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Part 4 of 4

DISCOVER FREEMASONRY

Freemasonry is one of the world's oldest secular fraternal societies. It is a world-wide organisation based on the principle of the Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of man. It is a society of men concerned with moral and spiritual values. Its members are taught its precepts by a series of ritual which follow ancient forms and use stone masons' customs and tools and allegorical guides. It seeks to make good men better and thereby make the world a better place in which to live. Freemasonry has been in existence in the present form for nearly 280 years in the world and for over 250 years in India. There are more than 150 Grand Lodges functioning all over the world. The Grand Lodge of India was consecrated as a Sovereign Grand Lodge with full Masonic jurisdiction over the territories of the Republic of India in November 1961. The primary unit organisation of Freemasonry is a Lodge. We have as of now 320 Lodges and over 200 other Masonic bodies located in different parts of the country with a total membership of about 22,000 Freemasons. Masonic organisations throughout the world are engaged in many philanthropic and charitable projects. In India, too, the Masonic Fraternity is involved in several charitable projects, all over the country: The General Williams Masonic Polyclinic and a Masonic Public School in Delhi, as also a Masonic Medical care center for children in Coimbatore, the adoption of an entire village located in a backward area, for all-round development in Health, Sanitation, Education & Housing in Visakhapatnam Distt. & Construction of Sheds for cyclone victims in Andhra Pradesh, many Scholarships and Bursaries awarded to deserving students, helping institutions for the handicapped and the aged and holding of periodical Blood donation camps, Eye camps and other Health Camps etc., are examples of some of the socially relevant activities of Masonic organisations all over the country. Freemasonry is best explained through answers to some specific questions as indicated below:--

What is the object of Masonry?

The Motto of Freemasonry is Brotherly Love, Relief & Truth.

• Freemasonry seeks to make good men better. It encourages the practice of the moral virtues of Temperance, Fortitude, prudence and Justice.
• It inculcates obedience to God & observance of the Laws of the country.
• It is committed to extend the hand of fellowship & provide Relief to those in distress.

What Freemasonry is not?

It is not a Religion. However, it emphasises secularism by teaching respect for and tolerance towards all religions.

It is not a political party or organisation.

It reminds them of the filial affection one should always have for the Land of their birth, to remain loyal to the laws of the land which, for the time being, may be the place of their residence, or afford them protection.

It is not a secret society

• There is nothing secret or secretive about Freemasonry. Freemasonry does not conceal the time and place of its meeting, nor does a member hide the fact of his membership.
• Like many other Societies, it regards some of its internal affairs as private matters of concern only for its members.
• There is no secret about its aims & principles. Copies of its Constitutions and Rules can be obtained by interested members of the public from its offices.

It is not a social club

However, it provides the means of socialising among its members, which consists of a cross section of society drawn from all walks of life who meet on an equal footing. It also involves the families of members on such social occasions.

How does Masonry get its membership?

Freemasonry does not canvass for members. The person must seek for membership of a Masonic Lodge of his own free will and accord. He would, however, be provided all information he wishes to know.

Who is eligible to become a Mason?

No atheist can become a Mason. Anyone who is of good moral character and believes in the existence of Almighty God and a belief in the Supreme Being, no matter by what name He is called, or what faith the person professes, is eligible.

What does Freemasonry expect from one who joins it?

• He must understand and appreciate its high ideals and objectives and put in to actual practice its motto of "Brotherly Love, Relief and Truth".
• Patriotism & Loyalty to one's own country and the Fraternity at all times is a bounden duty.
• It expects that a Freemason should do unto others, as he would wish others would do unto him.
• Charity is the predominant characteristic of a Freemason's heart. He is always expected to "give" to Freemasonry rather than expect to "receive" anything from it for personal benefit.
• That he will practice outside the Lodge those duties & virtues that he is taught inside the Lodge.

Freemasonry Teaches

• Kindness in the home,
• love for one another,
• courtesy in society,
• resistance towards evil,
• help for the weak,
• pity and concern for the unfortunate,
• forgiveness for the penitent,
• fairness in work,
• honesty in business,

and above all, reverence and love for God.

In fact Freemasonry is a Way of Life.

Indian Order of Freemasons

The Indian Order of Freemasons has, as its head, its Grand Master, who is elected for a term of three years. M.W. Bro. Maj. Gen. Dr. Sir Syed Raza Ali Khan, the Nawab of Rampur, was the first Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of India. The present Grand Master, who is 14th on the line since the time the Grand Lodge of India was formed, is M.W. Bro. Capt. Dr. Balaram Biswakumar, O.S.M. Some of the prominent Indians who have been Freemasons are Swami Vivekananda, Shri C. Rajagopalachari, Shri Moti Lal Nehru, Shri Fakhuridin Ali Ahmed, and also several serving and retired judges of Supreme Court and High Courts, serving and retired Defence Personnel and Civilian Officer,s besides many Industrialists, Businessmen, Business Executives and other Professionals.

Applications for membership

There is no canvassing of membership. Candidates for membership are expected to come of their own free will and accord. Whatever information is required will be furnished. Applications duly proposed and Seconded by members are entertained by the Lodges and are scrutinised and balloted in the Lodge. Thereafter, the candidates are initiated into Freemasonry according to ancient custom and receive various degrees. Regional and Grand Lodge ranks are conferred on their attaining sufficient proficiency, based on merit and seniority.

The Clock of Life

The clock of life is wound but once,
And no man has the power
To know just when the hands will stop,
At late or early hour,
Now is the only time you have,
Live, love and toil with a will,
Put no faith' in tomorrow,
For the clock may then he still.

For further information contact:

HOW TO JOIN FREEMASONRY?

The absolute requirements for becoming a Mason are:

• be a man, at least 21 years old
• Have belief in a Supreme Being (of any faith. No particular religion or faith is required or excluded. All are welcome.)
• You should be someone who does, or wants to learn to, enjoy the company of other men from all different social classes, faiths, backgrounds, races, countries, etc. Masonry is universal in its ideals.
• if you are a family man, Masonry considers that your family obligations come FIRST, so you must be sure that:
• You have the time to participate (usually two or three evenings/month at first for meetings and instruction, and then at least one evening per month for meetings from then on -- often more if you get involved in lodge activities.)
o You can afford the initiation fees and the annual dues without hardship to yourself or your family.
o You should be coming to Masonry "of your own free will and accord", to learn to improve yourself and to enjoy the company of other good people, not because someone keeps pestering you to join or because you think it will help you "get ahead" in business.

To join, all you have to do is ask a Mason:

• Preferably someone you know, or at least who lives or works nearby, or...
• If you think that you don't know any Masons in your area, you could send an e-mail to Mr. Vinod Puri at [email protected] giving him details of your name, age, profession, home or postal address, phone numbers and email address, and ask that anyone who lives in your general area reply to you.
• You can call the Grand Lodge/Regional Grand Lodge office and get information.

ARE YOU A MASON?

Have You Ever Considered Becoming a Mason?

As published by the Masonic Renewal Committee of North America

Freemasonry is the oldest, largest Fraternity in the world. It's members have included Kings, Presidents, Prime Ministers, Statesmen, Generals, Admirals, Supreme Court Chief Justices, corporate CEOs, opera stars, movie stars, and probably, your next door neighbor. And Masonry is always ready to welcome good men in the Fraternity. It's ready to welcome YOU, if in your heart you can answer "yes" to a few questions.

Do you believe that there is such a thing as honor, and that a man has a responsibility to act with honor in everything he does? Masons teach that principle. We believe that a life not founded on honor is hollow and empty -- that a man who acts without honor is less than a man.

Do you believe in God? No atheist can be a Mason. Masons do not care what your individual faith is -- that is question between you and your God -- but we do require that a man believe in a Supreme Being.

Are you willing to allow others the same right to their own beliefs that you insist on yourself? Masonry insists on toleration -- on the right of each person to think for himself in religious, social and political matters.

Do you believe that you have a responsibility to leave the world a better place than you found it? Masonry teaches that each man has a duty not only to himself but also to others. We must do what we can to make the world a better place. Whether that means cleaning up the environment, working on civic projects, or helping children to work or read or see -- the world should be a better place because we have passed through it.

Do you believe that it is not only more blessed to give than to receive, it's also more fun? Masons are involved with the problems and needs of others because we know it gives each of us a good feeling -- unlike any other -- to help. Much of our help is given anonymously. We're not after gratitude, we're more than rewarded by that feeling which comes from knowing we have helped another person overcome some adversity, so that their life can go on.

Are you willing to give help to your Brothers when they need it, and to accept their help when you need it? Masonry is mutual help. Not just financial help (although that's there, too) but help in the sense of being there when needed, giving support, lending a sympathetic ear.

Do you feel that there's something more to life than financial success? Masons know that self-development is more precious than money in the bank or social position or political power. Those things often accompany self-development, but they are no substitute for it. Masons work at building their lives and character, just as a carpenter works a building a house.

Do you believe that a person should strive to be a good citizen and that we have a moral duty to be true to the country in which we live? Masons believe that a country is strong as long as freedom, equality, and the opportunity for human development is afforded to all. A Mason is true to his government and its ideals. He supports its laws and authority when both are just and equitably applied. We uphold and maintain the principles of good government, and oppose every influence that would divide it in a degrading manner.

Do you agree that man should show compassion for others, that goodness of heart is among the most important of human values? Masons do. We believe in a certain reverence for living things, a tenderness toward people who suffer. A loving kindness for our fellow man, and a desire to do right because it is right. Masonry teaches that although all men are fallible and capable of much wrong, when they discover the goodness of heart, they have found the true essence of virtue. Masonry helps men see their potential for deep goodness and virtue.

Do you believe that men should strive to live a brotherly life? Masons see brotherhood as a form of wisdom, a sort of bond that holds men together -- a private friendship that tells us we owe it to each other to be just in our dealings and to refuse to speak evil of each other. Masons believe a man should maintain an attitude of good will, and promote unity and harmony in his relations with one another, his family, and his community. Masons call this way of believing the Brotherhood of Man. It really means that every Mason makes it his duty to follow the golden rule. This is why Masonry has been called one of the greatest forces for good in the world.

IF YOU ANSWERED "YES", YOU SHOULD CONSIDER BECOMING A MASON.

Freemasonry offers much to its members -- the opportunity to grow, the chance to make a difference, to build a better world for our children. It offers the chance to be with and work with men who have the same values and ideals -- men who have answered "YES" to these questions.

It's easy to find out more. Just find a Mason and ask him about Masonry. You probably know several Masons. Perhaps you've seen the Square and Compasses like the one in this brochure or on a pin or tie tack or bumper sticker. If you know where the lodge is in your community, stop by, or look up the number of your local Masonic lodge in the phone book and ask for the secretary of the lodge. He'll be happy to help you.

Have you ever considered becoming a Mason? We'd like a chance to talk with you.

***

FAQ ON INDIAN FREEMASONRY
(by V. Rajendran OSM, P. Dy. G.M)

Q). When did Freemasonry come to India?

A). The honor of receiving Freemasonry in India goes to Calcutta. In 1730 officers of the East Indian Company held their meetings in Fort William, Calcutta. The number given to the Lodge was 72.

Q). What was the first Lodge in Madras?

A). No. 222 EC, in 1752, and it does not appear to have received a name.

Q). What was the first Lodge in Bombay?

A). Bombay Lodge No. 234 EC in 1758.

Q). What was the first Lodge in Punjab?

A). Lodge No. 489 EC, in 1786.

Q). What effect did the existence of two competing Grand Lodges in England [Ancients and Moderns] have on Freemasonry in India?

A). Inasmuch as numerous Lodges had been constituted in India by the Moderns, while others had come into existence Ancient auspices, quite naturally much of the Ritualistic differences established themselves into the respective Lodges. This situation was complicated somewhat by the fact that there were also Lodges in India of Irish & Scottish origins.

However, it was in India where both the warring groups joined together in harmony long before the formation of the Union of England. In 1785, the Atholl Lodge at Madras surrounded its powers and accepted the United Prov. Grand Lodge. The old Atholl Lodge was recorded as lodge of Perfect Unanimity [later numbered as No. 150]. Madras had thus stolen a march of 27 years over the United Grand Lodge of England, which was formed in 1813.

Q). Who was the first Indian Mason?

A). Omdat-ul-Omrah, the Nawab of Carnatic. The second Indian Mason was M. Bandeh Ali Khan, initiated in Marine Lodge, Calcutta in 1812.

Q). Who was the first Hindu to be admitted into Freemasonry?

A). Bro. Ranganath Sastry in Lodge Perfect Unanimity No. 233, Madras in 1857.

Q). The earliest Sikh to be made a mason?

A). Bro. Duleep Singh in Lodge Star in the East in 1861.

Q). Which Province had segregation preventing Indians from being admitted into Freemasonry?

A). In Bengal, where the bye-law No. 55 of the PGL (EC) prevented Indians from being admitted into Freemasonry. Ultimately the first Hindu to be admitted in Bengal was Bro. P C Dutt in 1872, that too after very many "black-balling" and nine years of persistent appeals.

The first Hindu to become a Freemason was PC Dutt from Calcutta. The year was 1863 -- six years after the 1857 Revolt -- and the British were still suspicious of "natives." Since membership was open to all men of good character, who believe in a "Supreme Being," the Provincial Grand Master of Calcutta Hugh Sanderman hunted out a religious loophole to deny Dutt membership. He argued that as a Hindu, Dutt didn't believe in a single God but rather a pantheon of deities. After making an impassioned speech arguing that all Hindu deities are reflections of a single God, Dutt joined the Lodge of Anchor and Hope in 1872.

Today, the Sandhurst Temple in Fort's 120-year-old Freemasons' Hall -- the foundation stone was laid in 1897 -- boasts a wooden altar with books of all faiths including the Gita. The altar stands on a checkered square in the centre of a large room where a fresco of an "all-seeing" eye, representing the "Supreme Being," observes proceedings....

New initiates aren't forced to drink red wine from a skull like in "The Lost Symbol." But each new member must kneel before the altar, place his hand on a holy book of his choice, and swear an oath of loyalty. "Members vote for or against admitting a new initiate by dropping white or black balls into a box," explains Malkani. This tradition led to the phrase "blackball", still used when someone fails to win membership to an exclusive club.

While barriers of race and religion have been torn down, discrimination on the basis of sex remains. India has a ladies only lodge in Gurgaon but it isn't recognized by the Grand Lodge of India, which has yet to welcome a woman into the craft. "Ladies can't be brothers," reasons senior Mason.

-- The Freemasons Chamber of Secrets in Fort Turns 120, by Nergish Sunavala, 9/3/17

Q). What were the foreign Constitutions whose Lodges functioned in India?

A). Dutch Constitution -- Lodge Solomon was founded on April 7, 1758 at Tandelga near Chinsurah in Bengal by the commander of the merchant fleet of the Netherlands East India Company, Bro. Jacob Larwood Van Chevichaven.

French Constitution -- Lodge Sincere Amite, Pondicherry was chartered in 1787. There were quite a few Naval Lodges. Though Naval Lodges were not recognized by the Grand Lodge of France, the members of the Naval Lodge in due course found their way to get affiliated to and remain under the protection of a stationary Lodge.

Scottish Constitution -- Into the sub-continent the first Lodge under the Scottish Constitution was consecrated in 1801 in Ceylon (Sri Lanka). One Lodge Hope No. 334 SC, Karachi was charted in 1767; in 1770 it was shifted to New Castle and in 1782 to New York. The date of its arrival in India cannot at present be stated. Lodge Hope was chartered by the PGM of Western India on April 25, 1842.

Danish Constitution -- Introduced in Tranquebar (near Nagapattinam, Tamil Nadu) in 1805. The Danish colony at Tranquebar was fairly numerously populated by Danes. Due to the efforts of one Bro. Ewald, a warrant was granted for a Lodge at Tranquebar in 1807 by the National Grand Lodge of Denmark. The name of the Lodge was "De L’amour Fraternelle" (to Brotherly Love).

Irish Constitution -- The Light of the North No. 357 at Kurnaul [now Karnal] in 1835. This Lodge survived for three years only. The next was Lodge Duke of Abercon No. 382 IC, in Calcutta in 1905.

Q). Name some of the prominent Indians who were Freemasons.

A). Swami Vivekananda (initiated in 1884 under the name of Bro. Narendra Nath Dutt in Lodge Anchor & Hope, Calcutta); Motilal Nehru -- Lodge Harmony, Kanpur (Father of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and grandfather of Indhira Gandhi); C. Rajagopalachary (Governor General of India); Sir C P Ramaswamy Iyer (Divan of Travancore); Dr. P V Cheriy (Governor of Maharashtra); and Fakruddin Ali Ahmed (President of India).

Q). Which is the oldest building used as a Masonic Temple in India?

A). The Goshamahal Baradari, Hyderabad, built in 1682 by Sultan Abul Hassan Tanasha.

Q). When was the Grand Lodge of India formed?

A). November 24, 1961 in New Delhi.

Q). Name the parent Grand Lodges of Grand Lodge of India.

A). The Grand Lodges of England, Ireland and Scotland.

Q). Who were the principal officers at the consecration of the GLI?

A). Dy. GM of Grand Lodge of England, RW Bro Earl of Cadogon, Grand Master of Grand Lodge of Scotland, MW Bro. Archibald, and Dy. GM of Grand Lodge of Ireland, RW Bro George S Gamble.

Q). Who was the founder Grand Master of GLI?

A). MW Bro. H H Major General Syed Raza Ali Khan, Nawab of Rampur.

Q). How many Lodges opted to become the Founder Lodges of the G.L. of India?

A). 145 Lodges, with a total membership of 7466, opted to become the founder Lodges of the Grand Lodge of India.

FREEMASONRY COMES TO INDIA

In 1717 A.D. when an era of comparative peace and harmony dawned on the European scene, the Grand Lodge of England took shape at a meeting of the local Lodges of London, to elect a Grand Master. A United constitution was drawn up and recognized by all the Lodges. A democratic tradition in the election of the Worshipful Master of a Lodge was prescribed. The Worshipful Master was authorized to appoint his team of officers.

It is therefore of interest that within 12 years of the constitution of the Grand Lodge of England, constituted for the purpose of exercising supervision over the lodges in London, and its neighboring areas, a petition was sent by a few Brethren in India to constitute a Provincial Grand Lodge in Calcutta. The Petition having been granted, a Provincial Grand Master was appointed to supervise Masonic activity in India and the Far East in 1728 A.D.

Full details regarding how the First Lodge was constituted in India, are preserved in the Minutes of the Grand Lodge in London. First a petition was presented on December 28, 1728 and at the end of the minutes of that meeting, the text of the "Deputation" from the Grand Master: "to Empower and Authorize our well beloved Brother Pomfret....that he do, in our place and stead, constitute a regular Lodge, in due form at Fort William in Bengal in the East Indies...." This was signed and sealed "the 6th day of February 1728/9 and in the year of Masonry 5732 (which shows that the Grand Lodge used Usher's Chronology in dating the Masonic era -- as the Grand Lodge of Scotland still.

