News
The wretched of the earth
View(s):Some of the most vulnerable persons in our country endure untold struggles to keep body and soul together on a daily basis. One cannot help but notice many such persons ranging from the elderly to those with various disabilities striving to make a living.
Story and pix by Sameera Weerasekara and Ishanka Sunimal
Yet, they strive hard to earn an honest living.
Street cleaners, garbage collectors, labourers, naattamis, and vendors are just some among those who struggle daily to get by. Sadly, there is no mechanism in place to protect them or to look into their welfare.
These men and women ‘are the beasts of burden’ often having to carry heavy loads, work in the burning sun or driving rain with minimal, or no protection.
They are paid a pittance for the back-breaking work they perform, meaning they have to take on additional work merely to survive.
It is sad, that even in this ‘enlightened era’, there is as yet, no state-sponsored safety net to protect these innocents from exploitation, ensure basic working conditions and promote the welfare of this most vulnerable section of our people.
A picture they say is worth t thousand words the pain and strain of this back-breaking work is etched in the faces of these human beasts of burden
A blind man balances his bundle of goods as he wends his way making house-to-house sales
A garbage collector takes a break amidst the garbage she has collected
In an earlier era cattle-drawn carts transported these mountains of goods… white-haired old men and women now perform this task
No place to rest his weary limbs. An aging naattami sits atop a huge load of goods he has carried