In Photos: The Deprived Labourers Who Make Our Walls

A peek into the lives of migrant labourers from the brick kilns of Jaipur and the plight of their children.

India is home to around 100,000 brick kilns that produce around 200 billion bricks each year.

(Photo Courtesy: Hemlata Kansotia)

India is a land of contrast. Urban India is growing like a dream. And every brick of every new condominium that dots the country’s landscape has a story. A story of hope, of despair and somewhere, a story of those children who had to give up their childhood to build that perfect piece of brick to complete our homes.

Today, instead of looking at the changing urban landscape of India, this visual narrative peeks into the lives of migrant labourers from the brick kilns of Jaipur and the plight of their children (below six years).

This photo story is a result of a research conducted by Hemlata Kansotia, a Research Fellow with CRY – Child Rights and You – during which she visited 10 brick kilns in the Jaipur district.

Itt Bhatta Ki Katha (Story of a Brick Kiln)

India is home to roughly 100,000 brick kilns that produce around 200 billion bricks each year, which are then used for construction.

The industry is estimated to employ 23 million workers. The worst hit are the migrant labourers, for whom home is the open road and the pursuit of happiness is a never ending cause.

This migration usually lasts from November to December and May to June each year, as they chase the mirage of a better life, often getting caught in the nexus of this demanding industry. Unfortunately, the cascading effect of this is felt worst by the children.

The House Without a Roof

(Photo Courtesy: Hemlata Kansotia)

Every year, thousands of migrant labourers come to work in kilns. Often, they survive on one square meal inside a house with four walls, but no roof.

Labourers put in extensive hours of work under the harshest conditions in the absence of even the basic facilities. One-third of the families interviewed did not have access to water and electricity, and only less than a quarter of the households had access to toilets.

Mode of Survival

Migration stems from survival instinct. A family for whom mobility is the secret of existence having an able transport system is sometimes the difference between life and death.

Camels, the sheep of the desert, are the lifelines for these migrant labourers from Rajasthan.

(Photo Courtesy: Hemlata Kansotia)

Harvesting Hope

(Photo courtesy: Hemlata Kansotia)

Lack of health services, care and protection, coupled with a highly hazardous living environment, give young children a very bad start to life. Independence is interdependence here.

Although 95 percent of the families had identity cards, very few received the benefits they were entitled to under government schemes. 

Children of a Lesser God

84 percent of the children did not have their births registered. Nearly half the children were subject to incomplete immunisation due to multiple migrations.

(Photo Courtesy: Hemlata Kansotia)

No Time to Cradle

There is little scope to tend to a child’s frailty here.

The number of working hours for mothers range from 8 to 15 hours in a day. And 58 percent of the mothers take their children along with them to work.

(Photo Courtesy: Hemlata Kansotia)

The children are exposed to the perils of the unsympathetic living environment at a very early stage.

Tug for a Drop

It is said that with a child, a mother is born. Motherhood comes with numerous challenges here as most expectant mothers have to work till their ninth month of pregnancy and resume work within a month after the child is born.

(Photo Courtesy: Hemlata Kansotia)

Living Between Dust and Sand

There are no childcare facilities within the brick kiln premises. The Anganwadi Centers (AWCs) are inaccessible to the families. Children grow up amid the dusty factories and their homes covered in sand.

(Photo Courtesy: Hemlata Kansotia)

No Child’s Play

Children, too, work for long hours in extreme conditions. Often they are subjected to hazardous jobs like brick molding, loading and unloading of bricks, which leave them vulnerable to accidents.

(Photo Courtesy: Hemlata Kansotia)

Big Price, Small Pay

People who work at the brick kilns in Rajasthan are considered to be among the lowest paid workers in India.

(Photo courtesy: Hemlata Kansotia)

Hard Truths

None of the mothers interviewed had received any financial assistance during pregnancy from any government scheme or programme.

(Photo Courtesy: Hemlata Kansotia)

Expectant mothers often deliver their children in the brick kilns to save money, regardless of the hazards and dangers to them and their new-born baby.

A Brittle Childhood

Behind every empty wall there is a tower of bricks built by children sometimes as young as 4 years. This is done for safety, as more than 90 percent of mothers don’t feel safe leaving their children alone at home.

(Photo Courtesy: Hemlata Kansotia)

The Guardian

Older children keep an eye on younger ones who need care and protection. They assume the role of the guardian as their parents toil away at the kilns.

(Photo Courtesy: Hemlata Kansotia)

Only 4 percent of the children are enrolled in Anganwadi centres as it is a rarity even for this nominal percentage to be under the shelter of the AWCs. 

A crèche or a system to ensure safety of children is the need of the hour here.

Blurry Future

Education cannot flourish where there is child labour. Not only does education help in building a strong foundation for the future, but also provides a vision to children.

(Photo Courtesy: Hemlata Kansotia)

Health Hazard

44 percent of the children had suffered from illnesses in the past three months. More than 60 percent of the families took their children to private hospitals despite the additional expense for better treatment. The researcher also came across instances of child deaths in the brick kilns due to illnesses.

(Photo Courtesy: Hemlata Kansotia)

Don’t Snatch Away Their Childhood

Children are like crayons. They colour the world beautifully but are also brittle. Fate has strange games to play in the lives of few and this is where we at CRY come to row against the tide to ensure a lasting change. The brick kilns or any industry that employs children are ambassadors of disaster.

Puja Marwaha, CEO of CRY

(Photo Courtesy: Hemlata Kansotia)

“They show us how labour snatches away education, hampers the quality of life and denies a child’s basic right to childhood. This study just opens the first layer of a very different world, we need to act together now to begin a change, which is no more an option but a necessity,” she added.

(A Research Fellow with CRY, Hemlata Kansotia is a development professional with more than 12 years of experience in social mobilisation of people working in unorganised sectors, with a special focus on dalits, tribal communities and marginalised women.)

(Views expressed in the story are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for them.)