At Raipur's brick kilns: migrant workers may miss voting
From Madhya Pradesh but working in Chhattisgarh, these labourers are unaware of polling dates in their home constituencies. It's unlikely they will get to cast their vote in the General Elections 2024
May 7, 2024 | Purusottam Thakur
Koloshi’s school children: marked ‘absent’
With no schooling for two years during the pandemic, Adivasi children in Thane district are unable and unwilling to re-enter the classroom
December 7, 2022 | Mamta Pared
‘If they don’t get food, how will we eat well?’
Donkey herders from the Kaikadi community who migrate to work at brick kilns in Sangli district, struggle to look after their livestock. An increase in theft of the animals in Maharashtra has made it harder on them
June 28, 2022 | Photographs: Ritayan Mukherjee | Text: Medha Kale
In Nuapada: a young woman's death foretold
Tulsa Sabar's sudden death, her family’s mounting debts and migration from Odisha to work in brick kilns, tell a story of systemic failure in one of the country's poorest districts
March 18, 2022 | Purusottam Thakur and Ajit Panda
'What should my family do?'
In the Adivasi cluster of Boranda village, Vanita Bhoir and her family, who migrate to work in Maharashtra's brick kilns, have run out of work, food and money due to the lockdown – and are running low on hope too
July 21, 2020 | Mamata Pared
Another brick in Telangana's lockdown wall
Kuni Tamalia and other kiln workers in Telangana’s Sangareddy district continued their arduous work in the lockdown. But with kids to care for and Covid fears, they were anxious to board a Shramik Special for Odisha
June 11, 2020 | Varsha Bhargavi
Locked into the kilns, brick by brick
Thousands of migrant workers from Odisha are stranded at Telangana's brick kilns – exploitative worksites made more difficult with the lockdown – and are running out of rations and desperate to return home
April 27, 2020 | Varsha Bhargavi
Walking 104 kilometres without a break
Brick-kiln workers in Thane and Palghar, most of them Adivasi agricultural labourers, have been forced by the Covid-19 lockdown to return home with barely any income until the arrival of monsoon
April 17, 2020 | Jyoti Shinoli
And miles to go before they sleep – or eat
The Covid-19 lockdown has left migrant Adivasi brick kiln workers in Maharashtra's Palghar district with little money and food – and an ultimatum from their village to return, where only uncertainty awaits them
April 1, 2020 | Mamata Pared
'Do something about our hunger'
For the Katkari Adivasis of Botyachi Wadi hamlet in Palghar district, education remains a distant dream, food is scarce, debt an ever-present reality – and migrating to work at brick kilns a recurring compulsion
Nov. 22, 2019 | Mamata Pared
From farm to kiln: such a long journey
Labourers from Odisha travel on foot, by road and rail to kilns in Telangana to work and pay off an advance
May 9, 2019 | Purusottam Thakur
Tandoors that burn on the backs of Katkaris
With no land and few work options, the Katkari Adivasis of Raigad district in Maharashtra migrate to charcoal kilns for 7-8 months every year. There, they work long and hard hours for low wages that are often not paid
Jan. 28, 2019 | Karishma V.
Trying to go to sleep only half-hungry
Many labourers from Odisha migrate to the brick kilns of Telangana, where the contractors and kiln owners exploit the desperation of the migrants – and after months of gruelling work, the workers can end up in debt
Nov. 2, 2018 | Purusottam Thakur
‘We are lonely now...’
The Dharuas, elderly marginal farmers from Odisha’s Bolangir district, migrated to work at a kiln in Hyderabad. The strenuous labour made them want to return home, but the kiln owner refused to let them go
Sept. 25, 2017 | Purusottam Thakur
