Here we present the synopsis from chapter 7 of the book “Elegance and Dignity – Stories from India”.
| India is a land of extreme inequalities, with a new rich class who lives light years away from the poorest population, which is still a great silent majority. Sometimes they share the same physical space, but are connected within a logic of exploitation of labourers without any humanitarian attempt. It is not uncommon that the same local government, which should protect the rights of the poor, it’s the one that exploits the people of poor villages or lower social classes for making jobs that are related to public services, otherwise too expensive, such as cleaning the streets or such as in the villages of Hawala, a few kilometers from the most sumptuous residences of Udaipur, these women, children and elderly, who do heavy work as a bricklayer. These works are not only underpaid but also odd, or rather not guaranteed. If the State or a private enterprise, as in this case, has to build something, then they agree with the village’s chief and the community organizes itself. Women are equal to men when employed in heavy and strenuous labour, but they also have to accomplish all other matters such as child care and housing. Often these are young girls, who are already married at very early age. | Women and children of the pre-industrial villages are workers who have no qualifications or education, that means easier to be exploited and are poorly paid. Unlikely laws will ever stop this. India indeed has the world record for employment of minors. According to estimates of the International Labour Organisation here concentrates the largest number of workers between the ages of 4 and 14 years old, about 44 millions according to their data, “only” 17 million, according to the Indian government. In the villages, furthermore, the community survives in a limbo far away to modern society. They are organized in a collective manner and the work is done by all members, regardless of sex or age. They are often underpaid and strenuous work. These buildings furthermore will ruin a beautiful and almost untouched natural corner a few kilometers from Udaipur, in an area around a lake that is a natural park. The logic of speculation first uses inhabitants of the areas that will soon be filled with concrete and then depletes them of the only richness that they have: the land. |
© 2013 Marco Palladino – all rights reserved
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