Child Brides of Shravasti
Shravasti district in Uttar Pradesh is the most populous, and among the least literate, states of the world’s fastest-growing big economy. According to Census 2011, one in every four girls born in Shravasti is married off before she turns 18 making it one of the worst performing districts in the country. Marriage of girls younger than 18-years-old and boys younger than 21-years-old is illegal in India but the practice continues unabated. In the absence of childhood, these Child brides are left to face the realities and repercussions of premature marriage, and in many cases premature parenthood too.
A Biography of Scrap
The Mayapuri junk market in India’s capital city of New Delhi is the country's largest. Vehicles brought in from retail or from auctions travel to Mayapuri to be dismantled in its muddy lanes. A truck can be dismantled in an hour and a half, and a car will take less time. The parts to be re-sold are extracted and moved to secondhand shops, and the remains are left for metal scrap dealers. The seats, rubber and plastics are gathered by yet a smaller group of scrap dealers. The last bit of scavenging is done by women and children who use magnets to gather the small pieces of metal that fall down onto the roads, and burn the plastic and wires that are collected at the market for their metal. The scrap is then pressed into bales which travel to other parts of the country for further processing in furnaces.
