Children - Terre des Hommes

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62 the village were cough, eye infections, fevers, allergies while chronic respiratory illnesses, malaria, TB were also reported. People also reported that there were many accidents near the village due to the heavy flow of trucks on the highway. The village Neerahalli has no public services like electricity, drinking water, Public Distribution System (PDS), road, water or housing for the mine workers. They are not enlisted in the gram panchayat. There is no government school or anganwadi nearby and the PHC is 10 km away but the roads are in no condition for sick people, especially pregnant women, to travel. Similar is the condition of the villagers in Thimmalapura where, in addition to lack of basic services, there is a problem of flourosis. Here children and adults complain of joint pains. Four persons in this village have TB. The daily wage is Rs. 80 which is far from sufficient to provide for a basic diet of dal and vegetables. So the staple diet here is just rice and jowar rotis. The dust pollution and depletion of groundwater forced many small farmers to sell their land to mining contractors as agriculture was made unviable. This has badly affected their food security and livelihood because of which children are directly affected in their health and nutrition. Many farmers themselves have been forced into mine labour with their entire families. This has affected the education of children and school drop-out is visible among local children whose villages surround the mining activities. Even if they do not work in the mining activities, the severe dust pollution and contaminated water have affected the general health of children. The doctors and chemist stores that we interacted with in Hospet, stated that chronic respiratory illnesses, allergies, lung diseases, diarroeah and asthma have increased among children not only of mine workers but of the general public. Conclusions Bellary district is a standing example of the indiscriminate and illegal mining, and how the entire governance machinery is made ineffective in dealing with the problems. It is also a glaring example of how such large numbers of children are working in stark daylight and yet, the helplessness of the people, the state and the civil society are clearly evident. It is an area that was once rich in agriculture and is today, totally destroyed by mining, over a large area. However, the recent political and bureaucratic pressures that are being brought on the mining activities hold hope. Bellary provides a strong reason for addressing the glaring loopholes in the law that related to private and small-scale/rat-hole mining, the need to develop guidelines for migrant labour and unorganised sector and the pre-conditions that need to be fixed before mining leases are granted. An urgent comprehensive assessment of the status of children of mine workers as well as of local communities and the status of the institutional structures for children have to be immediately taken up. Foremost is the need for strengthening the campaign against child labour in this region. (Acknowledgements: The above case studies were done mainly in partnership with Sakhi, an organisation working for the rights of women and children based in Hospet, Bellary. We would like to thank Dr. Bhagyalaxmi and her team for working with us all through the case study and in conducting field interviews on our behalf. We also wish to thank the organisations READS, SEEDS and Don Bosco for all their help in compiling information). Contaminated water having iron ore waste, the only sources of water for bathing, washing and drinking, Sandur (Photo December 2009)
63 Rangamma’s story: stone quarrying in India February 3, 2010 Read Rangamma’s story below and find out how you can help the Because I Am Girl campaign. “My parents came here to Bangalore after working for two years close to our native place ,” says Rangamma. “I couldn’t go to school as my mother had to work and I had to look after the kids. Now mother is home I am working with appa (father). We wake up at 6am and I wash the dishes…. I help appa by breaking stones, filling them in the baskets and loading them into the trucks. We get 600 rupees for one lorry tipper. But we pay for the explosives used to blast the rocks. So appa makes 1000 to 1200 rupees (about $US20 dollars) a week.” Girls such as Rangamma regularly work up to 14 hours a day engaged in back-breaking work – digging, breaking and loading stones. They also help to process the ore in toxic and hazardous environments, without safety equipment. “When we start we have a lot of blisters. Gradually they go away and the skin on your palms becomes harder,” Rangamma confides. “The dust gets into your eyes and they become infected. We put some medicine. It goes away.” http://www.essentialbaby.com.au/parenting/my-life/rangammas-story-stone-quarrying-in-india-20100203-nbvq.html Coal Pollution and India’s Crippled Children Wednesday 2 September 2009 There has been a dramatic rise in the number of Indian children being born with crippling birth defects as a result of massive levels of uranium pollution from coalfired power stations. For some, their heads are too large or too small or their brains haven’t developed properly most will live sub-standard lives and will die young. India has been hiding these crippled children, the victims of pollution, from the world and only now can the world see the full extent of this pollution horror. Health workers from the Punjabi cities of Bathinda and Faridkot knew something was wrong when they saw a sharp increase in the number of birth defects, physical and mental abnormalities, and cancers among children. They suspected that children were being slowly poisoned. When a visiting scientist from South Africa arranged for tests to be carried it was found that the children had massive levels of uranium in their bodies, in one case more than 60 times the maximum safe limit. If a few hundred children – spread over a large area – were contaminated, how many thousands more might also be affected throughout India? http://www.ourfutureplanet.org/news/288-coal-pollutionand-indias-crippled-children Uranium traces in Punjab children 30th April 2009 | Down To Earth | Savvy Soumya Misra THEY are 149 in all—mostly children below 13 and a few adults. They are being treated for autism, cerebral palsy and mental impairment at the Baba Farid Centre for Special Children in Faridkot, Punjab. They are mostly from Punjab though there are some from Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and even abroad. They are in the spotlight now because traces of uranium have been found in hair samples of most of them. “I am distressed that uranium has been found in the samples. I don’t know what will happen to my child now,” said Devinder Singh, father of seven-year-old Yuvaraj, who is being treated at the centre for cerebral palsy. “Tests need to be done to see if uranium is one of the causes of autism,” said Harish Babu, naturopath at the centre where treatment is done through naturopathy, neurotherapy and yoga. http://www.downtoearth.org.in/full6.asp?foldername=20090430&filename=news&sec_id=4&sid=5
