Out of Breath

Palani Kumar

Out of Breath is an ongoing in-depth documentation on the issue of manual scavenging and discrimination faced by the families involved in this work. This project focuses mainly on the deaths caused in the process and also sheds light on the children's lives in these households.

Manual scavenging has been banned in India according to "The Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013". However, the government actively employs people from the lower castes and forces them to work as manual scavengers. With little or no opportunity for other jobs, most are forced into them with no means of survival. While it is the government’s responsibility to provide a healthy and dignified life to all its citizens, such practices raise many questions about its integrity. There have been around 800+ deaths related to manual scavenging in the reported 20 states from 1993-2019. Tamil Nadu tops the list with over 206 deaths in the same period.

Even with a reservation system in place to tackle the inequalities caused by the caste system, the policy-makers and bureaucrats have mostly been those of the higher caste, making it easier to let these inhuman activities continue even to date or go unnoticed and unquestioned. 

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Biography

Palani Kumar

Hailing from the village of Jawaharlalpuram in Madurai district, M Palani Kumar decided to pursue engineering as per the wish of his mother, a fish-seller. He graduated in B.E., E&I under the sports category. In 2013, while he was still pursuing engineering, he applied for a loan and purchased his first camera.

He worked as a cinematographer for the critically acclaimed documentary [Kakoos](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UYWRoHUpkU) – a searing narrative on the lives of manual scavengers in Tamil Nadu. Shortly after, Palani opened his first photography exhibition in the city, featuring photographs taken by the children of manual scavengers, who were trained through Palani's workshops.

As a fellow of PARI, Palani is currently documenting the working class women. Palani is  associated with Pep Collective - a forum of socially responsible photographers in Tamil Nadu.

He was recognised on the 2019 Top Ten Humans list by Anandha Vikatan for his attempt to sensitise and make visible the work of manual scavengers to an otherwise de-sensitised world. In March 2020, he received the Best Story of the Year award from Public Relations Council of India.

He hopes to continue using his art form to throw light on the marginalised communities.

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