Gopitalao Demolition
The story being narrated in these pictures is the true portrayal of the demolition event that took place in the Gopitalao region of Surat, Gujarat on 23rd May 2013. Gopitalao, a slum area which had been illegally occupied by a large number of people for a long time was demolished on this day and the residents were shifted to a new place by the higher authorities of the state. It was not just any ordinary demolition of houses but a demolition of dreams, culture and footprints of the generations that grew up there to leave everything behind to get shifted to a totally new place. As everything turned into rubbles , the residents stood by to see the spectacle. Some started demolishing their own houses in order to get some stuff which could be reused. Some who hoped for the demolition to be cancelled waited till the last moment for dispersal, while old and helpless waited for help of some kind or the other. A demolition that shook every stone of the area in a day only had the capacity to shake the lives of the residents who could not believe a change so big ever could take place. At the end of the day the whole area was turned into a flat ground of ruins, while the residents were shifted to a new place with promises of a better future, a future whose past has been demolished.
Text: Jasmine kaur
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kRS8rISwSI
Text: Jasmine kaur
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kRS8rISwSI
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Circular Migrants
While working on a project on demolition in Surat city(India), I came in contact with many laborers. My regular visits to these demolition sites gave me an access to easy communication with these laborers and an insight into their lives. It was then that I came to know that they were not local but migrants from states like U.P, Odisha and Bihar, etc.(India) They belonged to the category of migrants who are per forced to migrate seasonally to make ends meet. A phenomenon called circular migration. And Surat being the most economically dynamic region, is the most potential hub for such migration. With its strong agricultural, agro-processing, petrochemical, textile, diamond processing, engineering, logistics, upcoming IT and Biotechnology industries, and tremendous amount of building and road construction activities going on, there is a great demand for informal labor in Surat, which cannot be met locally. So the region is acting as a magnet attracting a large number of skilled and unskilled workers from other parts of the Gujarat and other states of India, who work as informal laborers who are deprived of any statutory benefits that are their rights. To add to their misery, the owners for whom these laborers work, do not keep any records of their employees and make only cash payments resulting into no liabilities at the part of the employer in case of any mishap. These informal workers, including both males and females, are doing hard physical labor at cheap rates and are living at construction sites or slums or in temporary huts on the roadside in miserable conditions and there are no labor laws for these migrant workers.
Thus there is a need to do more in depth studies of the migrant workers in Surat, where they form a large part of the work force in the construction, agriculture and other industries. It is important according to me to bring into limelight the condition of these migrant workers who live a life of total neglect with a hope that my documentation might bring some improvement in the sorry state of the life of these workers.
Text: Jasmine kaur
Thus there is a need to do more in depth studies of the migrant workers in Surat, where they form a large part of the work force in the construction, agriculture and other industries. It is important according to me to bring into limelight the condition of these migrant workers who live a life of total neglect with a hope that my documentation might bring some improvement in the sorry state of the life of these workers.
Text: Jasmine kaur
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Marbel quarries
Rajasthan marbel quarries....
