Field Work

The event was organised by— Save The Children which has been implementing a programme— Child’s Right For Change in around 986 villages in Vidharba that include districts like Akola,Buldhana,Amravati and others.

Around 60 pictures were exhibited by the children between the age group 10-14 on the reality in their respective villages.

In Maharashtra,out of total number of child labours between age group of 10-14,94 per cent are engaged in rural agriculture and allied activities. Children in agriculture sector are not included as a part of Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act,1986.

“The idea was conceived while interacting with a child. He borrowed my camera on the field and clicked a beautiful picture. The talent in them had to be tapped and initiating it at Amravati,this is the first time that such an exhibition has been organised by our organisation. The pictures have a narration with them. one of the images by Ankush Atkare for example has a tree on which the boy’s friend’s father committed suicide by hanging himself,” says Siddhesh Gunandekar,coordinator of the organisation.

Most of the children work in the cotton fields and they were trained how to use the still camera. For all the children,this was the first time they held a camera and post the training,the children went back to their villages to click pictures of their life,their surroundings and their reality. “We have a right to participate when there are decisions concerning us. No talking about us without us,” said 14-year-old Dnyneshwari from Buldhana.