The Lodge at Fort William -- that is, Calcutta -- appears in the Engraved List of 1730, as No. 72. It was to meet at Fort William in Calcutta. The coat of Arms was adopted from the East India Company: a golden lion, rampant guardant, supporting between the forepaws a regal crown. In 1729, Captain Ralph Farwinter was appointed "Provisional Grand Master for East India in Bengal," and also James Dawson as "Provincial Grand Master" for East Indies.

The Provincial Grand Lodge of Madras was formed in 1752, and The Provincial Grand Lodge of Bombay was created in 1758. Although it appeared in the Roll of Grand Lodge, there is no record of how it came into being.

The first Indian Mason was Omdat-ul-Omrah, Nawab Carnatic, initiated in 1775. The doors to Hindu Masonry was flung wide-open might one say, by the unstoppable determination of one Mr. P.C. Dutt of Calcutta to become a member of the craft. After much opposition from the Provincial Grand Master (Hugh Sanderman) and nine years after he was proposed for initiation Mr.Dutt became Bro. Dutt in Anchor and Hope, No. 234, in 1872. Twenty-three years later, he was Deputy District Grand Master.

THE BIRTH OF THE GRAND LODGE OF INDIA

It was towards the end of October 1959 that the Most W. Grand Masters of England, Ireland and the Immediate Past Grand Master Mason of Scotland met in London to discuss the future of Freemasonry in India. The three Grand Masters considered that "an independent Grand Lodge of India is desirable and that its establishment should....be gradually but actively pursued."

A representative Steering Committee was set up consisting exclusively of Indian Brethren in proportion to the number of Lodges under each of the three Constitutions, with R.W.Bro Lt.Gen. Sir Harold Williams, K.B.E., C.B., as Chairman, with the aim of establishing an independent Grand Lodge of India on the best possible foundations. The Steering Committee met at important centers of Masonic activities in the North, East, South and West of India and its report was unanimously signed early October 1960. On December 1, the three Grand Masters issued "Notes on the proposed Grand Lodge of India for the information and guidance of Lodges in India." Therein they reiterated their declared attitude towards an independent Grand Lodge of India, but left it to Lodges in India to decide whether to opt for or against joining such a body, adding that if the Brethren in India decided in favor of an independent Grand Lodge, they would accept the decision and establish with it the closest fraternal relations and that Lodges not wishing to participate would continue to enjoy the existing rights under their respective Grand Lodges.

Out of a total of 277 individual Lodges in India (excluding Pakistan, Ceylon and Aden, which were excluded for the poll), 145 opted for the new Grand Lodge of India. This represented a little over 52 per cent.

INAUGURAL MEETING



The Grand Lodge of India was officially constituted at ten minutes to six o'clock on Friday the 24th November 1961 in the Ashoka Hotel, New Delhi. There were three delegations from the Grand Lodge of Scotland, Ireland and England in that order.

After the three delegations were received and greeted, the Grand Master Mason of Scotland proceeded with the Consecration. Thereafter, The Deputy Grand Master of Ireland officially constituted the new Grand Lodge saying "in the name of the Grand Lodges of England, Ireland and Scotland and by the command of their Grand Master, I constitute and form you, my good Brethren into the Sovereign Grand Lodge of India, you are empowered henceforth to exercise all the rights and privileges of a Grand Lodge according to the ancient usage's and landmarks of the Craft. May the Grand Architect of the Universe prosper, direct and counsel you in all your proceedings."

After the Consecration and Constitution, the Deputy Grand Master of England assumed the Throne and installed Major General Dr. Sir Syed Raza Ali Khan, G.C.I.E.,D.Litt., LL.D., His Highness The Nawab of Rampur, as the first Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of India. The Aprons, Collars, Gauntlets etc. for the new Lodge were provided jointly by the three parent Grand Lodges.

In addition to the three parent Grand Lodges, the M.W. Grand Master of the Grand Lodges of the State of Israel, the M.W. Past Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Alberta (Canada) and about 1,491 Brethren from all over India were present at this historic event.

SOME VERY WELL KNOWN INDIAN FREEMASONS

Freemasonry has always fascinated people from all walks of life. The kaleidoscope of its membership has included Royalty, Aristocracy, Gentry and Commoners alike. Freemasons in India have been no exception, and have contributed to India over the last three centuries in no small manner.

Some of the Eminent Indian Masons

• Sir Phirozeshah Mehta
• Dadabhoy Nowroji Tata
• Swami Vivekananda
• W.C. Bannerjee
• President Dr. Rajendra Prasad
• President Dr. S. Radhakrishnan
• Pandit Motilal Nehru
• President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed
• Sir Dorabji Jamshedji Tata
• J.R.D. Tata
• Goculdas Narottam Morarjee
• Ebrahim Currimbhoy
• Dr. B.G. Kher
• Bhulabhai Desai
• Dr. C. Rajagopalachari
• Sir C.P. Ramaswamy Iyer
• Sir Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy
• D.L. Vaidya
• Dr. D.R. Bhandarkar
• Sir N.G. Chandavarkar
• M.R. Jayakar
• Dwarkadas Narainji
• Sir Purshottamdas Thakurdas
• Sir Chimanlal Setalvad
• T.G. Khaitan
• Dharamsey Morarjee
• Narsingir Pratapgir
• Sir Bhalchandra K. Pradhan
• Dr. Sir Tehmuiji Nariman
• P.M. Kanga
• Sir Sultan Mohammad Shah, Aga Khan
• Dr. Badruddin Tyabji
• Sir Sayyad Ahmad Khan Dahlavi
• Mohammadbhoy Currimbhoy Ebrahim,
• Ebrahim Rahimtulla Currimbhoy
• Dr. R.N. Cooper
• Dr. P.V. Cherian
• Maharaja Ganga Singh
• Maharaja Duleep Singh
• Maharaja Randheer Singh
• Maharaja Digvijay Smghji
• Maharaja Mahinder Bhupinder Singh
• Maharaja Yadvinder Singh
• Maharaja Sir Bhawani Singh
• Maharaja N.N. Bhup
• Maharaja J.N. Bhup
• Maharaja R.J. Bhup
• Maharaja Viziaram Raj
• Maharaja Chhatarsinghji
• Maharaja Mayurdhwaj Jaladhip
• Thakursaheb Daulatsinhji
• Sir Gangadharrrao Patwardhan
• Shrimant Shankarrao Patwardhan
• Balasaheb Pant
• Pantbahadur Raghunathrao Shankarrao
• Sir Syed Reza Ali Khan
• Sir Syed Ahmed Ali Khan
• Sahebzada Abu Samad Khan
• Ibrahim Khan
• Mirza Husain Yawar Khan
• Maharajkumar Mohammad Amir Hyder Kha
• Nawabzada Khan Mohammed Tolay
• Nawabzada Syed Hussam Bilgrami
• Nawab Jung Nawab Hyder
• Nawab Sir Amin Jung Jung Bahadur
• Chintamanrao Patwardhan
• Sampatrao Gaikwad
• Shrimant Bhau Ramrao Venkatrao
• Diwan Suryashankar Mehta
• Sheikh Abdul Khaliq
• Sorab M. Bharucha
• Sir. Samuel Runganadhan (first India's High Commissioner in London)
• Sir David Devadoss, Judge, Madras High Court
• Sardar Sir R.J. Vakil
• David Abraham
• S.V. Sista
• Ayaz Peerbhoy
• Rasesh Mafatlal
• Justice D.P. Madon
• Justice Prakash Narain.
• J.B. Kanga
• D.D. Davar
• M.P. Kapadia
• D.R. Pradhan
• R.K. Saiyad
• Parikshit Sahni
• Ashok Kumar Ganguly.
• Dr. Phiroze Sethna.
• Nanik Rupani.
• G. L. Raheja.
• Narayan Varma.
• Sir Reginald Spence.
• Jamshed N Guzder
• Dr. Shantilal J Mehta
• Dr. Framroz Sethna
• Dr. Homiyar Dastoor
• Dr. Mohanlal Modi
• Dr. Jamnadas Merchant
• Rustomji A Wadia
• David Shellim
• Nariman S Patel
• Damodar D. Meht
• Maharaja Jaya Chamaraja Wadeyar
• Justice P.N.Khanna
• Justice G Ramanujam
• Justice S.S.Ali
• Justice R Bhattacharya
• Justice V Ramaswamy
• Justice S Natarajan
• Justice A.B.Saharya
• Dr Gaur Hari Singhania
• Justice S Padmanabhan
• Justice V Ratnam
• Justice B.S.Sinha
• Justice Devinder Gupta
• H.H. Marthanda Varma
• Justice U Sinha
• Justice A.R.Lakshmanan
• Justice S Jagadeesan
• C.A. Ramakrishnan I.C.S.
• Prof M.S. Thacker
• Justice K Veeraswami
• Justice T Ramprasad Rao
• Cav. Dr. G.K Devarajulu
• Justice N.S. Ramaswamy
• Sitaram Jaipuria
• G Ramaswamy
• V.P. Raman
• Srikanta Datta Narasimharaja Wadiyar
• Sir Jamshedjee Jeejeebhoy
• His Holiness Sir Sultan Mohamed Shah, Aga Khan
• Dr. Badruddin Tyabji
• The Nawab Of Pataudi Mansur Ali Khan
• Lt. Gen. H.H.Maharaja Jivaji Rao Scindia, Maharaja of Scindia
• Mr Madhav Rao Scindia
• Maharaja of Bobbili
• Ardaseer Cursetji Wadia
• Deshabandu Chittaran Das
• Gaganendranath Tagore
• W.C. Banwejee
• Sir Rash Bihari Ghose
• Kishab Chandra Sen
• Romesh Chanra Dutt
• Sir Syed Ahmed Khan
• Sir Lakshmanaswami Mudaliar - Vice-Chancellor, Madras University
• Dr. Malcolm Adiseshiah - Vice-Chancellor, Under Secretary General UNESCO
• Mr. Zal Irani
• Dr. M.G.K. Menon - Scientist
• Mr. K.P.S. Menon, I.C.S.
• Nawab Salar Jung

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George Thompson (abolitionist)
by Wikipedia
Accessed: 2/19/20


George Thompson
1851 daguerreotype
Member of the United Kingdom Parliament for Tower Hamlets
In office: 1847–1852
Preceded by: Charles Richard Fox
Succeeded b: Charles Salisbury Butler
Personal details
Born: 18 June 1804, Liverpool, England
Died: 7 October 1878 (aged 74), Leeds, England
Nationality: British
Political party: Radical
Spouse(s): Anne Spry (m. 1831; died 1878)
Children 6
Occupation: Abolitionist, activist, politician

George Donisthorpe Thompson (18 June 1804 – 7 October 1878) was a British anti-slavery orator and activist who toured giving lectures and worked for legislation while serving as a Member of Parliament. He was arguably one of the most important abolitionists and human rights lecturers in the United Kingdom and the United States.

Early life

Thompson had little formal education and was largely self-taught. In early adulthood, he began a life of professional activism, starting with his role in founding a mutual improvement society at the age of eighteen, as well as his membership in debate societies. This suggests an early interest in self-betterment and the issues of the day. His father worked aboard a slave trading vessel, and his stories of the horrors of the slave trade planted the issue in the younger Thompson’s mind from an early age. He recalls the stories that his father told in some of his later writings, recounting his father’s observations of the inhumane treatment of slaves.[1]

Activism in Britain


George Thompson

Initially Thompson had little knowledge of slavery, though he had gained a reputation as an able orator. He was hired by the society to try to get slavery immediately abolished on moral and religious grounds, a concept called "immediatism." He quickly took up the dissemination of the Society's creed: "To uphold slavery is a crime before God, and the condition must, therefore, be immediately abolished." In 1832 he travelled to Scotland, where he gained an interest in the abolition of slavery in the United States and other parts of the world. While in Scotland he also met William Lloyd Garrison, who would remain a lifelong friend and colleague, as well as Nathaniel Paul, an African-American abolitionist. In Glasgow in 1833 he debated with Peter Borthwick, who had been appointed by the West India Association to defend slavery.[2]

Thompson was invited by Garrison to visit New England, and this proposal was not only accepted by his supporters in Glasgow but the Edinburgh Emancipation Society was formed so that it too could back Thompson's journey.[3] From 1836 to 1847 he was active in every major anti-slavery debate in Britain, including the 1840 World Anti-Slavery Convention in London.[4] In 1847 he was elected to the House of Commons as a Member of Parliament (MP) for Tower Hamlets.[1]

Thompson was also an advocate of East Indian reform, free trade, Chartism, nonresistance, and the peace movement. However, he was most prominent in his work to eliminate slavery at home and abroad, often protesting legislation that offered limited or gradual restriction on slavery. Favoring a quick and decisive emancipation of all slaves, he was ultimately unsatisfied with the British Emancipation Act of 1833, because it forced slaves to work as apprentices for six years after their "liberation." He therefore used his position in Parliament to push for additional legislation.[1]


Portrait of William Lloyd Garrison, George Thompson and Wendell Phillips, ca.1850-1851 (photo by Southworth & Hawes)

Activism in the United States

George Thompson was an active lecturer, and he willingly pointed out the role that America played in the perpetuation of slavery. He first traveled to the United States in 1834, where he attracted the attention of pro-slavery men, and barely escaped being captured by them after one of his lecturing sessions. His lecture circuit that year was credited with the formation of over 150 anti-slavery societies around the US, and inspired many to join the anti-slavery cause.[5] The resistance to his platform did not abate, and he was forced to return to Britain, via Tasmania (Australia). The Hobart Town Courier newspaper, 8 Jul 1836, carried a letter, penned by Thompson in November of the previous year, intended for Patrick Letham of Glasgow. In his letter, Thompson states that he had arrived "within the hour" at New Brunswick, Canada, by British brig, having "left the United States to escape the assassin's knife". The editor's note adds that attempts to "burn and murder" him had been made in several US towns.[6]

When the Fugitive Slave Law was passed in 1850, Thompson returned to the United States, and he was this time quite popular among proponents of abolitionism, now that the movement had increased in size and influence.

In 1859, with his son-in-law Frederick William Chesson, he founded the London Emancipation Society, which strongly supported the Union side in the American Civil War.[7]

During a final visit in 1864, he allied with William Wells Brown in advocating the destruction of slavery. He also met Abraham Lincoln, and both supported and witnessed the final destruction of the Confederacy at Fort Sumter in 1865.[1]

British India Society

He was involved in the setting up of the British India Society in 1839.[8] He was also the President of the Bengal British India Society, which was established in 1843.[9]

Return to England

Thompson became ill and traveled back to his home country, where he died in 1878. While his advocacy of abolitionism went relatively unnoticed after his death, his efforts to effect a worldwide abolitionist movement cannot be ignored. His profession as activist allowed him to make a living by supporting the cause that he cared about, as well as enabling him to make unprecedented steps in freeing enslaved peoples around the world.

Personal life

On 29 January 1831 in Islington, Thompson married Anne Erskine Lorraine Spry. Thompson had several children who survived to adulthood: Louisa Eliza Spry (m. Frederick Arthur Nosworthy), Amelia Ann Everard[10] (m. Frederick William Chesson), George Herbert (m. Marianne Cronin), and Edith. Another son, named after William Lloyd Garrison, died aged 15. A daughter, named after Elizabeth Pease, died aged 6.[11]

References

1. Gifford, Ronald M. (2007). "Thompson, George". American National Biography Online October 2007 Update. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 27 January 2008.
2. Whyte, Iain. Scotland and the Abolition of Black Slavery, 1756-1838 (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2006), pp. 230-1.
3. "Slavery in The United States". The Liberator. 27 April 1834.
4. The Anti-Slavery Society Convention, 1840, Benjamin Robert Haydon, accessed 19 July 2008
5. Born, Michael. "Richard S. Rust, a minister with a mission". Retrieved 8 February 2020.
6. Hobart Town Courier-8 July 1836 pg4
7. "London Emancipation Society". Organizing Black America: An Encyclopedia of African American Associations. Taylor and Francis. 2005. ISBN 0-203-80119-9.[permanent dead link]
8. "The British India Society » Britain – India – Empire". arts.leeds.ac.uk. Retrieved 18 February 2018.
9. Khan, BR (2012). "Bengal British India Society". In Islam, Sirajul; Jamal, Ahmed A. (eds.). Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh (Second ed.). Asiatic Society of Bangladesh.
10. Drew, John (29 October 2016). "Into the Heart of Bengal". The Daily Star. Retrieved 4 November2016.
11. Wigtownshire newspaper for 4 Sept 1851 reads: "NOSWORTHY, Fred. Arthur - Married 19/8/1851 - At St. Luke's Church, Chelsea, on the 19th ult., Fred. Arthur, youngest son of the late Captain Richard Nosworthy, Paymaster, Second West India Regiment, to Eliza Louisa Spry, eldest daughter of George Thompson, Esq., M.P. for the Tower Hamlets."
Wikimedia Commons has media related to George Donisthorpe Thompson.

External links

• Works by George Thompson at Project Gutenberg
• Works by or about George Thompson at Internet Archive
• Lee, Sidney, ed. (1898). "Thompson, George" . Dictionary of National Biography. 56. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
• The Liberator Files, Items concerning George Thompson from Horace Seldon's collection and summary of research of William Lloyd Garrison's The Liberator original copies at the Boston Public Library, Boston, Massachusetts.
• Thompson Chesson Scrapbooks From the Rare Book and Special Collections Division at the Library of Congress

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Ramgopal Ghosh
by Wikipedia
Accessed: 2/19/20


Ramgopal Ghosh
Born: 1815, Kolkata, Bengal, British India
Died: 15 January 1868, Kolkata, Bengal, British India
Nationality: Indian
Occupation: Businessman

Ramgopal Ghosh (Bengali: রামগোপাল ঘোষ) (1815–1868) was an Indian businessman, social reformer, orator and one of the leaders of the Young Bengal group. He was called the Indian Demosthenes.[1][2] Ghosh was one of the persons who helped John Elliot Drinkwater Bethune to establish his girls school.[3]

Early life

The family hailed from Bagati, near Mogra in Hooghly District. His father, Gobinda Chandra Ghosh had a small shop in Kolkata's China Bazar. His maternal grandfather, Dewan Ramprasad Singha, used to work in the office of King Hamilton & Co. in Kolkata.

It was in Calcutta, in 1790, that the British East India Company first began the trading business that would, by 1858, lead to its control over all of India. Hamilton & Co. was the first British silversmith to set up shop in Calcutta. The pieces they produced in Calcutta, mainly for British consumption, were of polished silver with smooth lines and minimal decoration.

