Imagine the government one day orders you and your neighbors to tear down your houses to make way for ‘progress.’ You are all forced to leave behind your jobs, houses, and ways of life; nothing will ever be the same again. This has already happened to millions of people in India, and it is going to happen to many more.
Lat Does Not Exist is the story of one village in the state of Chhattisgarh that was torn down to make way for a massive pit mine meant to produce coal to fuel the country’s growing economy. Through 19 transcripts of interviews, conversations among family members, and discussions among friends, the people of Lat tell their own stories, in their own ways, at length.
A series of portraits and photo essays completes the glimpse this book provides into the lives of those Lat residents still bitterly hanging onto their homes in the fragment of the village remaining just meters from the edge of the coal pit, as well as the lives of those former Lat residents who have already relocated and are trying to build their lives.
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