Children - Terre des Hommes

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loading one basket of the ore into the vehicle the
owner of the crusher gives us Rs. 0.25. I usually
earn Rs.40–50 per day and with this I am helping
my two younger siblings, a brother and sister, go to
school. The owner of the crusher provides us with
sugarcane at weekly intervals so that I can work
more. I have never been to school.”
Source: Interview carried out near to the Bramhanimara village,
Sundergarh, November 2009
Sundergarh district has a long history of dolomite and
limestone mining. Birmitrapur in Sundergarh district, where
the case study was conducted, has seen mining since the early
nineteenth century. The mining was undertaken by the British
initially through the company Birds India Limited, which is
today called Bisra Stone Lime Company Limited (BSL). The
estimated reserves of limestone and dolomite are 375 million
tonnes and 265 million tonnes respectively.
According to the Department of Mines, Orissa, Sundergarh
district has a total of 87 working mines of which dolomite
and limestone are 19 and dolomite alone is four. There are
268 applications for mining leases still pending with the
department. There are also 49 sponge iron factories in the
district. Each factory has 15–20 deep bore-wells whose
depth is at least 800 ft from the ground level. Some of the
sponge iron plants and mines had to be closed down due to
non-compliance with pollution norms. It is a known fact, as
expressed by the ex-Chairman of Birmitrapur Mr. Kishore
Kujur, that there are as many illegal mines as legal mines in
the region.The government is now inviting multinational
corporations to establish large-scale industries of cement in
Sundergarh.
The case study was conducted in the area of Birmitrapur
municipality which is one of the most excessively mined areas
in Sundergarh. The report has been gathered from visits made
to dolomite and limestone mines in Kukhrajola, Chanabahar
and Kansabahal villages and BSL mines in Mundatolli and
Bramhanimara villages. The visit included Purna Panni
dolomite and limestone quarries and village which is an
abandoned mine site.
Sundergarh district, comprising of 17 blocks and 262 gram
panchayats, has a predominant ST population. Of the total
population of 1,830,673, the STs number 918,903. The major
adivasi groups in Sundergarh are Kharia, Mankidi, Mankidia
and Birhor who constitute 50.74 per cent of the population
of the district. The district falls under the Fifth Schedule of
the Constitution.
Status of children in Anganwadis
In Birmitrapur, the age group of 0–6 years is around 2,500 but
very few of them have access to anganwadi. In Bramhanimara
village both the anganwadi centre as well as the school
functions under the same roof as there is no separate building
for running of anganwadi centre. As it is one of the bigger
villages in Birmitrapur municipality it has a sizeable number
of children in the age group of 0–6 years. The total number
of children of the village, Bramhanimara village, between 0–6
years is 91 with a break-up as given in Table 2.20.
Table 2.20: Details of children in Bramhanimara
anganwadi
Category Total Boy Girl
ST 58 27 31
SC 18 11 7
General 15 8 7
Source: Anganwadi centre, Bramhanimara village
This year, there are 18 malnourished children in the centre,
out of which 3–4 are under severe malnourishment category
and the rest are under grade I, II, III and IV categories.
NCLP school, Birmitrapur, Sundergarh
(Photo November 2009)
According to the anganwadi worker there are 3–4 cases of TB
patients in the village this year, undergoing medical treatment.
According to her, there are at least 8–9 registered cases of
filaria. This is mainly because of the pollution of water as
observed by her. The Child Development Project Officer
of Birmitrapur ICDS project provided some revealing facts