The Book of Travel

INDIA | Wednesday, 3 July 2013 | Views [933] | View Smaller Image

Children living in extreme poverty are a way to make money for the mafia. They are used in illegal operations, sex trafficking and child labour. This image was shot in Tamil Nadu featuring one of such child workers. Every year many children are rescued from child labour but even the resolved cases resort to their previous life because of inadequate rehabilitation and monitoring. It’s ironic that this boy is working in the background of a temple yet none of the Gods are watching over him.

Many children in India are born into extreme poverty and experience it to the maximum. The boy and elderly woman in this picture are standing by their tents close to the railway tracks. Malnutrition, lack of education, drugs and sexual harassments are everyday problems for these children. They live in the margins of a society not fitting in and failing in life. Some of these children are abused so badly and used as child workers while some of them become anti social criminals and end up in prison.

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The problems of extreme poverty are the same regardless of age and gender. These blind singers are an example for how crippling poverty can be. Any kind of help from the government or other agencies never reach them and they survive life by singing at local celebrations without an identity in life. They move between places in the country searching for festivals to perform their art and make a living. Their life is a matter of curiosity for others yet they are denied even the basic human rights.

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