With all the resources being pumped into creating job opportunities and economic growth for a burgeoning young population, did India forget about its elderly people?

In March 2013, the government of India made an unprecedented move in announcing its plans to extend the Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme to all senior citizens regardless of their economic status

Economic growth and better health facilities have increased the life expectancy of the average Indian leading to a steady increase in the percentage of people aged over 60. However the quality of life that a majority of them have leaves a lot to be desired.

Seen in this light, the decision is a welcome one. The question of how the implementation of such a plan would go is an entirely different one. In a lot of the videos made by community correspondents, we see incidents where existing pension schemes fail to reach those they are meant to.

Traditionally, the large Indian joint family structure provided a security blanket, as members of a family grew older. Now with the family system breaking up, migration in search of food, the elderly are left with no one to care for them.

There are serious concerns in terms of the ability of the state to provide for them. Existing pension plans have been put in place to ensure the poorest of the lot have a steady income in their old age, however small the amount is. The Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme offers around 200/- or 300/- a month which translates to less than 0.18 $ a day.

To get a pension, there are many hurdles to be crossed. The first is to actually register for the scheme and get on the list in the block office. If by some miracle you get on the list, other hurdles announce their presence— corruption and negligence are rife across the states. From names being cut off by faking deaths, to new accounts not being opened because of bribes not being paid, the elderly in India seem to face it all.

Community Correspondent Abhishek Dash is a dedicated social activist who has been working on entitlement issues for at least a decade now.  While covering one case of non-payment, he went to the block office to inquire about what the hold up was.

“There is a lesson that you learn when you work at the grassroots,” says Abhishek. “It is not just enough to keep emailing or calling up higher officials. Most times, the problem is at the root of it all. The local panchayat (council) office is yet to send Mr. Tandi’s application to the pension office.”

In a few cases, the presence of community journalists who have persevered to get the elderly their pensions has helped. Kamal Kishore Purty, a Community Correspondent from Jharkhand shares how he managed to secure pensions for 34 senior citizens.

“I showed the video I had made to the officer and asked him for an explanation. I asked him if I could see the applications and the list of senior citizens of the village. The BDO told me that the papers had not arrived from the ward,” explains Kamal.

“I decided to go to the ward offices and check the BDO’s claims for myself. By the time I reached the ward office, they had already heard the news that I had made a video and gone over to the BDOs office. The ward office promised me that the money will soon be released to the bank accounts,” says Kamal.

After a few months of continuously following up, Kamal heard the good news one morning that they money had been deposited into the accounts.

Though such individual efforts go some way in ensuring that intended beneficiaries get what they are entitled to there is a serious need to evaluate and properly implement pension schemes across the country.

40 videos on the lack of education facilities in India and counting. Here’s why VV thinks a campaign to invigorate the Right to Education Act is necessary

As he studied at a night school in Mumbai, Amol Lalzare also juggled several odd jobs during the day to support his family. His lifelong dream to complete school was rudely interrupted when in 2006 he had to stop school because of financial constraints in the family. Amol is now a community correspondent and has produced several videos on the challenges faced by people as they try to get through school.

For most Indians, getting access to education remains an elusive dream. The further you travel into the interiors of the country, the more severe the problem gets—schools that are too far to walk to; financial constraints; teacher shortages are just some of the obstacles they face.

In April 2013, on the 3^rd anniversary of the Right to Education Act, the RTE Forum published a report stating that there were 8 million children out of school in India. This year marks the deadline set to meet all the norms set forth in the RTE Act that envisioned equitable, quality education to every child in India.

The Act set out ambitious targets that included, a teacher student ratio of 1:30, all weather classrooms, reservation for poor students in private schools and schools within a 3 km radius among others. Though a very positive work of legislation, in its 3 years, the RTE seems to have missed many of the targets set out by it.

Many in our network of 130 community correspondents have been documenting the problems their communities face trying to get access to proper education facilities. The collection of over 40 videos (and counting) makes for compelling evidence that the education system in India is far from adequate.

The RTE Forum’s stock taking report found that only 8% schools conform to the standards set out by the act. The shortage of teachers is one of the most urgent concerns that need to be tackled. Our CCs have documented many cases where 1 or 2 dedicated teachers try to run a school but end up being over worked and frustrated.

