Hell beneath earth - Jharia Coal Mines

Bokapahadi may be the closest you can find on Earth to the biblical vision of Hell. Coal fires rage just below the surface of the ground, making it too hot to walk with naked feet. Thousands of residents who live above the furnace make $2 a day collecting small chunks of coal they sell to illegal middlemen. Noxious gases spew up from fissures, making the environment toxic. One or two houses collapse annually into vast underground caverns left unfilled by abandoned mining operations.

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The language of progress and assertion of self dignity

In the era of liberalization and privatization, a sizeable number of mineral processing industries are coming to invest in the mineral rich state of Orissa. As a result, there is a large involuntary population displacement of the marginalized sections including tribals. There is a resistance leading to agitation by 'already' and 'potential' displaced persons resulting in state's brutal suppression, as in the case of TATA at Kalinganagar, Vedanta at Lanjigarh and POSCO at Jagatsinghpur.

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Can rock & roll end the longest running insurgency in Asia?

Nagaland. This tiny pocket of jungle-covered hills sandwiched between India and Burma is one of the most remote and mysterious places on earth. The Naga, as the tribal people who live here are called, once had a reputation as fearsome head hunters. Although Indian citizens, in their appearance and folkways the Naga have little in common with their countrymen in Mumbai or Delhi.

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Assam's hidden war

In the remote North Cachar Hills in India’s northeast, the Indian army is doggedly hunting the “Black Widow”, the most recalcitrant insurgent group in the region, active since 2003, and fighting for a separate state within India for Dimasas, the largest tribal group in this hill district.

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Human horses of Calcutta

As I walked aimlessly around the streets of Calcutta, I photographed Calcutta, its chaos, and the symphonic clickety-clak of the human-pulled rickshaws.

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Womens’ empowerment by Gulabi (pink) Gang

It’s the colour of pink that’s calling the shots in this dusty region of Bundelkhand, one of the poorest parts of one of India's northern and most populous states, Uttar Pradesh in India. A gang of vigilantes, called the Gulabi Gang (pink gang) – is taking up lathi (traditional Indian stick) against domestic violence and corruption.

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All They Could Carry

Survival has its mercies, and some of those are blessed - to be alive. To breathe again and feel again, the pain of the past and of the future filled with longing for those who once were.

Their stories echo the plight of many hundreds of thousands of people whose homes are destroyed and now have only few belongings in the wake of Cyclone Nargis.

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Kushti (Traditional Indian wrestling)

Indian wrestlers, commonly known as pahalwans have been practicing the three thousand year old sport known as 'Kushti', a form of wrestling, in its traditional form in different akharas (traditional indian fight club).

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