The well in the village without safe drinking water.

Sudhram holds a photo of his wife Rukhmani Bai, who suffered and died from cancer in 2012 at the age 38. He had to sell over five acres of his land to upper-caste farmers to pay for her hospital bills. Today, he himself has the similar lesions that led to his wife's death.

He laughed when I asked him if he was afraid of death.

The closed entrance to the Mangalur Mine, that was mined by the British Empire in the years 1887-1913, and briefly re-opened by the Government of Karnataka in the years 1980-1994. It was shut down due to flooding.

Portrait of a village

Portrait of a widower.

Portraits of a dying village.

The mountain of sodium cyanide formed by mine tailings from the Hutti Gold mine

Portrait of a dying village.

Animal footprints across the dry rivers of sodium cyanide, formed by mine tailings of the Hutti gold mine.

Today, the abandoned Mangalur mining office is used by farmers to store sugarcane and paddy.

According to an independent report by Dipankar Chakravorti, in the village of Kiradali Tanda in Yadgir District of Karnataka, just four kilometres from the Mangalur mine, this borewell indicated an arsenic level of 303 ugL-1. The acceptable level of arsenic, according to the World Health Organization, is 10 ugL-1.

The village, predominately populated by Lambadas (Banjara tribe) that was irrigated due to the Upper Krishna Project, bears an abandoned look, owing to migration and the large number of cancer cases.

A view of farmlands in threat from what local farmers call the 'cyanide mountain', formed by the dumping of mine tailings from the local gold mine.

The sealed-off entrance to the abandoned mine, whose toxic tailings continue to endanger inhabitants of surrounding villages.

Unsafe dumping from the mine has effectively rendered surrounding farmlands both infertile and poisonous to their owners.

Locals ominously refer to this area as ‘cyanide mountain,’ referring to the large amounts of sodium cyanide present in the tailings.

Chandibai, aged 70 shows lesions on her hands caused by arsenic in local drinking water.

Thirty-eight yea-old Kishan Chauhan lost his leg to gangrene after a lesion caused by arsenic poisoning became infected

Thousands of Mumbai's Urban poor started their march against the builder's lobby and for the right to a home on the 1st of January, 2013, and have been at a sit-in for the past three days waiting for the state government to respond to their demands.

Thousands of urban poor decided to sit-in at Azad Maidan over the last five days until the government gives a positive response to their demands for the right to housing, and for the government to investigate a Slum Rehabilitation scheme that has been displacing the people who it is meant to serve.

Over 15,000 to 20,000 working class and urban poor from Mumbai, started their march to the centre of the state government, the Mantralaya on the 1st of January, 2013 and are currently on a sit-in at Azad Maidan, (Freedom Grounds), as of the 4th of January, waiting for the government to respond.

A resident tries to stall the demolition of his friend's home by calling up a commanding police officer.

19 year old Channu Mandavi, a Muria tribal, was gunned down by the police as an alleged left-wing extremist on the 12th of April, 2009.

The original inhabitants of Mumbai, the Kolis, faced another demolition drive for a development project in Sion Koliwada.

As per law, a builder requires 70% of the residents of a registered society to give consent to the project but in Sion Koliwada, the residents have repeatedly asserted that the builder used forged documents to claim a majority for the project.

There are over 80 re-development projects in Mumbai where residents have repeatedly claimed that the builder used fraudulent means to claim consent.

For a deeper understanding, please refer to previously published material available here - http://moonchasing.wordpress.com/2012/06/04/invisible-cities-part-ten-the-demolition-seige-of-sion-koliwada/

The homes of the original inhabitants of Mumbai, the Kolis have been facing demolition drive for high-end development projects.

As per law, a builder requires 70% of the residents of a registered society to give consent to the project but in Sion Koliwada, the residents have repeatedly asserted that the builder used forged documents to claim a majority for the project.

There are over 80 re-development projects in Mumbai where residents have repeatedly claimed that the builder used fraudulent means to claim consent.

For a deeper understanding, please refer to previously published material available here - http://moonchasing.wordpress.com/2012/06/04/invisible-cities-part-ten-the-demolition-seige-of-sion-koliwada/