Other basic infrastructure like drinking water and separate toilets for boys and girls are also absent. These two are important factors in retaining students in school. For girls especially, the absence of separate clean toilets presents a hurdle in coming to school.

There are also grim revelations from the 2013 Annual Status of Education Report which states that the percentage of children in Government schools who can identify numbers up to 100 has reduced to 50% from the 70% it was four years ago. This decrease in quality has been largely attributed to the Right to Education (RTE) and Continuous Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) policies that have been implemented since 2010.

Over the next few months Video Volunteers will launch a campaign with visual evidence of achievements and shortcomings of the RTE Act. In the first phase of the project, we will aim to cover 100 districts across all states, and more than 100 schools, interviewing more than 100 teachers – and of course, numerous parents and children – seeing how these schools measure up to the 13 key provisions guaranteed by this Act.

Trained community journalists, using digital video cameras, will capture the reality of the implementation of the Act. Are schools easy to get to? Is the student-teacher ratio correct? Are there toilets and drinking water in the schools? Are the School Monitoring Committees functioning properly? These, and more are some of the questions we are asking.

In the second phase, select Community Correspondents will go deeper into particular stories and case studies, to help us understand WHY the act has worked or not worked in a particular area. And most crucially, to capture what it is like for communities to seek redressal at the block or district level when the act is not being implemented properly. 

 

We hope that in the course of the year enough organisations working on education and government itself will take note of these and ensure that the RTE Act is implemented and all that it envisions is actually implemented.

Amit began his project looking at the wider effects of drinking on his community in Jharkhand. However, after his father had an accident – as a result of drinking – Amit started to focus his photography on his own family: “I realised that my father’s drinking was affecting the whole family and I wanted to document something of this.”

Amit Topno was born and raised in Nichitpur, Jharkhand, where he now works as a Community Correspondent with Video Volunteers. “Documentation of the tribal area in which I live is limited,” he says, “and so through photography I hope to add something to the historical records that we already have.” By doing this Amit aims to give a realistic impression of life in tribal areas of India. To see Amit’s photo series on his father’s drinking, click here.

“I was not initially invited to participate in the Magnum project. I only got a call at the last minute when one of the other correspondents pulled out.

At the first session in Ranchi, we were set an assignment to follow someone for a whole day. For my subject, I chose two women and a child who ran a small roadside tea stall. I entered the place and ordered tea from one of the women. Normally I don’t smoke in public, but since I was unsure how to start a dialogue, I also asked for a cigarette. This gave me the excuse I needed to build a rapport, something Olivia and Sohrab had talked about during the morning training.

After I had finished my tea and cigarette, I explained why I was there. Despite some initial reluctance to being photographed by a man they did not know, the women agreed to help me. I myself was a bit uncomfortable though. I could see other customers in the shack watching me photograph and wondering what I was doing. I didn’t want any trouble, and I avoided extreme close-ups as it felt too awkward. Nonetheless, I ended up staying there for three hours and I did get some nice shots. On the whole, the experience was a positive one. It taught me to think on my feet and build trust quickly with a subject.

Through that preliminary workshop I learnt that to do any work with respect and integrity, it is vital to first establish contact and gain consent. Photography is an intimate art. From looking at an image, one can gauge the relationship between photographer and model. When people take photographs from a distance, it always seems to me that they were not really connected with their subject. Working as a Community Correspondent with Video Volunteers, I am used to making videos about issues, but the challenge I have often faced is getting close to the people I film. I feel that photography facilitates a much deeper bond.

In the three months between the first and second workshop, my father had an accident while drunk. I had not initially planned a story around him, but now found myself housebound as his nurse. I could not go out in search of new material, and my series for the Goa session grew from there. I soon realised that he should become the focus of my work, and that this was a chance to photograph a subject I was already close to. My father’s alcoholism has affected our whole family, and so I felt the topic was one I wanted to explore.

