Jun 07 2025 to Jun 07 2025 4 p.m.

EVENT HAS ENDED

Where

Bangalore International Centre

7 4th Main Rd, Stage 2, Domlur 560071

Event Description

25 minutes (2 films) | Bengali and Tamil with English Subtitles | India | 2024

The films are part of a series Breaking the Nets: An oral history of India’s fisherwomen. At the heart of the fishing industry is the invisible labour of women. Over 12.3 million women in India work in fishing— catching, farming, processing, and selling fish, mending nets, and maintaining fishing gear. But their contribution is largely unacknowledged. Fisherwomen have fought to get recognition for their labour and secure their rights. “Breaking the Nets” brings stories from across India that chronicle the discriminations fisherwomen have faced, the battles they have waged, and the solutions they have crafted.

Film 1: This Jungle is Ours
12 min | Bengali with English subtitles
Urmila Sardar saw a tiger drag her husband away while they were fishing in the Sundarbans. Parul Haldar had to abandon building a temple dedicated to the forest deity when her husband was killed by a tiger. Still, they defy the Forest Department to work in this mangrove forest, facing the threat of tigers, crocodiles, and snakes. Catching fish and crab has been the sole means for women here to earn a living. With the creation of the Sundarbans Tiger Reserve, the government has restricted people’s access to the forest, and made women’s jobs difficult. Increased frequency of storms and cyclones caused by climate change has added to their woes. Now, fisherwomen are demanding customary harvest rights in Sundarban.

Film 2: The Sea is our Mother
13 min | Tamil with English subtitles
Namma Thayi has been diving in the Gulf of Mannar to pick seaweed since she was seven. She couldn’t miss work even when heavily pregnant. On one such dive, she delivered her child on an island. Today, as a frail 80-year-old, she still goes to the sea to collect seaweed. The women around the islands of Gulf of Mannar have carved a niche for themselves as India’s sole wild seaweed harvesters. For them, diving in the sea is not an act of recreation or adventure, but a means to their livelihood. With the creation of the Gulf of Mannar Marine National Park, their places of work have come under legal protection for their rich biodiversity. The National Park is also a ‘no-take’ zone, denying them their traditional fishing grounds and seaweed beds. Over 5,000 seaweed collectors have their livelihoods at stake. How do women dependent on protected areas survive in the time of conservation?

This project is created by a ‘tiny team’ of three independent journalists Shamsheer Yousaf, Monica Jha, and Sriram Vittalamurthy. They did everything from reporting, writing, shooting and editing photos and videos, and producing multimedia stories, debugging the code and troubleshooting. It was supported by the Pulitzer Center and the Rohini Nilekani Philanthropies.

The screening will be followed by a Q&A with the filmmakers and Lakshmi Murthy, a seaweed harvester turned leader.

This screening is part of BIC’s programmes for Environment Day 2025 titled The Earth Remembers: Stories of Justice and Resilience. This year’s Environment Day gathering centres on the people at the frontlines of ecological change, communities whose lives are entangled with the land, the waters, and the skies, and who carry not only the weight of loss but also the seeds of resilience. Rather than viewing the environment as separate from society, we listen to stories where the two are inseparable.

Speakers

Shamsheer Yousaf
Journalist
Shamsheer Yousaf is an independent journalist based in Bangalore. He focuses on longform multimedia and investigative stories about the environment, science, and technology. His recent investigations include illegal shark fin trade from India to East Asia, and the crimes of the sand mining mafia in the Indian state of Bihar.

Shamsheer led the “Breaking the Nets” project.

Monica Jha
Journalist
Monica Jha is an independent journalist based in Goa. She reports on marginalisation, organised crime, and ecology. She specialises in investigative reporting and longform storytelling.

Sriram Vittalamurthy
Photographer & Journalist
Sriram Vittalamurthy is an independent photographer and journalist, with over 17 years of experience. Since 2010, he has focused on immersive multimedia storytelling. He is based in Bangalore.

Lakshmi Murthy
Seaweed Harvester & Ward Councillor
Lakshmi Murthy grew up on an Island in the Gulf of Mannar. As a child, she began working as a seaweed harvester—a subsistence livelihood for most women on the island.

When the islanders were displaced following the creation of the Gulf of Mannar Marine National Park, Lakshmi played a key role in organising the displaced women into a federation, which she presided over. Since then, she has been instrumental in negotiating with the government, NGOs, and conservation scientists to ensure that women seaweed harvesters can continue their traditional occupation while also protecting the marine ecosystem.

In 2015, she was awarded the Seacology Prize, a global award given annually to an islander for exceptional achievement in preserving island environments and culture.

Murthy now lives in Chinnapalam, a village near the Gulf of Mannar Marine National Park, where she serves as a ward councillor.