, on Thursday, Apr. 17, 2008. Labourers earn as little as 50-60 Rs (USD 1) for a hard day of work in the fields.
    Slow_Poison_05.JPG
  • A child is working in a small-scale glass industry in the slum surrounding Firozabad, renowned as the 'glass city', in Uttar Pradesh, northern India. The air is filled with ammoniac and other chemicals making it hard even to breathe for only a few minutes before feeling dizzy and disorientated. The boy's co-workers, a few years older than him, are breathing in the ammoniac through glass pipes that once broken into small pieces will be attached to dresses as glittering decorations. Due to extreme poverty, over 20.000 young children are employed to complete the bracelets produced in the industrial units. This area is considered to be one of the highest concentrations of child labour on the planet. Forced to work to support their disadvantaged families, children as young as five are paid between 30-40 Indian Rupees (approx. 0.50 EUR) for eight or more hours of work daily. Most of these children are not able to receive an education and are easily prey of the labour-poverty cycle which has already enslaved their families to a life of exploitation. Children have to sit in crouched positions, use solvents, glues, kerosene and various other dangerous materials while breathing toxic fumes and spending most time of the day in dark, harmful environments. As for India's Child Labour Act of 1986, children under 14 are banned from working in industries deemed 'hazardous' but the rules are widely flouted, and prosecutions, when they happen at all, get bogged down in courts for lengthy periods. A ban on child labour without creating alternative opportunities for the local population is the central problem to the Indian Government's approach to the social issue affecting over 50 million children nationwide.
    Hidden_Youth_28.jpg
  • A labourer in a glass bracelets factory is pushing broken glass back into a furnace for it to be melted and reused. After a major clean-up by the authorities in the industrial area of Firozabad, renowned as the 'glass city', in  Uttar Pradesh, northern India, child labour has been largely uprooted, but it continues unabated hidden inside the homes of  slum dwellers on the outskirts of the city.  Due to extreme poverty, over 20.000 young children are employed to complete the bracelets produced in the industrial units. This area is considered to be one of the highest concentrations of child labour on the planet. Forced to work to support their disadvantaged families, children as young as five are paid between 30-40 Indian Rupees (approx. 0.50 EUR) for eight or more hours of work daily. Most of these children are not able to receive an education and are easily prey of the labour-poverty cycle which has already enslaved their families to a life of exploitation. Children have to sit in crouched positions, use solvents, glues, kerosene and various other dangerous materials while breathing toxic fumes and spending most time of the day in dark, harmful environments. As for India's Child Labour Act of 1986, children under 14 are banned from working in industries deemed 'hazardous' but the rules are widely flouted, and prosecutions, when they happen at all, get bogged down in courts for lengthy periods. A ban on child labour without creating alternative opportunities for the local population is the central problem to the Indian Government's approach to the social issue affecting over 50 million children nationwide.
    Hidden_Youth_02.jpg
  • Labourers are producing glass bracelets used as women's ornaments during and after marriage, which are traded throughout India and internationally. After a major clean-up by the authorities in the industrial area of Firozabad, renowned as the 'glass city', in  Uttar Pradesh, northern India, child labour has been largely uprooted, but it continues unabated hidden inside the homes of  slum dwellers on the outskirts of the city. Due to extreme poverty, over 20.000 young children are employed to complete the bracelets produced in the industrial units. This area is considered to be one of the highest concentrations of child labour on the planet. Forced to work to support their disadvantaged families, children as young as five are paid between 30-40 Indian Rupees (approx. 0.50 EUR) for eight or more hours of work daily. Most of these children are not able to receive an education and are easily prey of the labour-poverty cycle which has already enslaved their families to a life of exploitation. Children have to sit in crouched positions, use solvents, glues, kerosene and various other dangerous materials while breathing toxic fumes and spending most time of the day in dark, harmful environments. As for India's Child Labour Act of 1986, children under 14 are banned from working in industries deemed 'hazardous' but the rules are widely flouted, and prosecutions, when they happen at all, get bogged down in courts for lengthy periods. A ban on child labour without creating alternative opportunities for the local population is the central problem to the Indian Government's approach to the social issue affecting over 50 million children nationwide.
    Hidden_Youth_01.jpg
  • A family home in the slum surrounding Firozabad, renowned as the 'glass city', in Uttar Pradesh, northern India, has been transformed into a small-scale workshop where young girls are decorating the bracelets produced in factories nearby. Due to extreme poverty, over 20.000 young children are employed to complete the bracelets produced in the industrial units. This area is considered to be one of the highest concentrations of child labour on the planet. Forced to work to support their disadvantaged families, children as young as five are paid between 30-40 Indian Rupees (approx. 0.50 EUR) for eight or more hours of work daily. Most of these children are not able to receive an education and are easily prey of the labour-poverty cycle which has already enslaved their families to a life of exploitation. Children have to sit in crouched positions, use solvents, glues, kerosene and various other dangerous materials while breathing toxic fumes and spending most time of the day in dark, harmful environments. As for India's Child Labour Act of 1986, children under 14 are banned from working in industries deemed 'hazardous' but the rules are widely flouted, and prosecutions, when they happen at all, get bogged down in courts for lengthy periods. A ban on child labour without creating alternative opportunities for the local population is the central problem to the Indian Government's approach to the social issue affecting over 50 million children nationwide.
    Hidden_Youth_06.jpg
  • Boys are playing cricket by the side of a large evaporation pool once used by Union Carbide for their industrial wastewater, next to Blue Moon, the contaminated colonies next to the abandoned Union Carbide (now DOW Chemical) industrial complex, in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, central India. In this area, hazardous chemical have also been buried and continue to contaminate the underground aquifers.
    205_Bhopal_Second_Disaster.JPG
  • Boxes containing bracelets are photographed at a local street market in Firozabad, renowned as the 'glass city', Uttar Pradesh, northern India. Due to extreme poverty, over 20.000 young children are employed to complete the bracelets produced in the industrial units. This area is considered to be one of the highest concentrations of child labour on the planet. Forced to work to support their disadvantaged families, children as young as five are paid between 30-40 Indian Rupees (approx. 0.50 EUR) for eight or more hours of work daily. Most of these children are not able to receive an education and are easily prey of the labour-poverty cycle which has already enslaved their families to a life of exploitation. Children have to sit in crouched positions, use solvents, glues, kerosene and various other dangerous materials while breathing toxic fumes and spending most time of the day in dark, harmful environments. As for India's Child Labour Act of 1986, children under 14 are banned from working in industries deemed 'hazardous' but the rules are widely flouted, and prosecutions, when they happen at all, get bogged down in courts for lengthy periods. A ban on child labour without creating alternative opportunities for the local population is the central problem to the Indian Government's approach to the social issue affecting over 50 million children nationwide.
    Hidden_Youth_35.jpg
Next
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
x

Alex Masi Documentary Photography

  • > SEARCH FOR IMAGES
    • All Galleries
    • Search
    • Cart
    • Lightbox
    • Client Area
  • PRINTS COLLECTION
  • BOOK: 'Bhopal Second Disaster'
  • MULTIMEDIA
  • AWARDS AND EXHIBITIONS
  • PROFILE