The equipment we were working with was basic. My camera had no zoom, and the flash would stop functioning when the battery was low. It was also a manual device, something I had no prior experience with. This meant that I had to learn the intricacies of lighting, positioning and framing. I think I gained considerable technical insight through the whole process. It was also a great experience working with Olivia and Sohrab. Their style of teaching was simple and, as I speak some English, I was able to share ideas and contribute to group discussions.

In the future, I would like to do a photo series on tribal communities where I live. Information on adivasis in the Indian media is patchy and inaccurate, and nobody really knows anything about us. I want to show something of our reality, something that is true, through stories that outsiders do not normally see.”

This project is a partnership between Video Volunteers and the Magnum Foundation. funded by The Fledgling Fund. Magnum Nominee, Olivia Arthur, and Delhi based photographer, Sohrab Hura, delivered the workshops.

 

To read more about the workshop series, click here. To read about CC, Reena Ramteke’s experience at the workshop, follow this link.

 

“Many photographers have looked at government schemes in rural India, and yet with Reena’s work there’s a sensitivity that is clearly difficult to capture. Reena spent a lot of time with the woman and children at the Anganwadi centre, and this paid off in the final series that she produced.” – Photographer, Sohrab Hura -

Reena Ranteke was born in Gariaband, Chhattisgarh. Recognising that not many women were working as photographers in her area, Reena wanted to change this trend. “I see photography as a way to tell the truth about what is really happening in society” she says. To view Reena’s work on the life of an Anganwadi worker running a nursery school in rural Chhattisgarh, click here.

 

“Before coming to the Magnum Workshops, I was not very confident about my photography. I would take pictures now and then, but there was little variety or experimentation in my work. I knew nothing about the medium and I did not put much thought into it. When I got invited to be a participant, I felt it might be because my visuals were weak! I was very keen to attend the workshop though. To me learning is a life-long process, and this seemed like a perfect opportunity to better myself.

In video people can be made to speak, this is of course not an option with photography. It is necessary, therefore, to find other ways in which to communicate what the subject is thinking, saying or doing. So much can be conveyed through good framing. But I learnt that this process takes persistence, time and effort. While a video report can be completed within a week, a photo series can take months.

Between the two sessions, I worked on a story about the Anganwadi scheme, established by the government to help combat malnutrition in rural corners of India. (These centres provide basic health care to people living in India’s villages, including contraceptive counselling and supply, nutrition education and supplementation, as well as pre-school activities.) Initially, I wanted to expose what I perceived as the ineffectiveness of such programs at the ground level, but this altered when I met an Anganwadi worker who seemed to be bringing about real change in her village. I thought why always show the negative side of an issue when there’s also some good there.

At the second workshop, we focused a lot on editing and there were times when I felt a bit lost. Establishing an easy group dynamic is not always straightforward, and we often struggled to agree on which shots to include. In between editing, we were also given a photo exercise. The task was to capture the different ways people make money in Goa. For me, Goa brings about an image of beaches, and so I wanted to photograph a profession related to the sea. Accordingly, I chose to concentrate on the tourist boats that take people on sightseeing trips. I took some pictures of boatmen working and would have liked to delve further into the story by joining one of the boating parties, but I’m actually afraid of water!

I enjoyed the experience of working with Olivia and Sohrab, in both Ranchi and Goa. Despite the language barrier, I felt we communicated well. I learnt a lot through the whole workshop, and it has inspired me to explore photography as a medium in my future ventures.

At present, I am working on a story about a pregnant lady in my neighbourhood, documenting the experiences and challenges she is faced with. I have 122 photographs so far, which I am in the process of sending to the Video Volunteers office in Goa. In addition, I would like to do a project on a tribal woman who runs a small-scale business in my village, selling breakfast from a cart. A mother of three, she has to wake up at 5am each morning in order to finish her duties as a maid in two separate houses, before setting up her food stall. The woman is a pillar of strength, and it is stories like hers that I would like to tell.”

 

This project is a partnership between Video Volunteers and the Magnum Foundation, funded by The Fledgling Fund. Magnum Nominee, Olivia Arthur, and Delhi based photographer, Sohrab Hura, delivered the workshops.

To read more about the workshop series, click here. To read about CC, Amit Topno’s experience at the workshop, follow this link.

