India Matters: Bricks of bondage

Behind our new shiny cities and rapid urbanisation lies the dark and alarming story of labourers, who toil for long hard hours in abysmal conditions. Those working on the brick kilns are often the worst off. Poverty, debt and a complete disregard of labour laws forces them into a situation which is not very different from bonded labour. We bring you a ground report from Andhra Pradesh where children as young as four were found working in the kilns and from Maharashtra we see how the Katkaris, a tribal community are caught in this oppressive system.