On the outskirts of Jaipur, in a village named Machwa, an 86-year-old Dalit widow lives in a cluster of makeshift jhuggis. The settlement is built from uneven brick walls and patched with tarpaulin sheets and rusted tin roofs. Inside, her family of nearly 30 – sons, daughters-in-law and grandchildren – sleep on thin mattresses spread directly over the hard earth.
Santra Devi works as a midwife and her sons as daily wage construction workers, while their wives scrub floors and wash utensils in other people’s homes. Despite all of this, there are days when the family goes to sleep on empty stomachs.
