Chandra Bhan Prasad
A factory owned and run by Dalits in Gurgaon
Products of Chamar Studio
Sudheer Rajbhar with workers at his Vakola workshop
PETA India and JD Institute of Fashion Technology Students dressed in “bloody” body suits and holding signs reading, “Cows Suffer for Leather: Wear Vegan,” during a demonst...
PETA India and JD Institute of Fashion Technology Students dressed in “bloody” body suits and holding signs reading, “Cows Suffer for Leather: Wear Vegan,” during a demonst...
The leather strips, once cured, are carried out to dry in the sun. Workers like Mehar Singh are paid by the piece Rs100 is the most they can make in a day.
Tanners like Rajkumar are crucial to India's economy--everybody needs leather. 'Our condition is deplorable for we are Dalit. Nobody cares.'
As the chemicals are mixed with water, a noxious vapor forms that clouds the air the tanners breathe. It can cause respiratory ailments and leaves an indelible stench on their unpr...
A worker uses a plastic pail to ferry water to and from the pits. The conditions are arduous and there is no medical assistance available.
The water drips slowly from the curing leather. Rajesh replenishes the water-chemical mix manually. There is no electricity in Rohta or Shobhapur.
The leather is stitched up and hung. Lime and other chemicals are poured into them, then they are left to cure for at least three weeks.
Mehar Singh and Vijay watch Rajkumar wash a sheet of leather.The roof and walls of this tannery caved in around ten years ago. Instead of repairs, the workers expect eviction.
Rajkumar, a Dalit tanner, takes a water break. The tanners strip down to their underclothes to work as they have no protective gear or work clothes.
The tannery at Rohta is bad shape since 20 years. A recent earthquake broke the gates and boundary wall. Dogs roam freely, endangering the tanners.
Dogs roam freely in the Rohta tannery. This ones legs are permanently dyed from moving around in the tannery.
The Rohta tannery. The stench of leather and open drains overwhelms. The tannery has not been modernised despite pleas. Local farmers want it evicted but the Dalits of Rohta know n...
Tanning is the only business people in Shobhpur know, like these two brothers. Every home has a tanner and a tannery. They resent that the work is called 'unclean' when nothing has...
In Shobhapur and Rohta there are no godowns for storing any chemicals nor drains to wash away the chemicals.
Premwati, of Rohta, UP, stitches leather sheets using straw preparatory to tanning. Rohta's tannery was set up by independent India's first government. It is dilapidated from negle...
