Children - Terre des Hommes

55Bellary: Children Behind the IronCurtain-Too Many Irons in the Fire toSave Them“Red people, red dust, red water, red trees, redanimals and the village itself has turned into a redvillage”. In the morning we wake up with dust, weeat dust, drink dust and sleep with dust, our life isonly about red dust”Source: Complaint from people interviewed in Kallali village, Hospet,June 2009Hospet is a small town in Bellary district known for its largereserves of iron ore and manganese. It is a haven for illegalmining and is a standing example of how the power of themining mafia has reached uncontrollable limits inspite ofwide media exposes, political imbroglios and human rightscampaigns. The open opulence of mine owners most boastfullydescribed through the number of helicopters owned in thisregion stares arrogantly against the stark poverty, hunger,destroyed lands, ruined agriculture and mangled social fabric.Most of all it stares unrepentantly at the terrified child,who breaks the iron ore stones across miles of illegal mines,ruthlessly obscured by the impenetrable nexus of the miningindustry and the politician whose influence over governanceand administration is known to be beyond just the Bellarydistrict or even that of Karnataka.Bellary, Sandur and Hospet taluks have, over the last fewdecades, changed the ecology and economy of the regionby setting up iron ore mining extraction and refiningprojects. These are, to a large extent, serviced by migrantpopulations who come from Chitradurg, Raichur and Koppalin Karnataka and from the neighbouring state of AndhraPradesh. The areas visited for the field survey were Kallali,Danapur, Sankalapuram, Kariganuru, Jambunathagudda,Mariyammanahalli, PK halli, Rajapura, Sultanpura,Torangallu and Bellary. We found several violations on therights of the children living and working in the mining sites,slums and villages here.The companies are mainly private operators with a few publicsector companies like the National Mineral DevelopmentCorporation (NMDC). However, there are more illegalmines than legal ones operating in the district. The miningboom led to a scramble for mining with small contractors andeven farmers themselves converting vast areas of agriculturallands into mine pits in a very erratic, uncontrolled andindiscriminate manner.Migrant workers live in small plastic tents no larger than 3–5 sq ft in size, atthe mine site, Sandur. (Photo December 2009)For instance, in Jambunathagudda, a small village nearHospet, we found over 100 acres of land being used for smallscaleillegal mining. We visited three sites here where mainlymigrant labour from Koppal, Chitradurg and Gulbarga wereworking. The people reported that there were atleast 40illegally operating mines here but the numbers had reduceddue to the economic recession. All the 20-odd migrant familieslive in makeshift tents made of plastic sheets, provided by thecontractor. They have no electricity, drinking water or basicamenities. Their ration cards are of their native village, hencethey can only purchase from the private shops. None of thechildren here attend school, but they help their parents in themines. Each family earns Rs.1,500 per week.Child LabourIt is difficult to give an exact figure for child labour, but onehas to only visit Hospet and spend a whole day walkingthrough the mines, and it is obvious that there are a largeChildren of migrant families work at crushing site, This one is in a crushingunit at Hospet (Photo June 2009)