Later on, in Bovanipore, a suburb of Calcutta, local silversmiths Grish Chunder Dutt, Dass & Dutt, and Goopee Nath Dutt created elaborately designed, répoussée, and chased scenes of Indian village and farming life, with human figures, animals, and trees. Ghosh was born in his maternal grandfather's house.[4]

-- Indian Silver during the Raj, by Harish K. Patel with Veronica J. McDavid

There are two opinions about his childhood. The first says that he initially joined Sherburne's School and started learning English. At that time Hara Chandra Ghosh, then a student of Hindu College and later one of the leading Derozians [Young Bengalis], married a relative of his. Observing the keenness of young Ramgopal, Hara Chandra pestered the former's father to get him admitted in Hindu College. His father did not have the means to pay for his education at Hindu College. However, one Mr. Rogers of King Hamilton & Co. agreed to pay the fees and he was admitted to Hindu College. The second opinion is that Mr. Rogers got him admitted in Hindu College right from the beginning.[4]

Ghosh did not have to continue that way for long. His brilliance attracted the attention of David Hare and soon he was on the latter's free student list. In time he joined the class of Derozio. He became friendly with Ramtanu Lahiri and the other Derozians. His dedication attracted Derozio's attention and he used to coach him in English philosophy and poetry outside class hours.[4]

When Derozio established the Academic Association, Ghosh became one of its leading members. It was in the meeting of the Association that Ghosh learnt to express himself fluently in English. The meetings of the Academic Association were attended by such people as Sir Edward Ryan, who was a judge of the Supreme Court and W.W.Bird, who later became lieutenant governor of Bengal. They warmly appreciated Ghosh's talent and openly encouraged him.[4]

Business activities

Ghosh had to leave his studies unfinished and get on in working life. On the recommendation of David Hare, he started working with a Jewish businessman named Joseph. Later, another businessman name Kelsall joined the firm, Ghosh served them as a middle-man. When the two fell out, Ghosh formed a jointly owned firm Kelsall, Ghose & Co., and still later, around 1848, he floated his own firm, R.G.Ghosh & Co. In the process he accumulated fabulous wealth.[4]

One of the great qualities of Ghosh was that he never forgot his old friends. Even as he went up the financial and social ladder he kept close contact with them and helped them whenever they were in need. There were occasions when he helped his old friends such as Ramtanu Lahiri and Rasik Krishna Mallick.[4]

When his grandfather died, there was a hue and cry in society that he was opposed to Hindu religion and there was possibility of his being ostracised. His father appealed to him to declare publicly his faith in Hindu religion but he turned to his father and said, "I am ever willing to obey you and bear any pains for that but I cannot tell a lie." When this spread around, he gained in the esteem in society. On another occasion his business had nosedived and there was possibility of his becoming bankrupt. His friends advised him to transfer his assets to others but he refused to follow an illegal path.[4] His personal integrity has been acknowledged even by more recent historians.[5]

Oration and social reforms

His speeches on the Black Acts (1850), which aimed at bringing disputes between Europeans and Asians under the jurisdiction of the Company's courts and those criticising the European protests against a well-intentioned government move to bring Europeans on par with the natives in judicial treatment were a landmark.[2] He was the first, as early as 1853, to demand the eligibility of Indians in the civil service examinations. In 1854, he was the first Indian to propose the establishment of universities in India. He supported the move of Dwarkanath Tagore to send four students to England for higher medical studies.[1]

Ghosh not only delivered fiery speeches but also wrote effectively. His publication of a booklet A Few Remarks on Certain Draft Acts, Commonly Called Black Acts so angered the English that he was forced out of his position as vice-president of the Agri-Horticultural Society.[4] He was closely associated with the publications of the time, such as Jnananwesan and Bengal Spectator.[1] He took an active part in the establishment of the British Indian Association and was a member of its committee.[6]

He not only indulged in politics but also other causes. It was at his initiative that a decision was taken to erect a statue of David Hare. He was the first to offer one month's income for the purpose; others followed[4] and the statue stands to this day in the compound of Presidency College.

In his last days, he wrote off loans totalling Rs. 40,000 given to his friends.[4]

References

1. Sengupta, Subodh Chandra and Bose, Anjali (editors), 1976/1998, Sansad Bangali Charitabhidhan (Biographical dictionary) Vol I, (in Bengali), pp 480–481, ISBN 81-85626-65-0
2. Sengupta, Nitish, 2001/2002, History of the Bengali-speaking People, p 228, UBS Publishers' Distributors Pvt. Ltd., ISBN 81-7476-355-4
3. Acharya, Poromesh, Education in Old Calcutta in Calcutta, the Living City, Vol I, edited by Sukanta Chaudhuri, pp 87, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-563696-1.
4. Sastri, Sivanath, Ramtanu Lahiri O Tatkalin Bangasamaj, (in Bengali)1903/2001, p 76-80, New Age Publishers Pvt. Ltd.
5. Sengupta, Nitish, p232.
6. Sastri, Sivanath, pp 115–116,

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Part 1 of 2

Indian Silver during the Raj
by Harish K. Patel with Veronica J. McDavid
SilverFromIndia1850-1920.blogspot.com
Accessed: 2/19/20

A small collection of silver from India, all of it dating from the Raj Period, some of it made by local Indian silversmiths, some by British Colonials. The collection includes the work of Orr and Hamilton, as well as Oomersi Mawji, Dass & Dutt, and others, in the regions of Kutch (Cutch), Madras (Chennai), Lucknow, Calcutta (Kolkata), Kashmir, and Rajasthan.

Calcutta

It was in Calcutta, in 1790, that the British East India Company first began the trading business that would, by 1858, lead to its control over all of India. Hamilton & Co. was the first British silversmith to set up shop in Calcutta. The pieces they produced in Calcutta, mainly for British consumption, were of polished silver with smooth lines and minimal decoration.

Later on, in Bovanipore, a suburb of Calcutta, local silversmiths Grish Chunder Dutt, Dass & Dutt, and Goopee Nath Dutt created elaborately designed, répoussée, and chased scenes of Indian village and farming life, with human figures, animals, and trees.

Silver Garniture Figure of Elephant


Silver Garniture Figure of Elephant, Hamilton & Co., Calcutta, India, ca. 1810, Sterling Silver; Dimensions: 7 inches H x 6 3/4 inches L (17.8 cm H x 17.2 cm L) Weight: 50.18 oz (1,422.672 grams).

A Rare Anglo-Indian Silver Garniture Figure in the Form of a Caparisoned Elephant, ca. 1810, Hamilton & Co., Calcutta, established 1808 under license from the East India Company; the elephant depicted with mahout and a howdah fitted as salt cellar with gilt interior, engraved “PRESENTED TO THE MESS/ of the 7th Madras Light Cavalry/ by/ Lieut. J.C. Cleghorn 7th M.L.C./ on his promotion”; Reference: Jackson, Sir Charles J. English Goldsmiths and Their Marks, p. 473.[/i]

The East Indian Railway Cup with Bengal Tiger Handle


The East Indian Railway Cup with Bengal Tiger Handle, Hamilton & Co., Calcutta, India, ca. 1867, Sterling Silver. Dimensions: 4 ¾ inches, H (12 cm), Weight: 19.49 oz. (552.81 grams).

This beautifully designed and crafted piece, commemorating the completion of the railway line from Allahabad to Jubbulpore, is not only an object of beauty, but is also of great historical significance. Designed in a classical manner, without any adornment on the main part of the cup, it bears a stunningly beautiful replica of a snarling Bengal tiger, in pouncing position, all the more remarkable in its contrast to the simplicity of the cup itself.



Early in the American civil war, England's cotton workers had decided to stand with their factory-worker brothers on the Union side, and honor President Lincoln's request for a boycott of cotton that had been grown and harvested by slave labor. Without the American product, however, India and Egypt were hard-pressed to compete and fill the void, to keep the mills of Manchester running. While the world watched the outcome of the American war, the race was on.



Finally, in June 1867, two years after the end of the civil war—the battle-scarred cotton fields of the American South having been laid fallow—the East Indian Railway, which had established the Howrah-Delhi main line via Allahabad [formerly Jubbulpore] from Itarsi, on 7 March, 1870, linked op with the track from Allahabad, and established a connection between Calcutta and the port of Bombay, and thence to the cotton mills of Birmingham. So it was that the East India Company filled the trade gap created by the American civil war, and this cup commemorates one link in that historical chain of events.

Inscription on front:

In Commemoration of
The successful completion
Of the
JUBBULPORE LINE
And to recall many happy
days and much
good fellowship
R.S. BRUNDELL
and his fellow labourers
have pledged each other
in this cup
JUNE 1st 1867

Inscription on back:

Engineering Staff
H.P. LeMesurier Chief Engineer
[19 Engineers listed]
Contractors Staff
[9 Staff listed]

Inscription at bottom:

Allahabad to Jubbulpore 223/2 Miles
Amount of Contract Rs. 17,000,000
Cost per mile £15,000
Messrs Waring Bros Hunt Contractors
Works commenced 1st March 1863
Finished 1st June 1867

Monumental Silver Pitcher


Monumental Silver Pitcher, Grish Chander Dutt, Calcutta, India, ca. 1890, Sterling Silver. Dimensions: 13 1/2” h (34.3 cm), Weight: 93 oz. (2,892 grams)







This monumental pitcher from Calcutta has a body chased with stiff leaves below a band of figures dancing and playing musical instruments. The pitcher's handle is of particular note, formed by a figure emerging from the mouth of a fish and holding twisted and entwined serpents. Its upper body is adorned with zodiac symbols.

Calcutta was an extremely cosmopolitan city, and, in addition to Hindu images, important Muslim, Buddhist, and even festivals are sometimes represented and intertwined in its historical iconography and art. The symbols of the zodiac are part of the Calcutta tradition that often crosses cultural borders.

Provenance: Myrna and Bernard Posner, NY

Silver Swan: Object de Vertu


Silver Swan: Object de Vertu, Hamilton & Co., Calcutta, India, ca. 1810, Sterling Silver. Dimensions: 3” h (7.62 cm), Weight: 7.05 oz. (200 grams)

A lovely cast-silver objet de vertu by Hamilton & Co. (mainly of Calcutta, but which also had shops in Bombay, Delhi, and Simla), silversmiths who established 1808 in Calcutta under license from the East India Company and had business till 1971. This extraordinarily cast silver piece depicts a nesting swan, its wings outstretched supporting a shell. The hallmarks are inscribed on the bottom inner lip of the shell: H&Co, with the symbol of an elephant and a thistle. Hamilton & Co. was considered the Garrard’s of India, and the company created many luxury items, such as this piece, in the European taste.

Fan-Shaped Silver Tray


Fan-Shaped Silver Tray, Calcutta, India, ca. 1890, Sterling Silver, Dimensions: 14 x 20 Inches (35.56 x 50.8 cm), Weight: 34.8 oz. (986.6 gram)

A charming and playfully designed fan-shaped tray, its central decoration an Indian village scene, with an array of palm and fruit trees behind thatched-roof houses, a woman in traditional clothing tending her garden, and several men carrying firewood. The lacy rim is further enhanced with additional depictions of villagers caught up in their daily activities.

For a strikingly similar example, see Wynyard R. T. Wilkinson’s Indian Silver 1858–1947, London, 1999, p. 59, tab. 82. The shape, the stylistic and decorative techniques, and the composition are almost identical to this example.

Large Silver Presentation Casket with Intact Original Scroll


Large Silver Presentation Casket with Intact Original Scroll, Calcutta, India, ca. 1910, Sterling silver, Dimensions: 7 1/8 inches H x 18 ½ x 9 1/8 inches W (18 cm H x 47x23 cm W), Weight: 60 oz. (1,700 gram)



In 1916, this historic piece was presented, upon his retirement, to one Edward William Stanley, stationmaster in Colaba, Bombay, for over thirty years. Colaba is one of the seven islands that comprises Bombay, its name deriving from Kolabhat, the language of Kolis, the indigenous inhabitants of the islands before the arrival of Portuguese and, later, the British.



The casket has been profusely embossed with human and animal figures against a landscape of foliage and buildings worked in the typically Calcutta style of the Colonial period. Within the casket is the original watercolor-and-calligraphy commemorative scroll, the artwork for which is signed “Mich. Bocarro, Bombay.”

The silver is inscribed but unhallmarked, testing reveals a silver quality of 800+.



Provenance: Pushkin Antiques, London, UK.

Silver Teacup/Saucer


Silver Teacup/Saucer, Calcutta, India, ca. 1890, Sterling Silver, Dimensions: Cup: 2 5/8 D x 3 Inches H (6.7 D x 7.5 cm H), Weight: 3.8 oz. (108 grams); Saucer: 6 1/8 inches D (15.3 cm D), Weight: 5.25 oz. (149 grams); Spoon: 5 5/8 inches D (14.3 cm L), Weight:1.5 oz. (42 grams). Total Weight: 13.83 oz. (299 grams)

A Calcutta-style silver teacup, saucer, and teaspoon intricately decorated in regional designs: figures that are farming, collecting water from a stream, drawing water from a well. The cup has one atypical Calcutta design, a sailboat, and also depicts different animals, such as lions and buffaloes, set against palm trees, foliage, and structures. The matching teaspoon is engraved “BIH.” None of the pieces is hallmarked.

See similar silver teacup, saucer by Oomersi Mawji, in Kutch section of this blog. Neither set has any insulator in the cup handle, thus making the cup impossible to hold when filled with a hot beverage.

Large Bowl with Village Scene


Large Bowl with Village Scene, Calcutta, India, ca. 1900, Sterling silver, 9 1/2 in. w (24.1 cm) , 5 1/4 in. h. (13.3 cm), Weight: 26.56 oz. (753 grams)

This large fruit bowl in the Calcutta style depicts a number of village scenes: a farmer harvesting the crops in his field, some huts, a garden wall, some trees, water being drawn from a well, an oxcart, and a figure washing clothes. In the distant background, some hills hint at distance and perspective, and a band of ornamentation circles the rim and base above and below the landscape. As is typical for most Indian silver not made in Anglo-Indian ateliers, it bears no regulation hallmark, but has a stippled inscription or signature (not recognizable), set in a sunburst design.

"Swami" Style Tea Service


"Swami" Style Tea Service. Cooke & Kelvey, Calcutta, ca.1880. Sterling Silver, Dimensions: Teapot: Height: 7 1/4 inches H x 8 1/4 x 4 1/4 inches W (18.41 cm H x 21 x 10.8 cm W), Weight: 32.04 oz. (908.32 gram); Sugar Bowl: Height: 5 3/8 inches H x 4 inches W (13.65 cm H x 10.16 W), Weight: 19.11 oz. (541.75 gram); Creamer: Height: 5 3/8 inches H x 4 1/2 x 4 5/8 inches W (13.65 cm H x 11.44 x 11.75 cm W), Weight: 14.35 oz. (406.8 gram)

A stunning 19th-century Indian silver tea service, comprised of teapot, sugar bowl, and cream jug. The pieces are decorated with swami-style stylized Indian deities set in oval cartouches, with Madras-style leaf and bead borders. (Although the service was made in Calcutta, by Cooke & Kelvey, it is the firm of Peter Orr and the region of Madras that are more usually associated with swami style than Calcutta.)

Each piece has four cast lion’s-paw feet, but the stylistic pièce de résistance is the spout: an elephant head—with well-formed tusks and upraised trunk.

Each piece bears on its underside the Cooke & Kelvey hallmark (Robert Thomas Cooke and Charles Kelvey, 1859-present).

Provenance: Pushkin Antiques, London, UK.

Dragon Tea Pot


Dragon Tea Pot, Goopee Nath Dutt, Calcutta, India, ca.1890, Sterling Silver 835, 10 3/4 in. handle to spout (23.5 cm), 6 1/2 in. tall (20.32 cm), Weight: 28.04 oz. (795 grams)

This is a very unusual and piece, signed by Goopee Nath Dutt, from Bhowanipore, Calcutta. The quality of Dutt’s craftsmanship was well established, but what is unusual about this piece is its dragon handle, not usually seen in pieces of Indian design. The dragon is very finely done, with scales delineated over the full length of its body, and its claws drawn into itself. It is possible that the pot was made for the China export trade, since the dragon was a popular Chinese theme, and the style of the finial is also of a type more Burmese or Chinese than Indian. The piece depicts scenes of rural village life: two different pairs of bullocks, pulling ploughs; one dhoti-clad figure, walking, sheltering himself with a parasol; another carrying a basket; and several village huts amid palm trees and umbrella trees.

Like others of the different Dutts’ pieces from Calcutta, this silver is heavy and is marked “830,” which is the usual purity of Calcutta silver. The teapot is doubly hallmarked, one mark the same as Dutt’s other domestic Indian pieces, the other a mark used only for pieces made for export.

Village Scene Coffee Pot


Village Scene Coffee Pot, Calcutta, India, ca.1890, Sterling Silver, 9 1/4 in. handle to spout (23.5 cm), 8 in. h (20.32 cm), Weight: 22 oz. (623.69 grams)



The coffee pot is in classic, fluted-corner urn design, with gently scalloped rims to its inverted shoulder, and it is adorned with beautiful chased scenes of Indian village and farming life that are characteristic of Calcutta silver (Wilkinson, pp. 58-63). A bare-chested farmer leads a pair of oxen, while a second farmer is seen in the distance, amid tall cypress and palm trees, tending neatly tilled rows of crops. Villagers are shown preparing food and taking wares to market, and there is a series of thatched-roof dwellings and a shrub-lined walkway.

The coffeepot retains the original, ebonized, mushroom-form finial atop a turned pedestal base. Set above, to one side, is a single elephant, and, to the other, is a lone farmer amid trees and rolling hills. There is a conforming leaf cap and in-cut center, and an ebonized handle. Its only “hallmark,” as shown, is the words “Sterling Silver.” It is unusual for 19th-century Indian silver to be so marked.

Sweetmeats Bowl


Sweetmeats Bowl, Grish Chunder Dutt, Calcutta, India, ca. 1900, Sterling silver, 4 in. w (10.2 cm), 1 7/8 in. h. (4.8 cm), Weight: 2.69 oz. (76.4 grams)

In his time, Grish Chunder Dutt was the finest silversmith in Calcutta. This charming sweetmeats bowl, in the Calcutta style, depicts a village scene of a farmer harvesting the crops in his field. In the background can be seen his hut, some palm trees, and other foliage. A ruffled rim ornaments the piece, which—atypically for most Indian silver not made in Anglo Indian ateliers—bears a signature set in a fan-shaped design.

Condiment Bowl


Condiment Bowl, Calcutta, India, ca. 1890, Sterling silver, Dimension: 4.25 in. (10.5 cm) wide, 2 in. (4.7cm) high, Weight: 3.88 oz. (110 grams)



A bowl with much of the coriander-leaf pattern for which Kutch was known, but with a departure from Kutch style in the Calcutta-style foliage and ogee-shaped, medallion-framed scenes of havelis and shrines.