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India’s Childhood in the "Pits" A
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iii Acknowledgements This report, c
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Table of Contents About the Study 3
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4 List of states and districts visi
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6 However, closer observation of th
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8 In addition, almost all work perf
Page 14 and 15: 10 Impacts Children are affected di
Page 16 and 17: 12 is mandatory and this must be
Page 18 and 19: 15 National Overview Mining has imp
Page 20 and 21: 17 Table 1.2: Number of illegal min
Page 22 and 23: 19 Table 1.3: Key indicators in min
Page 24 and 25: 21 migrate to plain areas or are co
Page 26 and 27: 23 had no land to start with and wo
Page 28 and 29: 25 Although there is no data to sho
Page 30 and 31: 27 2,055 children enrolled in Santu
Page 32 and 33: 29 we will eat tomorrow,” said a
Page 34 and 35: 31 GURIA is a dark-eyed little girl
Page 36 and 37: 33 Serious health problems have alr
Page 38 and 39: 35 In several districts of Rajastha
Page 40 and 41: 37 Table 1.4: Total number of child
Page 42 and 43: 39 Bearing in mind that many of the
Page 44 and 45: 41 children are working in mines in
Page 46 and 47: 43 significant problem. A study car
Page 48 and 49: 45 Part II State Reports 1. Karnata
Page 50 and 51: 48 basic healthcare to its populati
Page 52 and 53: 50 Kolar district: Key facts Total
Page 54 and 55: 52 and pursued higher education. Th
Page 56 and 57: 54 has created a peculiar aesthetic
Page 58 and 59: 56 number of children working in th
Page 60 and 61: 58 almost every child is absent for
Page 62 and 63: 60 Table 2.02: Survey on children n
Page 66 and 67: 65 Maharashtra State Overview Mahar
Page 68 and 69: 67 154 are in Maharashtra (making i
Page 70 and 71: 69 poverty, (ii) education, (iii) h
Page 72 and 73: 71 Quarry is a very big area spread
Page 74 and 75: 73 family works as a unit and manag
Page 76 and 77: 75 Table 2.06: Class-wise distribut
Page 78 and 79: 77 Children in stone quarries hit b
Page 80 and 81: 80 Literacy levels are also poor in
Page 82 and 83: 82 and quarrying in the state. Of t
Page 84 and 85: 84 Follow up interviews were carrie
Page 86 and 87: 86 At Thumbli village, residents ex
Page 88 and 89: 88 usually not strong enough to car
Page 90 and 91: 90 Inadequate Health Facilities Sev
Page 92 and 93: 92 Many of the Workers in the Mines
Page 94 and 95: 94 that 296,979 children aged betwe
Page 96 and 97: 96 This case study covered two mine
Page 98 and 99: 98 Traditional Forest Dwellers (Rec
Page 100 and 101: 100 in the mine sites ekeing out a
Page 102 and 103: 102 Conclusions Panna, once a rich
Page 104 and 105: 104 Commission, Government of India
Page 106 and 107: 106 The top five most mined distric
Page 108 and 109: 108 There are several other content
Page 110 and 111: 110 Table 2.11: Enrolment of childr
Page 112 and 113: 112 companies for their power plant
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115 Jharkhand State Overview The st
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117 population who live in these fo
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119 around coal, but to also provid
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121 Status of Anganwadi Centres and
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123 due to multiple government duti
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125 Uranium Corporation of India Li
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128 farming and forestry. It is the
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130 attendance at birth, the high p
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132 were displaced for mining proje
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134 the impacts are visibly evident
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136 for construction and other indu
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138 Table 2.17: School enrolment da
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140 village also complained of cont
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142 about the status of children in
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144 exposed to the toxicity from th
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146 for labour elsewhere. The prese
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148 State Excesses and Human Rights
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150 Table 2.25: Information collect
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152 The DP Camp is far away from th
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154 Naik and Mr. Prahlad Naid who a
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156 Social Cost of Displacement As
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158 Table 2.32: Comparative village
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160 Rajabandha also has a low cost
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162 on land to be acquired in some
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165 Andhra Pradesh State Overview T
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167 Mining in Andhra Pradesh Almost
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169 small areas where there are qua
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171 other families also working in
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173 Nature of Quarry Work Tradition
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175 Conclusions The three micro-lev
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Part III Summary and Recommendation
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180 Whose Child is India’s Mining
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182 attention on child labour issue
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184 are not working in the mines.
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186 proposed to be the basis of th
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188 explored, clear design and work
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OUR EXPERIENCE WITH THE RIGHT TO IN
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193 Andhra Pradesh areas. Appr
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195 Tamil Nadu Orissa informati
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197 compensation for land and R
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Annexures
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200 Karnataka The tables below give
Page 198 and 199:
202 Drop-out children brought back
Page 200 and 201:
205 Glossary Adivasi: The term used
Page 202 and 203:
207 and educational development. Pa
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Children - Terre des Hommes

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