A young boy is walking on the hilltop surrounding the tannery area of Jajmau,
Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India, located on the most polluted stretch of the mighty Ganges River.
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 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.
A child labourer in one of the illegal tannery units inside Jajmau, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India, 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.
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, 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.
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, 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.
A young man in an illegal tannery inside Jajmau Industrial Area, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India, 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.
Workers in one of the larger tanneries within the Jajmau Industrial Area, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India, are stockpiling
pieces of leather while trimming impurities and scraps before proceeding to colouring and finishing.
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 the leather passes hand in hand many times before being ready for the manufacturing stage. This ‘outsourcing effect’ creates a considerable risk for local underprivileged children to become involved in hazardous activities and subjected to exploitation.
Workers inside the warehouse of a large tannery in Jajmau Industrial Area, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India, 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.
Three young men are working in a dark, dusty room where they smooth and cut 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.
A boy is sewing parts of what will become leather articles inside a manufacturing plant in Jajmau Industrial Area. The young
labourer was still sitting at his desk while most of the others had already left for a short lunch break. Children in Jajmau
earn as little as 60 Indian Rupees a day, (1 €) and are easy preys of the labour-poverty cycle.
The owner of a small tannery in Jajmau Industrial Area and his men are showing the leather painted in their unit by two children working there. Arrived from a different unit nearby, it will depart to reach more hands and become an item for sale internationally.
An intervention is needed to curb the practices of child labour and indiscriminate water pollution in Jajmau.
A section of the slum growing along Jajmau Industrial Area in a maze of houses and tannery units is photographed from the surrounding hilltop.
A local boy is here to fly his kite, in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India.
Two boys are feeding leather scraps to a large boiler in an illegal dumping and burning ground built on the banks of the Holy Ganges River
near Jajmau Industrial Area, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India. The scrap leather is destined to be boiled and reduced to a thin black dust:
the raw material for fertilisers and chicken food production.
A young 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 Jajmau Industrial Area, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India. The scrap leather is destined
to be boiled and reduced to a thin black dust: the raw material for fertilisers and chicken food production.
Young workers are feeding a series of large boilers in an illegal dumping and burning ground built on the banks of the Holy Ganges River near Jajmau Industrial Area, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India. The scrap leather is destined to be boiled and reduced to a thin black dust: the raw material for fertilisers and chicken food production.
The polluted Ganges River in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India, is photographed at dawn from its banks, bordering 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. Locals say that the
Ganges ‘dies’ in Kanpur, but many Indians still believe the God who once came from the sky, Ganga Mata Ji, (‘Mother’) still resides there.
A group of slum dwellers on the hills surrounding the tannery area of Jajmau are busy collecting fresh water being provided by the Government to the colony daily, from 4 am to 7 am and again from 5 pm to 6 pm in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India. They lament
that not enough water is administered for the large population living in this area.
A young girl from Joana, (pop. 1800) Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India, a poor agricultural village affected by Jajmau's discharges in the Holy Ganges River, flowing through the village a few hundred meters after the last industrial units, is portrayed while standing in front of her house.
Children are playing on the banks of a large drain passing on the side of Joana, (pop. 1800) Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India, a poor agricultural village affected by the tanneries' untreated water discharge in the Ganges River. The drain will join the Holy watercourse a few hundred meters downstream.
Koren, 5, portrayed in the arms of his father, is one of three children presenting a similar neurological disorder and living on the same road in Joana, (pop. 1800) a poor agricultural village located onto a series of drains joining the Ganges River nearby. 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 rudimentary medication.
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, UP, India. 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 poisonous groundwater. Shukaran has serious cognitive and motorial limitations. His family cannot afford even a rudimentary medication.
Children are watching the Sun setting over the polluted Ganges River in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India. Sustaining life for thousands of years along the Indo-Gangetic plains, the river's ecosystem is in grave danger of being damaged beyond repair. Locals say that the Ganges 'dies' in Kanpur, but many Indians still believe the God who once came from the sky, Ganga Mata Ji, ('Mother') still resides there.