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Part 2 of 2

Double-Ended Spirit Measures


Double-Ended Spirit Measures, Calcutta, India, ca. 1880, Sterling silver, 4 1/4 in. h (10.9 cm), 2 in., 1 3/4 in. diam. (4.8 and 4.5 cm). The larger end measures two fluid ounces; the smaller, one. Weight: 2.9 oz. (83 grams)­

This double-ended spirits measure is of Calcutta origin. This sterling silver is distinctively European in form, but features a beautifully rendered landscape, featuring scenes of rural Bengali life in a tropical, bucolic background in a style that is characteristically Calcutta.

Reminiscent of the days of the Raj, it evokes images of chota peg sundowners on the bungalows veranda.

Set of Pepper Pots


Set of Pepper Pots, Dass & Dutt, Calcutta, India, ca. 1890, Sterling silver, 2 in. (5.2 cm), Weight: 2.11 oz. (60 grams)­

There were several silversmth shops in Bhovanipore in Calcutta around 1850-1900. Along with Dass & Dutt, another very celebrated silversmith was Grish Chunder Dutt, who also designed pieces depicting Bengali village life. This charming set of pepper pots with pull-off lids depicts a village scene of a farmer harvesting the crops in his field. In the background can be seen his hut, some palm trees, other foliage, and animals. Though it has a cartouche for for a monogram, it has never been engraved. The hallmark on the bottom of each piece reads “Dass & Dutt-Bhovanipore.”

Set of Two Identically Designed Bowls with a Story


Set of Two Identically Designed Bowls with a Story, Bowl 1 marked: Monohar Dutt, Bhowanipore, Calcutta; Bowl 2 marked: Monohar Dutt, Dass & [sic strikethrough] Dutt, Bhowanipore, Calcutta. Both, ca. 1890, Sterling silver,
4 1/2 in. diam., 1 3/4 in. h (11.4 cm diam., 4.5 in. h), Weight: 6.72 oz. (190.9 grams) for the two

There were several silversmith shops in Bhovanipore, in Calcutta, in the period from about 1850-1900. This charming set of bowls is designed with the typical Calcutta silversmith’s village scene, farm animals, and huts surrounded by trees.

The story here can only be speculated upon, but it appears to suggest that the smith was working with one shop when he created the first bowl (the one marked “Dass and”), but that, before the second bowl was completed, he ended his association with that shop and left to open a shop on his own. The hallmark on the first piece has had the “Dass and” portion of the hallmark struck through, while the second piece is marked only with the name “Mohonar Dutt.”

Indian Colonial Quaich Cup


Indian Colonial Quaich Cup, Cooke and Kelvey, Old Court House St., Calcutta ca. 1942., Sterling silver. The cup, excluding the handles, measures 5¼ in. in diameter (13.5cm) and stands 1¾ in. high. Weight: 9 oz. (272 grams)


The quaich (pronounced quake) is a Scottish cup form that dates from medieval times. By the seventeenth century, the quaich, used for drinking whiskey or brandy, had come into use in such population centers as Edinburgh and Glasgow. Its flat form allowed its owner to tuck it into his cloak without creating too much bulk. Some of these vessels were made with glass bottoms, to allow the drinker to keep an eye out for his enemies even while he imbibed. Even in its early days, quaiches were made in a simple form we might think of today as “modern.”

This particular quaich is from the twilight of the Raj, but it nonetheless has the earmarks of the good commemorative pieces of earlier times. It was presented to one W. F. Penberthy, winner of the Cashmere Cup in 1941, by the Royal Calcutta Golf Club, which was founded in 1829.

Quaich


Quaich, Hamilton & Co., Calcutta, Elephant Hallmark, c. 1880, Dimensions: (10.2 cm x 3.5 cm), Weight: (70 gram)

Another quaich, or Scottish drinking cup, typically shallow (like a porringer), with two handles.



This particular quaich, is in perfect, worn condition, with a particularly fine patina. What is unusual is that the hallmark appears in two places, one on the underside of each handle. Hamilton, of course, is the Colonial smith who maintained an atelier in Calcutta, making silver household pieces mostly for the British.

Silver Designs

Silver Designs, Two Pen-and-Ink Drawings and a Silver Ewer, J. Hamilton, Pen-and-Ink Drawings, Ink on India paper with blind stamp: “Rolland Frères Bordeaux.”, Ca. 1850. Hamilton & Co., Calcutta.


1. Pen-and-ink drawing, Inscribed: “Rough Sketch of a very handsome Tankard R225/, J Hamilton & Co.” Size: approx. 16 1/2 in. x 10 1/4 in. / 42 x 26 cm. Blind stamp on paper: “Rolland Frères Bordeaux.”

From the famous Calcutta silversmiths who served the British Raj. This exquisite drawing would likely have been sent out to one of the firm’s clients on approval.

The design for the covered tankard is a piece of fine art in itself. The piece is perfectly proportioned and bears a slightly baroque scrolling design of flowers and leaves.


1a. Silver Ewer, Size: 15 1/2 in. h (39.3 cm), Weight: 48 oz. (1,360 grams), Hamilton & Co., Calcutta, ca. 1850

A ewer bearing the Cockburn family crest, a standing rooster, and the motto Accendit Cantu (He excites us with his song). The ewer, as can be seen in the photo, is almost identical to the pen-and-ink drawing for the Hamilton ewer. This rare, Indian, circa-1850 ewer is one of a pair, and is very crisply hallmarked.



M. D. Cockburn was a Scottish coffee planter and district collector of Salem, in Tamil Nadu, India, between 1820 and 1829. Cockburn is known as the "Father of Yercaud" for having developed the resources of the Shevaroy Hills, and for having introduced the cultivation of coffee, pears, and apples into most of the hill stations of Tamil Nadu, particularly in Yercaud, a small hill station in the Salem District.

Provenance: Still Life, Ewan Lamont, UK



2. Pen-and-Ink Drawing, Inscribed: “Rough Sketch of a very handsome Silver Claret Jug, R450/, J Hamilton & Co.” Size: approx. 10 1/2 in. x 8 1/4 in. / 26.6 x 21 cm

This design for a ewer, in the narrow-necked, full-bodied shape of such pieces at the time, bears a motif of vines and grapes, with the woody extension of the vine curving up and forming the handle. As with the tankard, the drawing is beautifully rendered and is a work of art in itself.

Unusual & Monumental Colonial Silver Tankard-Form Biscuit Barrel


Unusual & Monumental Colonial Silver Tankard-Form Biscuit Barrel, Robert Hamilton, Sterling Silver, with Gold Wash, Ca. 1822-1850, Hamilton & Co., Calcutta, Dimensions: H 8 1/2 in, Base 6-7/8 in, Dia. (H 21.6 x Base 17.5 cm. Dia,), Weight: 44.4 oz. (1,259 grams)

This extraordinary solid-silver vessel, by the Colonial Indian silvermiths Hamilton & Co., based in Calcutta, most probably is unique and likely to have been a one-off commission. Certainly nothing like it has been published. Although of tankard form, the piece is more likely to have been used as a biscuit barrel, meant to be passed around after dinner. That the lid fits so tightly supports this conclusion.

The piece comprises a wide, flared foot, finely chased with an extravagant border of laurel leaves. From this, rises the body of the vessel, which, other than gently gadrooned and crenulated sides, is of plain silver.



A fabulous handle, in the form of a cornucopia, protrudes from the side, being emitted from the mouth of a Green-Man image with puffed-out cheeks and wearing a band of ivy across his flowing hair.

The lid is domed and gadrooned in the style of the base, and is adorned with an extremely finely rendered floral and leaf spray that serves as a handle.



The interiors of both vessel and lid are gilded.

The use of the Green-Man motif is highly unusual and possibly uniquely used in a piece of Indian Colonial silver. The Green-Man motif has its origins in medieval England. Alternative (and more traditional names) are “leaf man,” “foliate head,” and “leaf mask,” but its use as a motif seems to have fallen out of favor in the mid-sixteenth century and to have been revived only in the nineteenth century (Hayman, 2014, p. 6). Often, such motifs were found chiseled in the stone of the exteriors of churches and other public buildings, or carved in oak, in the interiors. The precise reason for the motif’s evolution is now obscure. Some have suggested that it has pagan origins, but there is no evidence of its use in pre-Christian times, at least not in England.



Hamilton & Co. used a variety of maker’s and other marks in place of “proper” assay or hallmarks that would have been used in England and Scotland. The sequence of marks on this piece seems to have been used from approximately 1820–1850. The marks are what appears to be a thistle, an urn, the initials “H&Co.,” an elephant, and the letter “A.” Wilkinson (1999, p. 53) mentions that the urn mark tends to have appeared only on more important pieces and was used from 1815–1850.

Hamilton & Co. was founded in Calcutta about 1815. According to Wilkinson (1999, p. 53), the shop operated from premises at 7 Old Court House St., in Calcutta, for at least some of its life.

Provenance: Michael Backman Ltd., UK

Pair of Indian Colonial Silver Presentation Cups/Vases and Covers


Pair of Indian Colonial Silver Presentation Cups/Vases and Covers, Robert Hamilton, Sterling Silver, with Gold Wash, Ca. 1840, Hamilton & Co., Calcutta. Left photo: Height to top of finial 15.5cm/6.1", Height to rim 12.1cm/4.8", Diameter of rim 8cm/3.1", Diameter of foot 6.1cm/2.4", Weight 14.2 troy ounces/442g; Right photo: Height to top of finial 15cm/5.9", Height to rim 11.8cm/4.6", Diameter of rim 8.3cm/3.3", Diameter of foot 6.1cm/2.4", Weight 16.2 troy ounces/504g



A fine and unusual pair of Hamilton silver presentation cups in the Italian campania form, with a pedestal and circular shaped foot. The body of each vessel is embellished with an engraved presentation inscription on one side. On one: “Fanny Catherine Dunseley Macrae, the Gift of her affectionate Godfather and Godmother, Richard and Fanny Ouseley.” On the other: “To Charles Colin Macrae, on the 16th August 1844, the first anniversary of his Birthday, the gift of his affectionate Friends Fanny and Richard Ouseley.” This one also bears the crest of an arm and hand grasping a sword above a coat of arms and the motto “Fortitudine” [with fortitude]. (The coat of arms and motto belong to the Scottish clan MacRae/Macrae, from the Gaelic name Mac Rath.)



Each piece has handles naturalistically modeled in the form of two cordons extending from a grapevine trunk accented with grape-and-leaf decorated terminals. The vases retain the original, domed push-fit covers encircled with chased grape and foliate ornamentation to the shaped rims. The covers are each surmounted by silver finials depicting, on one, a stemmed grape cluster, and, to the other, a convolvulus-style floral and foliate design.



Provenance: AC Silver, UK

Claret Jug


Claret Jug, Robert Hamilton, Sterling Silver, with Gold Wash, Ca. 1821-1845, Hamilton & Co., Calcutta. Size: 13 1/2 in. (34.3 cm.), Weight: 80.06 oz. (2,270 grams)





This claret jug is ornamented with a heavily baroque floral motif and has an eagle finial. The hallmarks are stamped on the bottom rim and etched in letters and numbers on the underside. Silversmith Robert Hamilton arrived from London in 1808 and opened a shop in Calcutta. Unlike some other Colonial silversmiths who worked in India (such as P. Orr, who incorporated a Hindu-deities, or “swami,” theme, Hamilton maintained European forms and design in his work).

Raj-Period Silver Bowl


Raj-Period Silver Bowl, Dass & Dutt, Calcutta, India, ca. 1890, Sterling silver, 3 3/4 in.s w, 2 1/4 in.s h (9.5 cm w, 5.7 cm h), Weight: 5.53 oz. (156.8 grams)­

This is an unusually simple design for a Calcutta silversmith and appears to have been commissioned and monogrammed for a British client. The bowl is very heavy and bears a simple thumbprint or flower-petal pattern on the side. The serif monogram is the intertwined “SMP,” and the hallmark on the underside reads “Dass & Dutt-Bovanipore-Calcutta.”

Sterling Silver Mug


Sterling Silver Mug. Calcutta, India, ca. 1900, Sterling silver, 5 1/4 in. h (13.3 cm) 11.6 oz. (329 grams)

Sterling silver mug, Anglo-Indian, early 20th century, finely decorated with répoussée and chased designs of figures in natural surroundings, a farmer and a village scene of a washerman, with hills in the background and an elephant, with a loop handle on one side. This mug has never been monogrammed. The “Sterling Silver” stamp is on the bottom of the mug.

Silver Inkstand and Penholder


Silver Inkstand and Penholder, Calcutta, India, ca. 1880, Sterling Silver. Dimension: 8 1/2 x 5 inches (22 x 13 cm), Weight: 15.87 oz. (450 Grams)

Charming desk set with two hinged-top silver inkbottles. The piece, which is unmarked, is decorated with animals and rural scenes in typical Calcutta style and has four ball feet.

Silver Torch Stand


Silver Torch Stand, Dass & Dutt, Calcutta, India, ca. 1885, Sterling Silver. Dimensions: Height 6 5/8 inches (16.6 cm). Top Dia. 3 3/8 inches (8.7 cm); Base Dia. 4 5/8 inches (11.6 cm); Weight: 2.92 oz (366.28 grams)

This unusual silver object was created in the prominent silver shop of Dass & Dutt, in Bovanipore, Calcutta, where most of the nineteenth-century Calcutta silversmiths had their ateliers. The piece is in the form of a hollow tube, with upper and lower decorative bands depicting a landscape with huts and trees, and the center, larger band depicting scenes of daily village and farm life—both themes typical of Calcutta style.

This object was referred to by its seller as a “Torch stand/handle,” but the writer of this blog has no knowledge of how this object could have been used—nor has he seen another example of any similar item—and so he would welcome hearing from any reader who might be familiar with its function.

Two Indian Silver Dresser Items: Mirror and Brush




Two Indian Silver Dresser Items: Mirror and Brush, Calcutta, India, ca. 1890, Sterling Silver. Mirror, 10 1/4 in. x 3 1/4 in. w (26.3 cm long, 9.5 cm wide); Brush, 10 in. l, 2 3/4 in w (25.4 cm l, 6.9 cm w)

Mirror and brush, not matching, but both worked in high relief, showing a high quality and detail of Calcutta style typical of its period.

The mirror depicts farmers in a field with trees, houses, an elephant, and human figures, in scenes of village life on the mirror back, front of the handle, and back of the handle. The back design features a cartouche with an entwined “CL” monogram.

The brush is particularly skillfully worked, with various scenes featuring two women under a tree, a hunter on horseback accompanied by a hound, a king receiving one of his subjects, and various livestock and wild game. There is a decorative beading around the rim of the brush and handle back, and another smaller-scale, delicate design within the beading.

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With new data, India plans to fight child labor in mica mines
Roli Srivastava
Reuters
December 5, 2018

MUMBAI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - A government survey will reveal for the first time the extent of child labor in deadly mica mines in eastern India, and campaigners plan to use the results to pressure companies to end the practice in their supply chains.

A Thomson Reuters Foundation investigation in 2016 found children dying in crumbling, illegal mines for the mineral that puts the sparkle in make-up and car paint - but their deaths were covered up.

Now, India’s National Commission for Protection of Child Rights has completed a survey of children working in mines throughout Jharkhand and parts of Bihar states, although officials said the results are not ready to be made public.

“Admitting an issue is the first step toward tackling it,” said Bhuwan Ribhu of the Kailash Satyarthi Children’s Foundation (KSCF), which has partnered with the Jharkhand state government to end child labor in mines.

“Multinationals are aware of child labor in mica mines, but once this data is out, we will push the companies to act,” he added.

His charity has rescued nearly 3,400 children from the mines since 2005 and placed them in schools. It estimated in 2016 that 20,000 children were working in the mica mining regions of Jharkhand and neighboring Bihar.

But inadequate data meant that those working to free the children were forced to approach the job somewhat haphazardly.

“There was always a question mark on the extent of the problem,” Ribhu said.

Earlier this year, the children’s commission and the Jharkhand government recruited teachers and childcare workers to determine how many children were out of school and working in mines.

“This data will help to create a pathway and an action plan to eliminate child labor in actual terms,” said Priyank Kanoongo, head of the commission.

CORPORATE INACTION

Campaigners say the survey results will provide evidence of child labor, which should put pressure on multinational corporations that source mica from India to clean up their supply chains.

The revelation in 2016 that children were dying prompted some companies to pledge action to end the practice.

But children are still working and dying, according to KSCF, which documented two deaths this year.

Campaigners say deaths are probably even more numerous as bodies are often not recovered from the rubble, or they are quickly cremated by mine operators.

Much hope lies with the Paris-based Responsible Mica Initiative (RMI), which was set up in 2016 to eliminate child labor and improve working conditions in Indian mica mines within five years.

But campaigners say progress has been slow, with too few corporations signing on.

“It is an unwillingness on the part of the corporates and lack of knowledge among traders and the local community, that compounds the issue,” said Ribhu.

Eight companies joined RMI this year, bringing the total to 47, according to executive director Fanny Fremont. Five of them are India-based processing companies rather than multinational buyers of mica.

The RMI is “seeking a more strong and active support from automotive and electronics (biggest purchaser of mica in 2015 at 26 percent) industries, which are the most significant users of mica,” she said by email.

While cosmetics firms such as Estee Lauder, L’Oréal and Chanel are RMI members, the organization has no automotive brands and only one - Philips - from the electronics industry, Fremont said.

MINING BOOM

India is one of the world’s largest producers of the silver-colored mineral found in a list of consumer goods from make-up and car paint, to electronics and construction materials.

Once boasting over 700 mines with over 20,000 workers, the industry was hit by a 1980 legislation to limit deforestation and the discovery of substitutes for natural mica, forcing most mines to close due to cost and stringent environmental rules.

But renewed interest in mica, spurred by China’s economic boom and a global craze for “natural” cosmetics, saw illegal operators scurry to abandoned mines, creating a lucrative black market.

In one of the poorest regions of India, children as young as five are part of an opaque supply chain, their small hands ideal to pick and sort the valued mineral.

Fremont said the RMI has initiated programs to eradicate child labor by improving access to education, healthcare and government welfare schemes for 2,500 households Jharkhand and Bihar.

The RMI’s projects in India are funded by its corporate members, but contributions have not met the 1.5 million euros the organization said it hoped to raise in 2018.

The RMI has managed to raise just under 800,000 euros this year, up from 400,000 euros last year Fremont said.

Campaigners say the numbers show a lack of support for the initiative, while government promises have also fallen short.

The government of Jharkhand has previously announced plans to make all mica mines legal in order to better address labor abuses, which campaigners said did not have much impact.

State officials say the new survey will give them the data boost they need to take action.

“Every child matters to us,” said Sunil Kumar Barnwal, principal secretary to Jharkhand’s chief minister. “The objective is to solve the issue.”