The Beginnings of the project:

In November 2012 Video Volunteers and the Magnum Foundation joined forces to set up a participatory photography project for Community Correspondents at Video Volunteers. To view all of the photo essays created by the CC’s, click here.

The genesis of the project was a meeting in 2011 between VV co-founder, Jessica Mayberry, and world-renowned Magnum photographer, and President of the Magnum Foundation, Susan Meiselas. Magnum is one the most well recognised photo agencies in operation, started in 1947 by Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Capa, David Seymour and George Roger. For its part, Video Volunteers is excited at how collaborations between professionals and citizens can shape journalism and the arts in the future.

VV selected 20 Community Correspondents, nearly all women, and Magnum picked photographers interested to work with them, which included Magnum Nominee, Olivia Arthur, and Magnum Foundation Fellow, Sohrab Hura. There were two workshops of four days each, one in November 2012 in Ranchi, Jharkhand, and one in March 2013 in Goa. Follow the links to read more from CC’s, Amit Topno and Reena Ramteke on their experiences from the workshop. 

Workshop 1: Ranchi

The first workshop, titled ‘Storytelling through Photography’, focused on creating visually strong, contextualised images and building a narrative into picture stories. Our CCs are strong at activism but sometimes less skilled at visuals, and we knew photography was a great way for them to develop a better eye. Furthermore, this workshop was a chance for them to explore visual media through a new lens.

“I like taking photographs. I usually take photos at weddings and family functions, but this workshop has brought a new dimension to my work. I’ve learnt concepts like framing a shot, which will not only help me take better photographs, but also improve the quality of my videos”, said Reena Ramteke, one of the participants.

In between the first and second workshop, correspondents took photographs on pre-decided assignments, receiving feedback as they went along from the Olivia and Sohrab.

 

Workshop 2: Goa

At the start of the second workshop participants presented their work from the past three months and received further comments from the trainers. In some instances individuals had taken over 7,000 photos. Olivia and Sohrab had their work cut out as they tried to get the CCs to begin thinking about how an edited series of photographs might appear.

We sat with Olivia as she went through Saroj Paraste’s photographs of a disabled girl.“I chose to photograph a girl who doesn’t have hands,” said Saroj. “She had come to my village and I was touched when I heard about her. I wanted to tell her story so that it would be an inspiration to other people who have disabilities. Since the girl was at first not keen to be photographed, I spent a lot of time making her feel comfortable. In the end she grew very fond of me and was happy to be a part of the project”.

Despite being a skilled video maker, the process of spending such a long time with one subject and getting to know them was an entirely new experience for Saroj. But she excelled in the task, as noted by Olivia: “There were some portraits that were very intimate and showed the strong relationship she’d built with her subject. What was special about the story was the trust that this girl evidently had in Saroj.”

On the third day, correspondents began editing their work in small groups, focusing on trying to assemble a tight series of ten photographs. Olivia and Sohrab assisted them with this, before uploading the images to a blogging space. The final photo-stories cover a range of topics from alcohol abuse to superstition in India to the encroachment of the Dal Lake in Kashmir. All of these images as well as photographs of the workshop can be seen here.  

The second workshop closed with a presentation to a group of journalists in Goa at the VV head office. This was a chance for our correspondents to present their work and answer questions put to them by the audience.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Impressions of the Workshop:

Amit Topno whose project was on alcohol abuse in rural Jharkhand spoke about his subject, his father: “In my community, the men like a good dose of mahua (local liquor made from the mahua flower) and I often see the ill effects of this on their lives and those of their families. While looking for a subject I didn’t have to go far. A few days before I started taking photos, my father broke his leg in a drunken spell.”

Asked about his experience of working with the group, Sohrab Hura said: “To work with such a diverse group has been a pleasure. We’ve seen real progress in their photography between the first and second workshop. My hope is that one day these people will have their images published and exhibited alongside international photographers.” To this end, correspondents will continue adding to their body of work to further develop their stories in the coming weeks and months.

The project is a partnership between Video Volunteers and the Magnum Foundation. funded by The Fledgling Fund. Magnum Nominee, Olivia Arthur, and Delhi based photographer, Sohrab Hura, presented the workshops.