Reporting by Roli Srivastava @Rolionaroll; Editing by Jared Ferrie. Please credit Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's and LGBT+ rights, human trafficking, property rights, and climate change. Visit http://news.trust.org

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Children working in India's coal mines came as 'complete shock', filmmaker says
by Rina Chandran
Reuters
July 2, 2016

MUMBAI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - When Chandrasekhar Reddy traveled to northeastern India in 2011, the director was looking for material for a film on forests in the region famed for its misty hills and waterfalls.

Instead, he found children as young as five working in coal mines.

Horrified yet fascinated, Reddy stayed in Meghalaya state for several months, befriending the children and their families, and slowly gaining access to the mines, many of which are illegal.

Reddy eventually gathered enough material for his first feature-length documentary, ‘Fireflies in the Abyss’, which was released in India last week after winning the award for Best Film in the Mumbai International Film Festival in February.

Set in the Jaintia Hills, the documentary shows young boys descending steep chutes -- little more than “rat holes” -- with makeshift ladders to dig coal from hard rock with just a pick axe and a flashlight.

“The fact that children were working in the mines came as a complete shock to me,” Reddy told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

“So many of my preconceived notions of what is right and wrong, the state, the law, the police, families and relationships -- they were all turned on their head, as it is a very different world there,” he said.

The film tells the story of Suraj, an 11-year-old boy, who was born in India of Nepali parents.

He lives with his sister and father, a miner who is drunk most of the time. His mother is dead.

Suraj desperately wants to go to school, but is expected to work to help feed the family.

Despite a law that bans child labor, India has 5.7 million child workers aged between five and 17, according to the International Labor Organization which estimates there are 168 million child workers globally.

Activists estimate that about a fifth of all mine workers in India are children. Many work for more than 10 hours a day in filthy conditions, exposed to coal dust, silica dust, noxious fumes and the risk of injury or death from collapsing mines.

“Fear won’t get any work done; you need to give up worrying for your life,” one of the young boys with Suraj says.

“But if you die here, it’s a dog’s death.”

In Meghalaya, which means “abode of clouds” in Sanskrit, many workers are from the neighboring countries of Nepal and Bangladesh. They are often trafficked with the promise of good jobs, or are in debt bondage to powerful mine owners.

In a 2012 report, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, an umbrella group of charities, said children working in the mines in Jaintia Hills faced “hazardous conditions” with no safety or social welfare measures.

While state officials have downplayed the prevalence of child labor, the report said the presence of rat holes indicated child workers since it was “humanly not possible for an adult to enter those holes to extract coal”.

In the end, Suraj gets his chance at receiving an education -- with the help of some friends, who also worked in the mines.

“The mine workers live in such uncertainty, such desperation, yet there is so much camaraderie and solidarity,” said Reddy.

“Perhaps that’s what keeps them going, and gives some of them the hope that things can change,” he said.

Reporting by Rina Chandran, Editing by Katie Nguyen. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, corruption and climate change. Visit news.trust.org to see more stories.

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India's Childhood in the "Pits": A Report on the Impacts of Mining on Children in India
by Dhaatri Resource Centre for Women and Children -- Samata
HAQ: Centre for Child Rights
In partnership with mines, minerals & People
March, 2010
[Entire Report Here]



India’s Childhood in the "Pits": A Report on the Impacts of Mining on Children in India

Published by:
Dhaatri Resource Centre for Women and Children-Samata, Visakhapatnam
HAQ: Centre for Child Rights, New Delhi
In partnership with: mines, minerals & PEOPLE

Supported by: Terre des Hommes Germany, AEI & ASTM Luxembourg

March 2010

Any part of this report can be reproduced with permission from the following:

Dhaatri - Samata,
14-37-9, Krishna Nagar,
Maharanipet, Visakhapatnam-530002
Andhra Pradesh
Email: [email protected]

HAQ: Centre for Child Rights
B1/2 Malviya Nagar
New Delhi-110017
Email: [email protected]
http://www.haqcrc.org

Credits:

Research Coordination: Bhanumathi Kalluri, Enakshi Ganguly Thukral
Field Investigators: Vinayak Pawar, Kusha Garada
Documentation Support: Riya Mitra, G.Ravi Sankar, Parul Thukral
Report: Part 1- Enakshi Ganguly Thukral and Emily
Part 2- Bhanu Kalluri, Seema Mundoli, Sushila Marar, Emily
Design and Printing: Aspire Design

List of Abbreviations

AEI – Aide à l’Enfance de l’Inde
ANM – Auxiliary Nurse cum Midwife
ARI – Acute Respiratory Illness
ASER – Annual Status of Education Report
ASTM – Action Solidarite Tiers Monde
AWC – Anganwadi Centre
BCCL – Bharat Cooking Coal Limited
BGML – Bharat Gold Mines Limited
BHEL – Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited
BIFR – Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction
BPL – Below Poverty Line
BPO – Business Process Outsourcing
BRC – Block Resource Coordinator
BSL – Bisra Stone Lime Company Limited
CCL – Central Coalfields Limited
CHC – Community Health Centre
CICL – Child in Conflict with Law
CMPDI – Central Mine Planning and Design Institute
CNCP – Child in Need of Care and Protection
CSE – Centre for Science and Environment
CSR – Corporate Social Responsibility
Cu m – cubic metres
CWSN – Children With Special Needs
DISE – District Information System for Education
DP camp – Displaced Persons’ Camp
ECL – Eastern Coalfield Limited
EIA – Environmental Impact Assessment
FDI – Foreign Direct Investment
FIR – First Information Report
FPIC – Free Prior and Informed Consent
GAFSCA – Gangpur Adivasi Forum for Social and Cultural
Awakening
GDP – Gross Domestic Product
GSDP – Gross State Domestic Product
Ha – hectare
HAL – Hindustan Aeronautics Limited
HDI – Human Development Index
HIV/AIDS – Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired
Immuno Deficiency Syndrome
ICDS – Integrated Child Development Scheme
IIPS – International Institute for Population Sciences
ILO – International Labour Organization
IMR – Infant Mortality Rate
IPEC – International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour
IT – Information Technology
KGF – Kolar Gold Fields
KMMI – Karignur Mineral Mining Industry
LWSI – Lutheran World Service India
MASS – Mitra Association for Social Service
MCL – Mahanadi Coalfields Limited
MDGs – Millennium Development Goals
MLPC – Mine Labour Protection Campaign.
mm&P – mines mineral and PEOPLE
MMDR Act – Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act
MP – Madhya Pradesh
MW – Megawatt
NACO – National AIDS Control Organisation
NALCO – National Aluminum Company
NCLP – National Child Labour Project
NCRB – National Crime Records Bureau
NFHS – National Family Health Survey
NGO – Non–Governmental Organisation
NIOH – National Institute for Occupational Health and Safety
NMDC – National Mineral Development Corporation
NREGA – National Rural Employment Guarantee Act
NSSO – National Sample Survey Organisation
OBC – Other Backward Classes
PAP – Project Affected Persons
PDS – Public Distribution System
PHC – Primary Health Centre
PIO – Public Information Officer
PKMS – Pathar Khadan Mazdoor Sangh
POSCO – Pohang Iron and Steel Company
PSSP – Prakrutiko Sampado Surakshya Parishad
READS – Rural Education Action Development Society
R&R – Rehabilitation and Resettlement
Rs – Rupees
RTI – Right to Information
SAIL – Steel Authority of India Limited
SCCL– Singareni Collieries Company Limited
SC – Scheduled Caste
SDP – State Domestic Product
SEEDS – Social Economical Educational Development Society
SEZ – Special Economic Zone
SGVS – Society of Gram Vikasa Saradhi
SHG – Self Help Group
SOP – Superintendent of Planning and Implementation
Sq km – square kilometres
STD – Sexually Transmitted Disease
ST – Scheduled Tribe
TB – Tuberculosis
TDH – Terre des Hommes
UAIL – Utkal Alumina International Limited
UCIL – Uranium Corporation of India Limited
USA – United States of America
VRDS – Vennela Rural Development Society
VRS – Voluntary Retirement Schemes

Table of Contents

• About the Study
• Mining Children — Introduction and Overview
• Part I
o National Overview
• Part II: State Reports
o 1. Karnataka
o 2. Maharashtra
o 3. Rajasthan
o 4. Madhya Pradesh
o 5. Chhattisgarh
o 6. Jharkhand
o 7. Orissa
o 8. Andhra Pradesh
• Part III: Summary and Recommendations
• Part IV
• Appendix- Our Experience with Right to Information Act
• Annexures
o a) Tables
o b) Glossary of Terms

About the Study

This study has been conducted jointly by HAQ: Centre for Child Rights and Samata in close partnership with the national alliance, mines, minerals and People (mm&P) network and Dhaatri Resource Centre for Women and Children, and supported by Terre des Hommes Germany (tdh), AEI & ASTM Luxembourg. The work follows on from an earlier fact-finding mission that was carried out in the iron ore mines of Bellary district, Karnataka. As well as being the first study to cover these issues in a comprehensive way, the study aims to form the basis for mobilisation and advocacy on this issue. We hope that, along with the mm&P network, we will be able to take forward this work and to campaign to bring real improvements in the lives of children affected by mining in India.

This report aims to cover the three phases of mining — premining areas (where projects are being proposed and land needs to be attained), current mining areas (where mining is already taking place) and post-mining areas (where mining operations were significant but have now ceased).

Field research was carried out in eight states to cover a range of different mining situations, as well as a range of minerals being mined in India today. The states covered were: Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Orissa, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand. In Orissa we undertook case studies in a number of different sites as Orissa is a state most impacted by mining and has been the focus of further mineral expansion.

Methodology

This report is compiled from a combination of information gathered in the field and from secondary data. The sites for fieldwork were chosen to ensure a range of minerals, both minor and major minerals, were covered as well as a wide geographic space. One of the most important factors was the presence of a local organisation or an mm&P partner. This was a priority for two reasons, to secure local support with the research, and to ensure that local groups will take the campaign forward and use the study as a basis for mobilisation and advocacy in their states.

Not all background data was available through Census statistics or in other public domains. Therefore, the decision was made to use the Right to Information (RTI) Act to gather missing information. RTIs were sent to a number of government departments, including state-owned mining companies, to find out the number of children working in mines, the number of people displaced by projects, various health statistics for people living in these districts and other information that is not readily available. (See end of Part 2 for responses to RTIs filed).

The main methodology used for field case studies was to understand the overall development indicators of the children living around the mines while also identifying the children working in the mines, the nature of their work and working conditions and how their social life is impacted due to the external influences of the complex ad hoc communities of workers, truckers, contractors, traders and other players who form an amorphous and unscrupulous floating population around the mines. This was done through visits to villages, schools, anganwadi centres, primary health centres, orphanages, company run schools and hospitals, meetings with panchayat leaders, village elders, women’s groups, workers’ unions, local officials and NGOs, as well as visits to the mine sites.

List of states and districts visited

• Pune and Nashik districts, Maharashtra, June 2009 (follow up in September 2009)
• Koraput and Rayagada districts, Orissa, June 2009 (follow up in October 2009 and in January-February 2009)
• Kolar and Bellary districts, Karnataka, June 2009 (follow up in Bellary in December 2009)
• Keonjhar district, Orissa, July 2009 (follow up in February 2009
• Jodhpur, Jaisalmer and Barmer districts, July 2009 (follow up in Jodhpur in October 2009)
• Panna district, Madhya Pradesh, August 2009
• Chittoor, Cuddapah, Visakhapatnam districts, Andhra Pradesh, June, August and October 2009
• Cuddalore district, Tamil Nadu, August 2009
• Hazaribagh district, Jharkhand, September, 2009
• Raigarh district, Chhattisgarh, November 2009
• Sundergarh district, Orissa, November 2009

Challenges

Over the course of the research, the study team faced a number of challenges.

The first challenge was the choice of sites. A first list of sites based on choice of minerals, location and presence of an mm&P partner organisation was made. However, some of these sites had to be later dropped, either due to a lack of adequate information or lack of capacity of the partner to provide the necessary support.

This was a time-bound research project. That meant that the project period coincided with the monsoons, which rendered some of the mining sites originally chosen inaccessible.

Despite seeing the overall impact of mining on their lives, communities were not always able to identify those that directly impacted children only. Since this study focussed on the impacts on children, this proved a major challenge for the team. It is difficult even for local organisations campaigning on rights of mining affected communities to provide tangible data with respect to children as impacts and problems are not directly visible on children. Although local groups are knowledgeable about the presence of child labour and other issues, threats from mining and political powers make it dangerous for them to directly confront the state on issues concerning children.

Mining operations are politically sensitive and highly politicised making it difficult to collect information related to children and mining because of the sensitive nature of this issue. People were nervous to talk, as they feared negative consequences. In terms of direct access, it is always difficult to get the opportunity to talk to children first-hand and this is certainly the case with regard to mining. Researchers were cautious to approach children at mine sites, in case of repercussions for these children. When communities were interviewed in their villages, it tended to be the elders who were most vocal in answering questions. In addition to this, primary health centres were unable to provide quantitative data on illnesses or diseases. Schools, where they existed, as in many other parts of the country were often without teachers present at the time of the fieldwork. Therefore, the difficulty in collecting quantitative data and figures meant that we only managed to get indicative information about the impacts of mining on children.

Non-availability of secondary information was yet another challenge. Applications under the Right to Information Act were filed to get relevant information. However this did not prove easy. To be able to get information under the RTI Act, 2005, it is critical to send the application to the right person. Interestingly this experience itself proved to provide important learning in the context of the study.

About this report

This report combines both secondary data as well as primary data. It has been presented in two parts. Part I is the national overview which aims to provide a summary of the huge quantity of data obtained during field research. Part II consists of state reports based on both secondary information about the state and its mining activities as well as case studies from mining sites where field work was undertaken. Part III is summary and detail recommendation and Part IV is the appendix that details our experience with using the Right to Information Act for this study.

Mining Children -- Introduction and Overview

India is endowed with significant mineral resources. The constant endeavour of humans to mine more and more resources from the earth has been going on for centuries. Metals, stones, oil, gas and even sand are all mined. Indeed, steel, aluminum and other plants have come to be a symbol of progress and industrial growth, while fossil fuels and coal are mined for our ever-increasing need for energy. Every time a mining operation begins, it is with promises of growth and development, yet these promises are rarely delivered.

Mining has, throughout history, been a symbol of the struggle between human need and human greed; the human need to dig into the earth and take control over its resources. Industry, infrastructure and investments have been decisively stated as basic vehicles to drive India into this race, which automatically translates into mineral extraction and processing being of utmost importance to implement this dream. Further, development visions are based on certain premises built into public thought processes. The first of these premises is that mining brings economic prosperity at all levels of the country — national and local. It has been based on the principle that the high revenues generated by mining activities will convert poverty stricken and marginalised communities and workforce into economically grounded communities with positive developments in employment generation, health, education, local infrastructure and the creation of a diversified opportunity base.

Overview on Mining

India currently produced 89 minerals out of which 4 are fuel minerals, 11 metallic, 52 non-metallic and 22 minor minerals (such as building stones). Mining for fuel, metallic and non-metallic industrial minerals is currently undertaken in almost half of India’s districts.1 Coal and metallic reserves are spread across Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh. Iron ore deposits are located in Orissa, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand in the north, and Goa and Karnataka in the south. Limestone is found in Himachal Pradesh in the north, to Andhra Pradesh in the south and from Gujarat in the west to Meghalaya in the east. In terms of mineral deposits, Jharkhand, Orissa and Chhattisgarh are the top three mineral bearing states.2

The contribution of the mining and quarrying sector to India's GDP in 2008-09 was Rs. 648.91 billion -- a mere 1.94 per cent of the total GDP.3 However, the demand for metals and minerals in India and in other developing countries has led to a steady growth in the country’s mineral industry.4 Mining grew by 4.7 per cent in 2008-09 over the preceding period and with the global recession hitting India, the mining and quarrying industry was the only segment of the economy not to experience steep deceleration of growth rates.5 However, what needs to be remembered is that in terms of the galloping Indian economy, mining makes only a marginal contribution.

In the 2008 National Mineral Policy, the government recognises that:

“As a major resource for development, the extraction and management of minerals has to be integrated into the overall strategy of the country’s economic development. The exploitation of minerals has to be guided by long-term national goals and perspectives.”

However, closer observation of the current mining sector reveals that mineral production is being viewed by both the central and state governments as a means of short-term revenue generation and to fuel current economic growth rates, as opposed to being considered holistically as part of the country’s wider, more long-term development goals, human development indicators and preservation of the environment and other natural resources such as water.

With the new economic policy in India, there have been a number of changes in the mining sector. Although traditionally in the hands of the public sector, there has been increasing privatisation since the early 1990s, and more and more mines are now privately owned. Foreign direct investment has been a thrust area for the sector, with both the central and state governments pushing for liberalisation and deregulation in not only the Coal Nationalisation Act and labour laws, but also in other related areas such as the environment. It has also impacted employment due to the enforcement of Voluntary Retirement Schemes (VRS) on mine workers. The Fifth Scheduled Areas, areas which are constitutionally demarcated for tribal populations, are being opened up for foreign direct investment and private industries, primarily mining, leading to deforestation and displacement of tribals. Most alarmingly, there has been a huge increase in the informal sector mining activities through sub-contracting mining and quarrying.

But mining is not the subject of this study. This study is about the relationship between children’s rights and mining. It attempts to address the question — what is the impact of mining on children? According to the most recent Indian Census carried out in 2001, children constitute over 40 per cent of India's population, many of whom live in mining areas. These we refer to as “Mining Children” in this report.

A fact-finding study in 2005 in the iron ore mines of Hospet in Bellary District, Karnataka, for the first time, brought home to the organisations involved in this study, the immense impact mining has on the lives of children. It became imperative to follow that fact-finding study with a more systematic research to gain a better understanding.

India boasts of several legal protections for children, with the Right to Education being the latest fundamental right. These laws are strengthened by positive schemes to bring children out of poverty and marginalisation. The paradox of mining lies in the fact that the mining industry or the mining administration is not legally responsible for ensuring most of the rights and development needs of children. The mess that is created in the lives of children as a result of mining is now addressed by other departments like child welfare, education, tribal welfare, labour and others, which makes for an inter-departmental conflict of interest and leaves ample room for ambiguities in state accountability. In this process, the child is being forgotten. Hence, the glaring heart-rending impacts of mining on children have technically few legal redressal mechanisms to bring the multiple players to account.

While there is some documentation and research available on the impact of mining on communities in general, apart from scattered and anecdotal information, very little information is available on the impact of mining on children in all its dimensions. Research on mining and children has tended to focus solely on the aspect of child labour, which again is restricted to minerals that are normally exported and have the potential to shock the western consumer. The multitude of other ways in which children are impacted by mining have been completely neglected. Needless to say, neither the groups and campaigns that focus on mining issues, nor those working with children, have paid this issue the attention it deserves.

This report provides but a glimpse into the lives of children living, working, affected by and exploited by mining in India. We hope that the microcosm of children we touched through this report evokes a national reflection on what could be the plight of millions of children affected by mining in India.

It is hoped that this report will yet again bring to national debate the paradox of “India’s inclusive growth” that still ignores the majority of children. When national sentiments are stirred by the rhetoric of children being the future of our nation, it is important to assess for ourselves whether our development models are actually geared towards creating a future for India’s children, or are instead, providing a nation with little present or future for the majority of our children. It therefore asks the question, “How do we as a nation want to measure ourselves as achieving human development?”

This study shows how the development aspirations created by our policy makers and political leadership create a strong likelihood for future divides between the children of this country, furthering both the socio-economic divide and the urban-rural divide. Among the adivasi and dalit children, the displacement, impoverishment and indebtedness caused by mining and its ancillary activities shows a dearth of opportunities for them to access even basic rights such as primary education and healthcare. That they are being forced to take on adult economic roles in the most exploitative conditions in order to help their families survive, is certainly not an indicator that sets us on track to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) goals emphasised in the 11th Five Year Plan especially for these social groups. This paves the route to socio-economic disparities in India’s children.

This study also shows that children and their communities are not part of the growth and development that mining promises. For example, it is over 30 years since the NALCO mining project, a public sector undertaking in the Koraput District of Orissa began. In these 30 years, the data from the case study reveals that there has been little upward mobility for the children of affected families, either educationally or economically. This is the fate of those affected by a public sector project where social responsibility is intended to be the principal agenda. There does not appear to be a single mining project that has fulfilled the rehabilitation promises in a manner that has improved the life of affected communities nor have they set a precedent for best practices that the government can set as a pre-condition to private mining companies. Moreover, there has been no assessment or stock taking of the status of rehabilitation especially with regard to the status of children.

The findings from this study provide a strong reason for an urgent comprehensive assessment of the status of children in mining areas — children of mine workers as well as of local communities, child labour engaged in mining and the status of the institutional structures for them. It also calls for addressing the glaring loopholes in the law, policy and implementation related to mining in general, and private and small scale/rat hole mining in particular that are related to children, to develop guidelines for migrant labour and the un-organised sector and pre-conditions that need to be fixed before mining leases are granted. Foremost is the need for strengthening protection mechanisms for children and campaigns against child labour in these regions.

What is the Definition of a “Child”?

A key challenge for child rights work in India is the confusion around the definition of a child in terms of age. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which was adopted in 1989 and ratified by India in 1992, defines a child as “every human being below the age of 18.” Indian legislation also makes 18 years the general age of majority in India.6 However, other laws passed in India cause confusion in this area, with many laws defining childhood as only up till 14 years of age. For example, although children have been banned from working in hazardous occupations, which includes mining and quarrying, for this purpose, a child is only considered as a person up to 14 years -- for children between 15 and 18, there is no applicable regulation.7

This has also been witnessed with the passing of the recent Right to Education Act in 2009, which guarantees all children between 6-14 years the right to education, but no such guarantee exists for children 15 and above. As organisations committed to the rights of all children in India, in this study, HAQ and Samata will consider the impacts of mining on children up to the age of 18 years. However, there are serious limitations in terms of statistics, as the majority of statistics, such as the Census 2001, only calculates the number of working children up till the age of 14.

Law And Policy

International Standards

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child includes the rights for children to be protected from hazardous work. Children have the right to be protected from economic exploitation and from performing any work that is likely to be hazardous or interfering with the child’s education, or to be harmful to the child’s health or physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development. The Convention also recognises the right of the child to education and requests State Parties to take measures to encourage regular attendance at schools and the reduction of dropout rates, which is a frequent problem among working children.

In addition, almost all work performed by children in mining and quarrying is hazardous and considered to be one of the worst forms of child labour, defined by the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182).8 India has not ratified this convention, and indeed activists and campaigns against child labour too are not in favour of ratifying a convention that distinguishes between hazardous and nonhazardous forms of labour. Their argument is that all forms of labour or indeed, work that denies children their basic rights, is exploitative and hence hazardous, and hence must be banned.

Bedi was also out of tune with the new direction of the Communist Party of India, which had swung sharply to the left, abandoning working with what were termed 'bourgeois' parties for support for peasant insurrections, notably in Telangana in southern India. Bedi's advocacy and implementation of the most radical measures in the 'New Kashmir' manifesto, the redistribution of land which turned hundreds of thousands of labourers into peasant cultivators and greatly alleviated rural indebtedness, was seen within the CPI as promoting reformism over revolution.

Now this was the one act which earned me the severest condemnation from the Communist Party, as to why all these measures were not brought about in the Telangana manner: that is by murder of officials, murder of landlords, and then taking over lands and all that. To that I said, 'I have never come across a more stupid approach than this. When the entire national movement was adopting the programme, which I myself had drafted, and then the entire national movement plus the government ... without a single mishap the whole thing was implemented. You don't realize than [sic] in Kashmir it was not just a mere handing over of power to the national movement. It was virtually, if you look at it realistically, a seizure of power. Telangana means that you are too set and rigid in your pattern; that because Kashmir has not followed the bloody path of killing and murder, it is the wrong way.'16

This sharp (though unpublicised) difference, Bedi said, led to what amounted to his expulsion from the Communist Party.

-- The Lives of Freda: The Political, Spiritual and Personal Journeys of Freda Bedi, by Andrew Whitehead

Mining leads to forced evictions. General Comment 7 adopted by the UN Committee for Economic Cultural and Social Rights on Forced Evictions encourages State Parties to ensure that “legislative and other measures are adequate to prevent and if appropriate, punish forced evictions carried out without appropriate safeguards by private persons or bodies.”9

National Laws and Policy

The Constitution of India, along with a whole host of laws and policies, recognise and protect the rights of all children in India. The National Child Policy of 1974 and the more recent National Plan of Action for Children 2005, along with the Eleventh Five Year Plan, lay down the roadmap for the implementation of these rights. These include the rights to be protected from exploitation and abuse and the right to free and compulsory education. These laws are strengthened by positive schemes to bring children out of poverty and marginalisation. But then these are for all children. Very few laws provide any protection or relief to mining children in particular or address their specific situation. This is because the principal job of the Ministry of Mines is to mine. Hence, many of the violations and human rights abuses that result from mining, especially with respect to children, are not the mandate of the mines ministry to address. The responsibility lies elsewhere, and therefore leads to conflict of interest between departments, in which the child falls between the cracks.

In the laws that deal with mining, many do not address the needs and rights of children, or even human beings in general. For example, there are several laws and policies that govern mining in the country,10 which include central as well as state laws and policies. There are also policies and laws that deal with rehabilitation and resettlement of those displaced by the mining project,11 as well as polices for specific minerals such as coal.12 Although people are the most affected, directly or indirectly, when mining operations take place, most of these laws and policies that deal with mining mention little or nothing about people except as labour.

Not surprisingly, children find absolutely no mention, although they may lose access to education, healthcare and other facilities; be affected by pollution and other environmental impacts; be pushed into joining the labour force and end up unskilled and illiterate forever as a result of mining.

Child labour is one of the most vicious impacts of mining that one sees. However, laws to address the employment of children in such hazardous conditions are weak. The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986, prohibits the employment of children below the age of 14 in mines (underground and underwater) and collieries (Schedule Part A). It also prohibits employment of children in certain mining related processes listed in Schedule B.13 This is a huge gap in the law because it does not unilaterally ban employment of children in all mining, thereby leaving them vulnerable to abuse and exploitation. Even while prohibiting the employment of children in mines, the Mines Act leaves open a window of opportunity for exploitation. While the Mines Act, 1952, and the Mines (Amendment) Act, 1983, lay down that no person below 18 years of age shall be allowed to work in any mine or part thereof (Section 40) or in any operation connected with or incidental to any mining operation being carried on (Section 45), it simultaneously allows for children of 16 years to be apprentices and trainees. It also leaves it to the discretion of the Inspector to determine whether the person is a worker or apprentice/trainee and fit to work (Section 43.1). The National Mineral Policy has one line under its section on infrastructure development that “a much greater thrust will be given to development of health, education, drinking water, road and other related facilities…”, failing to mention who will do it and how.

The law that can be most effective in dealing with child labour in mining as well as any other form of vulnerability arising out of mining, is the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection) Act 2000, Amended 2006, which defines children as persons up to the age of 18 and deals with two categories of children — the Child in Need of Care and Protection (CNCP) and the Child in Conflict with Law (CICL). Section 2d defines a child in need of care and protection as one who is exploited or abused or one who is vulnerable to being abused or exploited. It includes children already or vulnerable to displacement and homelessness, trafficking, labour etc.

Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) (MMDR) Act, 1957, is an Act stated to undertake mining and use of minerals in a “scientific” manner. This is the primary Act, which is slated for amendment, concerned with mining in India under the National Mineral Policy framework. The rules laid under this Act mainly relate to mine planning, processes of mining, the nature of technology, procedures and eligibility criteria for obtaining mining leases and all aspects related to mines. It does not give any reference to the manner in which mining is to take place, from the social context, except for some broad guidelines in terms of environment, rehabilitation and social impacts. Given the huge negative impacts of mining on children, specific pre-conditions should be clearly laid out prior to granting of mining leases, where mining companies have to indicate concrete actions for the development and protection of children. In order to undertake responsible mining, unless some of the following social impacts and accountability, particularly, with regard to children, are incorporated within the Act and the Mine Plan, violation of children’s rights will continue in mining areas.

The Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill, 2009 was passed by the Lok Sabha on February 25, 2009. However, it has since lapsed and not become an Act. As with all generic laws and policies, there is no special recognition accorded to children except to mention educational institutions as part of social impact assessment and orphans in the list of vulnerable persons.14 It says that while undertaking a social impact assessment under sub-section 4(2), the appropriate government shall take into consideration facilities such as health care, schools and educational or training facilities, anganwadis, children’s parks15 etc. and this report has to be submitted to an expert group in government, which must include “the Secretary of the departments of the appropriate government concerned with the welfare of women and children, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes or his nominee, ex officio.” 5(2b). In a letter to the Minister for Rural Development, the Chairperson of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights had pointed out that a review of the status of children in areas of displacement due to development programmes as well as disaster and conflicts, shows that most rehabilitation programmes do not take into account the impacts on children. Because displacement can lead to a violation of rights of children in relation to their access to nutrition, education, health and other facilities, it calls for an impact assessment on children and their access to entitlements. This has to be gender and age specific.16

The National Rehabilitation and Resettlement Policy neglects to mention children as affected persons and therefore fails to recognise or acknowledge the ways in which children are specifically impacted by displacement for any project including mining. Impacts on children are different from those on adults. Yet no mention is made in this policy of the effect this displacement will have on their access to food, education and healthcare, as well as their overall development.

Impacts

Children are affected directly and indirectly by mining. Among the direct impacts are, the loss of lands leading to displacement and dislocation, increased morbidity due to pollution and environmental damage, consistent degeneration of quality of life after mining starts, increase in school dropouts and children entering the workforce.

The indirect impacts of mining, often visible only after a period of time, include a fall in nutrition levels leading to malnutrition, an increase in diseases due to contamination of water, soil and air, and increased migration due to unstable work opportunities for their parents.

It is paradoxical that while mining is touted as heralding prosperity and growth and if it is meant to bring in a better life, then why is this not visible in the lives of local people –- men women and children –- whose lands are being mined, or who have been brought there as labour to mine the lands?

Direct and Indirect Impacts of Mining on Children

1. Increased morbidity and illnesses: Mining children are faced with increased morbidity. Children are prone to illness because they live in mining areas and work in mines.

2. Increased food insecurity and malnutrition: While almost 50 per cent of children in many states across the country are malnourished, mining areas are even more vulnerable to child malnutrition, hunger and food insecurity.

3. Increased vulnerability to exploitation and abuse: Displaced, homeless or living in inadequate housing conditions, forced to drop out of schools, children become vulnerable to abuse, exploitation and being recruited for illegal activities by mafia and even trafficking.

4. Violation of Right to Education: India is walking backwards in the mining affected areas with respect to its goal of education for all. Mining children are unable to access schools or are forced to drop out of schools because of circumstances arising from mining.

5. Increase in child labour: Mining regions have large numbers of children working in the most hazardous activities.

6. Further marginalisation of adivasi and dalit children: Large-scale mining projects are mainly in adivasi areas and the adivasi child is fast losing his/her Constitutional rights under the Fifth Schedule, due to displacement, land alienation and migration by mining projects. As with adivasi children, it is the mining dalit children who are displaced, forced out of school and employed in the mines.

7. Migrant children are the nowhere children: The mining sector is largely dependent on migrant populations where children have no security of life and where children are also found to be working in the mines or other labour as a result of mining.

8. Mining children fall through the gaps: Children are not the responsibility of the Ministry of Mines that is responsible for their situation and the violation of their rights. The mess that is created in the lives of children as a result of mining has to be addressed by other departments like child welfare, education, tribal welfare, labour, environment and others. Without convergence between various departments and agencies, the mining child falls through the gaps. All laws and policies related to mining and related processes do not address specific rights and entitlements of mining children.

“MINING HAPPINESS FOR THE PEOPLE OF ORISSA” promises one mining company. “STEEL IN EVERY STEP, SONG IN EVERY HEART” promises another. Yet why then are people affected by mining asking, “the government is telling us that this mining is going to be profitable to the country and that this is for India’s development... But if this is India’s development, are we not a part of India? Why is the government not considering us?”

Sources: 1. Mining company signboards in Orissa.
2. Person about to be displaced for lignite mining project, Barmer district, Rajasthan, July 2009.

Recommendations

Specific for children

• The government must recognise that children are impacted by mining in a number of ways, and these impacts must be considered and addressed at all stages of the mining cycle pre-mining, mining and post-mining.
• This concern for mining children must find reflection in all laws and policies on mining- National Mineral Policy 2008; the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) (MMDR); Mines (Amendment) Act, 1983.
• Recognising that children concerns in the present governance structure are the responsibility of several departments in the State and Ministries in the Centre, it is essential to ensure convergence both in law and policy level, as well of services to ensure justice to the mining child.
• There is a need for linking the existing child protection institutions the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights as well as the State Commissions for Protection of Child rights with children affected by mining and the establishment of a state level and district level monitoring committee consisting of all the concerned departments that have responsibilities to protect the child responsible for monitoring as well as grievance redressal.
• The governments and society must no longer live in denial regarding the existence of children in labour in mines and amend the laws accordingly. Given the extreme hazardous nature of the activity, the Mines Act, 1952 and the Mines (Amendment) Act, 1983 must be amended to ensure that children below 18 years of age are not working in the mines as trainees and apprentices from the age of sixteen. The lacunae in the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986 with respect to children working in mines must be addressed by amending the law to include all mining operations in Schedule A of Prohibited Occupations.17

"Swami" Style Tea Service


"Swami" Style Tea Service. Cooke & Kelvey, Calcutta, ca.1880. Sterling Silver, Dimensions: Teapot: Height: 7 1/4 inches H x 8 1/4 x 4 1/4 inches W (18.41 cm H x 21 x 10.8 cm W), Weight: 32.04 oz. (908.32 gram); Sugar Bowl: Height: 5 3/8 inches H x 4 inches W (13.65 cm H x 10.16 W), Weight: 19.11 oz. (541.75 gram); Creamer: Height: 5 3/8 inches H x 4 1/2 x 4 5/8 inches W (13.65 cm H x 11.44 x 11.75 cm W), Weight: 14.35 oz. (406.8 gram)

-- Indian Silver during the Raj, by Harish K. Patel with Veronica J. McDavid

• It is essential to mainstream child rights concerns into policies, amendments to the existing laws on mining and those that are being proposed by the respective ministries, whether with regard to the Rehabilitation Bill, the Social Security Bill, the Land Acquisition Bill, to name a few.
• Immediately address the high levels of malnourishment, hunger and food insecurity in mining areas, as has been found in this study and in keeping with the Supreme Court Orders in the Right to Food Case18 through stock taking and implementation of ICDS projects in mining areas.
• Given their especially marginalised situation, ensure that migrant, adivasi and dalit mining children receive special attention.
• Given the additional vulnerability to exploitation and abuse that mining brings to children, the government must prioritise the implementation of its flagship scheme on child protection called the Integrated Child protection Scheme (ICPS) on vulnerable areas such as the mining areas. The aim of the scheme is to reduce vulnerability as much as to provide protection to children who fall out of the social security and safety net.
• It is essential to implement the Juvenile Justice Act, 2000 to address the condition of the children in the mining areas in a manner relevant to their specific situations through the provision and strengthening of protection, monitoring and grievance redressal mechanisms or support structures for protection of mining children such as the Child Welfare Committees.
• There is need for extending the support (in a more focussed way) by the Juvenile Justice Boards, the Child Welfare Committees (CWCs) and the State Juvenile Police Units to adivasi children in areas where displacement and landlessness has led to their exploitation or brought them in conflict with law.
• Guaranteeing all mining children their right to Free and Universal Compulsory Elementary Education is a right for all children through the targeted provision of accessible and quality education, the same as that available to the children of the mining officials. Number, quality and reach of primary and elementary schools, including infrastructure and pedagogic inputs, have to be adequately scaled up.
• The National Child Labour Programme (NCLP) must be extended to all children working in mines, which means it must be upgraded substantially in terms of numbers, financial allocations and quality of delivery as well as monitoring and ensure mainstreaming of all children attending NCLP schools into regular schools is mandatory and this must be ensured from children rescued from labour in mines.
• There must be a comprehensive assessment of the health impacts on children living and working in mining areas and considering the high levels of environmental pollution and occupational diseases as a result of mining the Ministry needs to have delivery services that will address critical child health and mortality issues, especially related to pollution, contamination, toxicity, disappearance of resources like water bodies that have affected the nutrition and food security of the communities, etc.
• Rehabilitation must be an integral part of the lease agreement and the Rehabilitation Plan should clearly specify the impacts on and plans for children which must begin before the mining project begins in a time-bound manner. This includes decent and adequate housing with toilet and Potable drinking water, good quality schools within the rehabilitation/resettlement colony, electricity, anganwadi centre with supplementary nutrition to pregnant women and single mothers, colleges, health institutions, roads and transport.
• Violation of any of these impacting children should result in the cancellation of the lease. Penalties should be defined for non-implementation of rehabilitation as per projected plans and assessments with recommendations made by the monitoring committee.

Overarching Recommendations

• The Ministry of Mines has to evolve regional plans with appropriate local governance institutions (district, block) and the community with clarity in terms of quantity and quality of ore that will be extracted, the extent of area involved, demographic profile of this region, economic planning for extraction that includes number of workers required, nature of workers (local, migrant), type of technology, social cost including wages, estimate of workers and assured work period, providing (in the case of migrant workers) residential facilities like housing, basic amenities like drinking water, electricity, early childhood care facilities, quality of education, toilet, PDS facility and other requirements for a basic quality of life. The resources for these must not be drawn upon from public exchequer but recovered from the promoter.
• The public sector companies should set an example to first clean up the situation and redress the destruction caused to children and their environment in the existing mines with a clear time frame which will be scrutinised by the independent committee at regular intervals as agreed upon. The clean up should also state the budget allocated by each company for this purpose and provide details of expenditure incurred, to the committee.
• A benefit sharing mechanism must be immediately established so that it is not restricted to immediate short term monetary relief, but should show long term sustainability of the communities and workers, including post-mining land reclamation and livelihood programmes that have measurable outputs. A share from the taxes or profits shared by the companies should be ploughed into institutions for children.
• New mine leases should not be granted unless significant clean up and institutional mechanisms are in place. No private mining leases should be granted in the Scheduled Areas and the Samatha Judgement should be respected in its true spirit.
• The National Commission for the Unorganised Sector which is proposing the new Social Security Bill should take into cognizance, the above legal and policy recommendations, particularly with respect to the migrant mine workers and include adequate social security benefits that directly support development and protection of children.

_______________

Notes:

1. Centre for Science and Environment, “Rich Lands, Poor People,” State of India’s Environment: 6, 2008, pp. 3.

2. Ibid.

3. Ministry of Mines, Annual Report, 2008-2009, pp. 10.

4. U.S. Geological Survey, 2007 Minerals Yearbook: India, pp. 11.1.

5. Rediff.com, India’s GDP falls to 6.7 per cent in FY09, http://business.rediff.com/report/2009/ ... -falls.htm, 29 May, 2009.

6. Ministry for Women and Child Development, Definition of the Child, http://wcd.nic.in/crcpdf/CRC-2.PDF, uploaded: 10 August 2009.

7. Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986.

8. The worst forms of child labour comprises, inter alia, work which, by its nature or the circumstances in which it is carried out, is likely to harm the health, safety and morals of children.

9. For more information see A Handbook on UN Basic Principles and Guidelines based on Development–based Evictions and Displacement by Amnesty International India, Housing and Land Rights Network and Youth for Unity and Voluntary Action. http://www.hic-sarp.org/UN%20Handbook.pdf

10. Such as the Mines Act, 1952 (Amendment Act 1983); Mines And Minerals (Development And Regulation) Act, 1957 (As Amended Up To 20th December, 1999); Government Of India Ministry Of Mines National Mineral Policy, 2008 (For Non - Fuel And Non - Coal Minerals); as well as state polices such as Karnataka Mineral Policy 2008.

11. National Policy for Rehabilitation and Resettlement, 2007.

12. There are a number of acts and policies which specifically govern the coal industry in India. For further details, see: http://coal.nic.in/acts.htm, and http:// policies.gov.in/department.asp?id=76.

13. Mica-cutting and splitting; manufacture of slate pencils (including packing); manufacturing processes using toxic metals and substances, such as lead, mercury; fabrication workshops (ferrous and non-ferrous); gem cutting and polishing; handling chromite and manganese ores; lime kilns and lime manufacturing; stone breaking and crushing; etc.

14. In Section 21(2-iii and iv) it states that vulnerable persons such as the disabled, destitute, orphans, 14. widows, unmarried girls will be included in the survey as also families belonging to Scheduled Castes and Tribes.

15. 4 (2) “While undertaking a social impact assessment under sub-section (1), the the appropriate government shall, inter alia, take into consideration the impact that the project will have on public and community properties, assets and infrastructure; particularly, roads, public transport, drainage, sanitation, sources of drinking water, sources of water for cattle, community ponds, grazing land, plantations, public utilities, such as post offices, fair price shops, food storage godowns, electricity supply, health care facilities, schools and educational or training facilities, anganwadis, children’s parks, places of worship, land for traditional tribal institutions, burial and cremation grounds.”

16. National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, Infocus, Volume 1.No. 4

17. At present mining and collieries are the only forms of mining included in Schedule A.

18. For details see- http://www.righttofoodindia.org/icds/icds_orders.html (accessed on 13 March 2010)Interviews with mining-affected communities, Kasipur district, Orissa, June 2009.

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Part 1 of 3

Part I: National Overview

Mining has impacts on people at different stages in its development. By its very nature it is fundamentally unsustainable, as all natural resources are finite and will eventually run out. Mining obviously has the most impacts on people working in the sites, but the local community is also impacted in terms of health problems and other negative influences the activity may introduce or exacerbate in the region. In the pre-mining phase, communities are displaced for mining activities and they may lose their farmland or even their homes.

The length of the active mining phase depends on the quantity of minerals available in the area. But eventually all mines have to be closed. The post-mining phase also poses its own distinct problems. Mining companies very rarely develop adequate closure plans, to put in place mechanisms to protect the community once mining ceases. Mining and quarry sites are often simply abandoned by companies once the minerals have dried up, and this land is generally useless, as it cannot be easily transformed back into agricultural land. Therefore the local community is often left landless and jobless.

Working conditions are very different in the formal and informal mining sectors. The average daily wage for workers in the formal sector in India in 2007 was Rs.444.21.19 They will often receive other benefits, such as paid holidays and sometimes healthcare and education for their families.

Table 1.1: Hazards and risks in the general mining environment

• Exposure to:
o subhuman living conditions (lacking sanitation, drinking water, extreme geographical and climatic locations);
o complicated dependency relations;
o degrading social environment (criminality, prostitution);
o exposure to STD, AIDS, etc.;
o inequality between men and women (men dispose of economic resources); erosion of family and social structure;
o violent behaviour towards child workers;
o violent conflicts among miners and with surrounding communities;
o lack of law and order
• Possible Consequences
o deterioration of ethical value system
o injuries or death due to crime or violence
o omission of schooling and education;
o vulnerability to diseases due to lack of hygiene and sanitation
o exacerbation of injuries and illnesses due to lack of health services

Source: International Programme in Elimination of Child Labour, International Labour Office, Eliminating Child Labour in mining and Quarrying - Background Document, World Day Against Child Labour, 12 June, 2005; pp 13

However, the number of people employed in the formal sector is relatively small — in 2005, this amounted to 559,100.20 Instead, the majority of people working in mining and quarrying in India are engaged in the informal sector, which is more labour intensive, less mechanised and less organised. Rather than being paid a daily wage for their labour, their earnings are usually according to what they produce. They often have no formal contracts and therefore no employment rights. Many are migrant labourers living in makeshift housing close to mine sites. Villagers in Mariyammnahalli in Bellary district, Karnataka, explained how there are no facilities provided for mine workers. All the facilities provided — such as schooling for their children, houses, water and health facilities — are only available for technical workers and officers in the large mining companies. Informal mineworkers are provided with nothing, and they are too afraid to join a union or complain about the situation in case they lose their jobs.21 The nature of the work is fundamentally unsustainable.

Illegal mining

Illegal mining is rampant across India. It is estimated that in Maharashtra, at least 25% of the stone quarries are operating illegally.22 A similar situation was observed in all other states visited — in some areas, almost 50 per cent of mines and quarries are either illegal, or illegal extraction of minerals is taking place there. For instance, in Jambunathahalli, a small village near Hospet, in Karnataka, the research team found over 100 acres of land being used for small-scale illegal mining. The researchers visited three sites where mainly migrant labour from other parts of the state were working. The people reported that there were at least 40 illegally operating mines here but the numbers reduced due to economic recession.23 According to the District Mining Officer of Pune, there are 412 stone quarries, but the ground reality reports show that there are double this number operating illegally. It was unofficially accepted that between 25 and 40 percent of all mines are illegal.

Table 1.2 shows an estimate of the number of illegal mines operating across the country as reported by the state governments.

This table clearly shows the huge number of illegal mines that have been identified by the state governments. In Andhra Pradesh, for example, a staggering 13,478 illegal mines were found in 2008. However, no real action was taken following their discovery — there was not a single First Information Report (FIR) or court case filed. And in other states there has been a noticeable increase in the number of illegal mines in recent years, from 284 in Orissa in 2006, to 1,059 in 2008.

Mine closures

Very little attention has been given to “post mining” situations and in particular, the ways in which local communities are impacted when mines shut down. Most mine closure plans do not address the impact of closure on workers or the communities dependent on mining activities for their survival. Attention is rarely paid to the rehabilitation of these workers and communities. In Jaisalmer district, Rajasthan, stone quarries have ceased operations in several localities and with no alternative livelihoods, former mine workers are forced to leave their villages and seek work in other states.24


Table 1.2: Number of illegal mines detected in India, 2009

In the Kolar district of Karnataka, the closing down of gold mining operations of the Kolar Gold Fields (KGF) has left a large community with no livelihood options. When the company was closed down suddenly in 2002, the entire population of KGF fell into a crisis with no alternative source of income or livelihood. Workers stated that although their salaries were not very high, infrastructure and free services provided to them by the company ensured that the basic needs of health, education and public services were met, but when the company shut down, not only were the salaries withdrawn but also all basic amenities. After the closure, the company withdrew all amenities to the workers. State institutions did not take over as workers were not in a position to pay for these services. Children of workers’ families were the most affected by the company’s decision. Children’s education and social security faced the axe. As education was no longer a free service, many of the workers could not pay school fees during the period of the strike. Children faced humiliation at school and many of them had to drop out and take on the responsibility of sustaining their families, forcing many of them to travel out to Bangalore in search of employment. Each morning 7,000-12,000 young adults leave for work to Bangalore by these trains and return only late in the night. The study team saw packed crowds leave at 6 in the morning and return by the last train that comes into KGF at 9:00 pm. and how adolescent girls form a majority of these daily commuters. When interviewed, the young girls, who commute by these trains, admitted that they are vulnerable to physical and sexual abuse as the trains are overcrowded, but they brush it aside as unavoidable as they have no other choice but to sustain their families. Some of the women and young girls from the workers’ families turned to prostitution to keep their families from starving. What was more, young boys were getting into criminal activities such as petty thefts and youth were getting hired by political and criminal groups which operate in Bangalore, for violent and criminal activities. However, people of KGF prefer not to have such news highlighted as it only sensationalises KGF without actually addressing their core problems. One of the glaring problems reported by the people themselves is theft. Young boys operate as petty criminals and steal parts of the company infrastructure like metal sheets from mine shafts, machinery and other scrap. (For more details see state report on Karnataka in Part 2)

How do the mining districts in India fare in terms of child development?

In order to examine the impact of mining on children in India, it is relevant to look at some of the child-related development indicators in the key mining districts across the country. The Table 1.3 brings together some of these statistics for the 15 districts where field research has been carried out during the course of this study, and for an additional nine districts, identified as being amongst the most heavily mined areas of the country. The situation of children will be discussed in more detail for the majority of these districts in the state overview section of the case studies. However, a cursory glance at the table reveals that in many of the districts, mineral wealth is not leading to better development outcomes for children. In the districts more dependent on mining, the majority have a lower than national average literacy rate; more than 10 percent of children between 0-14 years are still out of school with a high rate of child labour. In a national study on under five mortality rates in India, these districts have also ranked close to the bottom (see: Dantewada, Chhattisgarh; Panna, Madhya Pradesh; Koraput and Rayagada, Orissa). In contrast, the districts which have more diversified economies and are less dependent on mining can be seen to have better development outcomes for children across the board, for example, Cuddalore (Tamil Nadu) and Pune (Maharashtra).

Who is affected by mining?

Mining areas tend to be occupied by the poorest and most marginalised sections of society. Indeed, it is a twisted irony that the poorest people live on the lands richest with natural resources. This is because a vast majority of mining in the country is taking place in tribal areas. Adivasi children lose their constitutional rights under the Fifth Schedule over their lands and forests when their families are displaced from their lands.

Despite the passing of the Samatha Judgement in 1997, which is intended to protect the rights of tribal people to their lands, violations continue and over 10 million adivasis have lost their land in India. Across the country, 77 districts, or parts of districts, have been identified as Fifth Schedule Areas.25 The Fifth Schedule covers tribal areas in ten states in India, and it guarantees prevention of transfers in the form of mining leases to private companies. However, violations of this constitutional safeguard are taking place by transfer of lands in the Scheduled Areas to persons other than the Scheduled Tribes, for which control the State is instrumental. It has allowed transfer of land initially to public sector mining companies in the 1970s, and more so, post the 1990s, to private and multinational mining companies, either as joint ventures with state bodies holding the majority ownership (as was done with Rio Tinto and Orissa Mineral Development Corporation) or as private joint ventures (as in Utkal Alumina Limited in Kasipur, Orissa) or directly to a private company (as in Vedanta/Sterlite in Lanjigarh, Orissa). By opening up more land for private mining companies, tribal communities are facing forcible displacement.

Samatha Judgement

The Fifth Schedule of the Constitution of India deals with the administration and control of Scheduled Areas and of Scheduled Tribes in these areas. It covers tribal areas in ten states of India: Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Chhattisgarh and Sikkim. Essentially, the Schedule was intended to provide a guarantee to adivasi people and protect the lands in the Scheduled Areas from being transferred to persons other than tribal. However, violations of this Schedule in Andhra Pradesh, when lands in the scheduled area of Visakhapatnam district were transferred to Birla Periclase and 17 other mining companies, led the NGO Samatha to initiate a court case in the Supreme Court against the state government for leasing out tribal lands to private mining companies. This led to the historic Samatha Judgement in July 1997, which rendered all leases to mining companies in Scheduled Areas null and void and prohibited the future lease of lands in these areas to non-tribals.

A very conservative estimate indicates that in the last 50 years, approximately 20.13 million people have been displaced in the country owing to big projects, such as mines and dams. Of these, at least 40 per cent are indigenous tribal people. Only one-fourth of these people have been resettled.26 Around 47.9 per cent of the population in the area affected by the Vedanta project in Orissa are from Scheduled Tribes.27


Table 1.3: Key indicators in mining districts

Coal is considered one of the most polluting mining activities and has serious implications on climate change concerns. Yet India’s agenda of coal expansion in the coming decade -- to ensure that 70 per cent of its energy demands will be met from coal-based power — is bound to have serious long term impacts on a large population of children, especially Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe children, who live in the coal mining region of the central Indian belt, which consist of some of the most backward states like Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh and parts of the North East like Meghalaya.

Specific situation of tribal children

Even under usual circumstances, statistics show that tribal children in India still struggle to access basic services such as education and healthcare. According to the Ministry for Human Resource Development, 9.54 per cent of Scheduled Tribe children remain out of school.28 Continued exclusion and discrimination within the education system have resulted in dropout rates remaining the highest amongst Scheduled Tribe children as compared to all other social groups. Over 70 per cent of Scheduled Tribe children dropped out in 2003-04 between Classes I to VIII.29

The majority of health indicators show far poorer results for children from Scheduled Tribe populations as compared to the national average. The most recent National Family Health Survey, published in 2007, revealed that infant and child mortality rates remain very high amongst tribals. Tribal children are also still less likely to receive immunisation.30 The Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Jean Zielger, in his report based on his mission to India in August 2005, wrote that most victims of starvation are women and children of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, with their deaths mainly due to discrimination in the food based schemes. According to his report, this was because of discrimination in access to food and productive resources, evictions from lands, and a lack of implementation of food based schemes despite laws prohibiting discrimination and “untouchability.”31 Given that tribal children still face enormous challenges in terms of access to food, education and healthcare, displacement by mining projects increases their vulnerabilities further and renders their survival and development even more precarious. Displacement also has a serious psychological impact on children, who need a degree of security and stability in their upbringing.

The situation of tribal children in the mining areas of Jodhpur, Rajasthan, is a case in point. The residents of Bhat Basti had previously been nomadic, roaming around the countryside with their livestock. However, lack of available land for animal grazing, as a result of urbanisation and industrialisation, forced them to settle in one location almost 20 years ago, where all the adults and many of the children now work as daily wage labourers in the local stone quarries. None of the 200-odd children in the village attended school and all were illiterate. They lived in kachha housing, made of stones and covered with black tarpaulin sheets. There was no running water, electricity or sanitation available in the village. The children had received no vaccinations apart from polio and all are malnourished. The research team met one severely malnourished boy who was claimed to be two years old but looked like a baby of no more than nine months.

One of the fundamental concerns with regard to displacement of adivasi communities for mining projects is the loss of constitutional protection for their children. The rehabilitation policy and the new tribal policy have been diluted from the earlier position of land-for-land as compensation, to a mere monetary compensation if there was no possibility of providing land. Further, the rehabilitation policy also specifies that no rehabilitation will be undertaken in the Scheduled Areas where less than 250 families are proposed to be affected. This, at one stroke, deprives the next generation of adivasi children of the land transfer regulations under the Fifth Schedule, whose families are alienated from their lands for mining projects. As these families either migrate to plain areas or are converted to landless labourers even if they continue to live in the Scheduled Areas, they no longer enjoy the privilege of the Fifth Schedule as far as land is concerned. This is a constitutional violation of the rights of the adivasi child.32

Displacement

Mining areas are inhabited by people. Taking over land for mining means displacing them. These forced evictions, when land is taken over for extraction, or for setting up plants and factories, uproots and dislocates entire communities. Children are forced out of schools, lose access to healthcare and other basic services and are forced to live in alien places. Most often, there is little or no rehabilitation effort made by the government. This has a long-term impact on the displaced children.

Across the world, tribal (or indigenous) populations are being displaced for mining activities. Mining struggles in indigenous communities have been witnessed in numerous countries, from Canada to the Philippines, and from Uganda to Papua New Guinea and to the USA, which massacred native Indians,33 first for the gold rush and later, for other minerals like coal and uranium. Mineral resources are often found in places inhabited by indigenous populations. Therefore, when mining activity begins, these communities are displaced from the hills and forests where they live. They then lose access not only to their homes and land, but also to their traditional livelihoods.34 In most places, compensation has been wholly inadequate and tribal communities are forced into poverty. Their capacity for subsistence survival is often destroyed — tribal symbols of prosperity in subsistence are not recognised as anything that have worth or value. Mines and factories have reduced self-reliant, self-respecting tribal families to living like refugees in ill-planned rehabilitation colonies, while rendering many others homeless.35

The National Mineral Policy, 2008, recognises that “Mining operations often involve acquisition of land held by individuals including those belonging to the weaker sections.”36 It highlights the need for suitable Relief and Rehabilitation (R&R) packages and states that “Special care will be taken to protect the interest of host and indigenous (tribal) populations through developing models of stakeholder interest based on international best practice. Project affected persons will be protected through comprehensive relief and rehabilitation packages in line with the National Rehabilitation and Resettlement Policy.” However, several problems with respect to the R&R policy, such as under-estimation of project costs and losses, under-financing of R&R, non-consultation with affected communities and improper implementation of the promised rehabilitation, are some of the glaring failures on the part of the state with respect to mining projects. This is well reflected, for example, in the case study of the resettled camps of NALCO in Orissa.37

Rajesh (name changed) is fifteen years old and comes from the village of Janiguda. He works in a roadside restaurant at Dumuriput of Damanjodi. His family lost all their land for the NALCO project, which converted his father, who did not get a job in the company, into an alcoholic. Having spent all the compensation money on liquor, the father left the family on the streets. Rajesh dropped out of school and had to come to Damanjodi town in search of work to support his family. He earns around Rs. 1,200 per month working in the hotel and sends home around Rs. 1,000 every month. He says, “Work in the hotel is difficult and there is no time for rest except after 12 in the night every day.”

Source: Interview carried out in Damanjodi, Orissa, 3 February 2010

Despite the grand statements made in the National Mineral Policy, 2008, and the existence finally of a National Rehabilitation and Resettlement Policy, thousands of people will continue to lose their land and end up in worse situations of poverty if the government continues to prioritise profits from mining over the rights of communities to live on their land. One recent example of this has been the struggle by the Dongria Kondh tribe in Orissa to prevent a British mining company, Vedanta, from displacing them. The groups have lived for many generations in this area and the Niyamgiri mountain is considered by them to be a sacred site. However, Vedanta has established an alumina refinery on the top of the mountain, illegally encroaching forestlands without clearances from the Ministry of Environment and Forests, in this area rich with the mineral, bauxite. Although the company claims that the refinery will bring “significant employment and economic livelihood for the local people”38 the reality is that local communities have lost their land and their most sacred place of worship and they are living in a state of corporate intimidation affecting the life of the children and youth who are innocent victims of what has been allowed to happen by the state. Similar is the situation of the adivasis in Kasipur who are caught in the midst of daily conflict because of the tensions created by the mining company.39

Neither the National Mineral Policy, 2008, nor the Rehabilitation and Resettlement Policy mention children, and therefore fail to recognise or acknowledge the ways in which children are specifically impacted by displacement for mining. There are also serious protection issues arising from the displacement of children. Studies have shown that children who are displaced are more vulnerable to trafficking and other forms of exploitation.40

Some people have been displaced in mining areas multiple times, yet have received no compensation and critically no alternative livelihood provision. The World Bank has made a distinction between “resettlement” and “rehabilitation”. Displaced people face impoverishment risks beyond merely the loss of property. Rehabilitation entails more than just compensation and relocation. It involves ensuring that people have income streams, livelihoods and social systems restored and that affected people and their children become better off as a result of the project.41

However, this has rarely been the case with mining-induced displacement in India. Members of the Dongria Kondh tribe explain how they have lost their self-sufficiency as a result of Vedanta’s project in Orissa and now they are struggling to survive. One woman says she used to grow crops on 7 hectares of common land, but now she has lost this land and received no compensation: “The way we were living, we were self-sufficient, and we had lived like that for generations,” she says. “We could have lived like that for many more generations too. Because of these people, we cannot. But we will still fight to continue the old ways.”42 The tribe fears that once mining starts, they will lose their livelihood completely. They say, “Once they start mining, the mountain will be bulldozed and the rivers will dry up and our livelihood will be lost. We will become fish out of water. We don’t know how to adapt and survive and our way of living is not available in the cities. We will be extinct.”43

Mining companies claim that they create jobs and raise the standard of living for the local population. However, experience shows that this is not the case. In most of the areas visited, the mining company jobs were not going to local people, but instead staff were being brought in from outside. In Jharkhand, with the Urimari coal-mining project, we found that none of the employees of the company were local tribal people. Instead, the local people work as casual labour, hired to carry out tasks such as loading and unloading trucks. Many of the mineworkers are women, children and youth from surrounding villages who have been displaced from their land.44 In total, 14 villages with 95 per cent of the population coming from Scheduled Tribes, are reported to have been displaced by Central Coalfields Limited (CCL) for this project, and apart from monetary compensation, they have not received any other benefits. Although a school has been set up, this is not functional, and medical facilities are mainly provided to employees of the company and not to the local community.45

In Cuddalore district, Tamil Nadu, 3,316 families have been displaced for the Neyveli Lignite Corporation project. This has had a serious impact on the livelihoods of a number of families. People have lost agricultural land in the area and are now struggling to find work. Those who had land argue that the compensation they received is not enough. When they were displaced 20 years ago, they received only Rs.3,500 per acre of land. However, the impacts have hit the Scheduled Caste population worst in the area — they had no land to start with and worked as labourers on other people’s land, so they received no compensation at all and now lack employment opportunities.46

Families in Mariyammnahalli, in Bellary district, Karnataka, have lost their agricultural land, and therefore their financial security. They have now become daily wage labourers working in mine sites. Many of these former farmers are now forced to send their children out to work as they can no longer afford to continue sending them to school.47 As well as working in mining, these children are sent to work in other sectors, such as the garment industry. According to the Child Rights Trust in Hospet, there are many children working in the garment industry in the district, which is famous for its jeans.48

Impacts of displacement on education and health

Displacement causes a significant disruption to education and healthcare for children. Families may be forced to relocate to areas where infrastructure is poor or there is a lack of basic services. Many displaced children rarely have the opportunity to return to school after moving locations. Because their parents lose their livelihoods and end up as migrant daily wage labour, children of displaced families are often forced to work in order to contribute financially to their family’s survival.49 The education of girls, already a low priority in many communities, suffers further post displacement.50 Many of the villages visited in Koraput and Rayagada districts in Orissa, where a large number of families have been displaced for mining projects, had no schools, not even at the primary level. Parents cannot afford to send their children away to boarding schools, so the children are unable to attend school and instead go out to work.

The health of communities is found to deteriorate following displacement. The already marginal health status of displaced people is worsened by the stress and trauma of moving, leading to mental health problems, and problems associated with communities gaining access to safe water and sanitation create new health problems.51 Many displaced communities have problems accessing clean water. Residents of the displaced camps surrounding the NALCO project in Koraput, Orissa told researchers how water scarcity is one of the major challenges they now face. The mining company has allocated one bore well per at least 10 households in the camps in contrast to the 24-hour water supply provided to the officers of the company.52

Increasing amounts of agricultural land being turned over to mining is having a particular impact in terms of food security in a number of mining areas. Minerals tend to be located in rich fertile lands — and this agricultural land cannot be easily replaced. Although companies argue that mining operations lead to jobs and economic development, this loss of agricultural and grazing land is also leading to increased hunger and malnutrition.

In Koraput district of Orissa, 597 families have been displaced for the NALCO aluminum project. Much of the land that was lost to mining was agricultural and paddy land and the local population depended heavily on agricultural work for their survival.53 With this loss of land, the population can no longer depend on agriculture for their livelihoods and occupation patterns have changed. People now work as manual labour for companies or for government schemes and struggle to find full time work. This has also had an impact on their diet -- whereas before they would grow their own vegetables, now they cannot, and for many families it is too expensive to buy vegetables regularly from the local market.54

In Thumbli village, Barmer district, Rajasthan, numerous villagers explained how they used to grow their own vegetables, but now they have lost their agricultural land to lignite mines, vegetables no longer constitute a regular part of their diet as these are too expensive for them to buy in local markets.55 This has a severe impact on the nutrition status of children. They reported an increase in levels of child malnutrition in their village. With the highest number of malnourished children in the world — almost 50 percent of India’s children suffer from malnutrition — the loss of vegetables and other essential food groups from their diets is extremely worrying.

Amongst the population displaced by coal mining in Urimari, Jharkhand, child malnutrition rates are high. The anganwadi worker who was interviewed, explained that the majority of children she visits are malnourished. Other child health problems in the village include skin diseases, malaria and TB, but there is no medical facility there, hence a lot of dependence on superstitions.56 Non-availability or inaccessibility to health facilities in their new location only further compounds the problem. The impacts fall disproportionately on children, who are more vulnerable to health problems and require access to health care and regular check ups.

In villages visited in Koraput district, child labour figures are extremely high. According to the Census 2001, 5.67 per cent of the child population (0-14 years) are working in the district.57 However, the latest Annual Survey of Education (ASER) report, published by Pratham, found that 17 per cent of children in Koraput are out of school, showing that the district has one of the highest numbers of out of school children in the country.58 There is a high incidence of child labour around the NALCO area, although there is no child labour within the company premises. Interviews carried out in seven villages in the area, with families who have been displaced by mining, revealed that a very large number of children are working in dhabas, tea stalls, pan stalls and as domestic labour.59 People reported that school dropout rates had increased since they had been displaced, as children have to earn money for the family’s survival. According to the Displaced Peoples’ Union, between 100-200 children in the displaced peoples’ camps of Amalabadi and Champapadar are working as casual labourers. As 131 families of the Displaced Peoples’ camp are headed by widows, most of the children of these families are working as manual labour in mining and associated activities. Many of them were seen to be working in hotels, restaurants, paan stalls, and other small shops and it can be estimated that in total, around 500-1,000 children of the project affected areas are working as labourers in the local area. Many youth are also reported to have migrated to the cities of Chennai, Mumbai, Hyderabad and other cities for livelihood.60 The rehabilitation of the community displaced by NALCO, even after almost three decades, still remains incomplete. There has been no impact assessment of the region undertaken during this period and no stock taking of the rehabilitation process, or review of the basic services provided. Particularly, there has been no assessment of the impact on children, even when a high incidence of child labour, school dropout rate and malnourishment are visibly evident.

Forced Migration

The nature of mining work means that migration becomes an essential survival strategy for people engaged in this sector. Climatic factors, market fluctuations and changes in demand for minerals mean that mining locations change regularly. With heavy monsoon rains affecting most parts of the country in the summer months, many mining and quarrying operations are discontinued or slow down during this time. Migrations tend to begin around October- November, with migrant families spending the next six to eight months at the sites before returning to their villages at the next monsoon.

Living conditions at informal mine sites – case study from Maharashtra

“We have been staying here for 10 years because it is the nearest place to the quarry sites. The houses are very small (four feet by six feet). If anyone wants to enter the house, they have to sit down and only then can they enter the house. We do not have any electricity and the water is provided by the quarry owner –- every day one tanker comes for the community. Now and then we fall sick from drinking this water.”

Source: Interview with residents at Moshi, Maharastra, September 2009.

Although there is no data to show the extent of migration for mining and quarrying work in India, evidence suggests that migration in general is increasing, and the number of children involved below 14 years may be close to nine million.61 These children are torn away from their education and social networks. Estimates suggest that somewhere between half a million to 12 million migrant labourers work in small-scale mines in India.62 Regular streams of new migrants leave the tribal belts of Bihar, Orissa, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and other states to seek work in the mines. Migrants comprise the most vulnerable sections of society, with the majority coming from Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.

Mining contractors often prefer to hire migrant labour, as they are easier to control and less likely to organise. Migrant workers are not organised sufficiently to lobby and form a pressure group.63 It also enables them to hire whole families, as they may just officially employ the adult members of the family, but the parents will bring the children along to work with them. This pattern of employment can be seen in unorganised mines and quarries across the country, from Rajasthan, to Maharashtra and Karnataka. Children interviewed in the stone quarries in Pune district, Maharashtra had come from Nepal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Orissa.64

These mining communities live an almost parallel existence, without access to services provided for the other villages in their area, such as schools, health services and ration cards. These people are not reached by the government services that they are entitled to, and are instead forced to survive without any state support. Many migrant workers do not possess Public Distribution System (PDS) ration cards and hence are forced to buy food grains and kerosene at higher market prices. Most lack any form of identification and thus find it difficult to access local services. They often face difficulty accessing education and healthcare services in the areas where they settle. In some sites in Maharashtra, the workers explained that even though they did own ration cards, the mine owner kept hold of the cards (perhaps with the intention of keeping them bonded and to stop them from leaving). A sixty-year-old woman informed the team that she finally got her ration card four months ago, but the Public Distribution System dealer had asked her to come after six months as her name was not yet entered in his records.65 The mineworkers end up spending heavily on basic food supplies and their consumption is usually far below the basic daily intake required. The diet of mineworkers’ children consists of barely two meals of rotis (bread), chillies and rarely any vegetables or dal (lentils). Hence, most of the children are malnourished and anaemic.

Right to Housing as a human right

The requisite imperative of housing for personal security, privacy, health, safety, protection from the elements and many other attributes of a shared humanity, has led the international community to recognise adequate housing as a basic and fundamental human right.

While in the international context the right to adequate housing as enshrined in Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 11(1) of the ICESCR provides that:

“Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for health and well being of himself [or herself] and his [or her] family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services.”

and that,

“The States parties will take appropriate steps to ensure the realisation of this right, recognising to this effect the essential importance of international cooperation based on free consent.”

Further, The CRC obliges state parties to provide, in cases of need, material assistance and support programmes to families and children, particularly with regard to housing (Article27(3))

Migrants live in the worst housing conditions, often without electricity, water or even basic sanitation. The most shocking living conditions seen in mining areas in the course of this study were of migrant communities, who almost always live in makeshift accommodation close to the mining sites, or even at the sites. Houses are temporary dwellings made of plastic sheets and quarry stones packed as walls. Up to 10 family members may share a house of 8x10 feet space, or sometimes only 4x6 feet.

They also face the additional problems of resentment and hostility from local communities, who see them as outsiders and often refuse to allow them to integrate. They may live for years around the mines, but not be accepted or recognised as part of the local community. In Jodhpur district, Rajasthan, we met with a Scheduled Tribe community who had been forced to relocate to the area in order to be close to the mining work. Despite living on this land for almost 20 years now, they were still engaged in a battle with two local villages that wanted them to be moved off this land and had not been given pattas (title deeds) for their properties.66

Across the country, children of the migrant mineworkers were found scattered all over the mine sites around the shacks looking dirty and dusty. The mine site is their home, playground and sleeping area. In all the nine sites visited in Maharashtra, we saw children looking unhealthy, suffering from coughs, colds, leaking noses, fevers and skin infections. The women said that diarrhea, jaundice and malaria are the most common child health problems as the water is contaminated and the cess–pools in the mine pits are a breeding ground for mosquitoes. There is no sanitation facility, so most of the infants and younger children are seen defecating around the living quarters. For the women, sanitation is a huge problem as there are no toilets and no area for bathing.67

Education for children of seasonal migrants has not been on the radar screen of the government or development agencies, despite the fact that it is a growing phenomenon in almost all arid parts of India. Children accompany their parents when they migrate, and as a result dropout rates increase. The seasonal migration cycle — based around the monsoon period — overlaps with six to seven months of the school calendar. This means that children who do enroll can only attend school from June until October, after which they usually drop out.68 These drop out rates are often not captured by official education data, as the children get enrolled in schools for the first few months of the school session, but then drop out for the remaining months of the academic year to accompany their parents to migration sites. Over time, the learning deficit gradually causes them to drop out of school completely and work full-time.69

In Panna district, Madhya Pradesh, residents explained that school dropout rates are high because of migration. Large numbers of the community are engaged in diamond mining work. However, this diamond work is seasonal and only available six to eight months of the year, so during the other months they migrate elsewhere in the country for work. Locals complained that government schemes aimed at enabling them to remain in the district all through the year, such as the National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme (NREGA), were not being implemented effectively and thus lack of available work was driving them to migrate.70 Instead, under the NREGA scheme people were only getting maybe 10 or 20 days work in a year, and there was a lot of corruption involved in determining who managed to get job cards.71

13 year old Santosh (name changed) works in a stone quarry in Moshi village of Pune district. He had to migrate with his family from Nashik and has been working in the quarry for more than a year now. He works from early morning till late in the evening breaking stones and loading them onto trucks. He has four siblings, one of whom is physically handicapped. He earns Rs. 70-90 per day, which is desperately needed to keep the family from starvation. When interviewed he said, “I always wanted to study but our family is not in a position to send us to school and now it is too late for me to dream about it. I want to work hard so that I can use my wages to send my younger brothers to school.”

Source: Interview in Moshi quarry, Pune, Maharshtra, 16th September 2009.

Similar problems were reported in the stone quarrying districts visited in Maharashtra. In 2004-05, there were 2,055 children enrolled in Santulan’s Panshan Shala -– schools in the mining areas. However, in the same year, 946 of these children migrated to other places with their family.72 In Bellary district, Karnataka, landless families are also migrating to different parts of the area for work, which is resulting in children dropping out of school and discontinuing their education.73

A study carried out by CHILDLINE, in the limestone mines of Junagarh district, Gujarat, found that 78 per cent of the out of school children who were interviewed cited migration as the major reason for dropping out. Most of the children were registered in their local village school, but could not go to the school near the mines partially due to lack of transport, but also because they could not get admission in the local school without valid documentation.74

As well as the migration cycle and consequent lack of consistency, language barriers often prevent migrant children from accessing education and healthcare in India. When migrants cross a state border, they are often unable to speak the local language — at least up to a sufficient level to study in it. Currently, only a few states, such as Andhra Pradesh and Orissa, have initiated bilingual or multilingual education strategies.

Impacts on Health

Health impacts are manifested in the lives of mining children in different ways. They are affected because their parents working in the mines fall ill or because they themselves fall ill working in mines or because they live in areas where the entire environment has been affected by mining.

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Part 2 of 3

Children carry the burden of parents’ illness

Children suffer because they are children of miners. According to the ILO, mining is one of the three most dangerous occupations to work in along with agriculture and construction.75 Mining has long been known to cause serious health problems in its workers. Until the early 20th century, coal miners in the United Kingdom and the United States brought canaries into the mines as an early–warning signal for toxic gases such as methane and carbon monoxide. The birds, being more sensitive to these toxic gases, would become sick before the miners, thus giving them a chance to escape or to put on protective respirators. Although this practice has been discontinued, mine workers still face serious occupational health risks. There have been numerous media and NGO reports documenting how exposure to harmful dusts, gases and fumes causes respiratory diseases, and can develop into tuberculosis (TB), silicosis, pulmonary fibrosis, asbestosis and emphysema after some years of exposure.76

The specific impacts of mining are diverse, depending on the nature of the minerals extracted and the extent of exploitation. Silica stone is known to cause silicosis in workers exposed to this dust. This fatal lung disease is difficult to diagnose; it is frequently misdiagnosed as TB and is incurable. The symptoms are similar to TB and mine workers often get TB treatment instead, which fails to combat this disease. In Shankargarh block of Allahabad district, Uttar Pradesh, around one in three of the 25,000 quarry workers are suffering from what they call “Shankargarh-wali TB” — many of these are probably actually suffering from silicosis, though they have not heard of the disease. The average life span for a mine worker in the area is 40 years.77 The Haryana-based group Prasar has campaigned extensively on silicosis amongst quarry workers in the state. They estimate that at one site, Lal Kuan in Uttaranchal, 3,000 quarry workers have already died of “TB.” Although the national average risk of TB infection is 1.5 per cent, in this area every second person is affected. Surveys have revealed that a number of these TB cases are indeed silicosis.78

Hundreds of migrant adivasi workers from Madhya Pradesh have reportedly died of silicosis whilst working in the quartz crushing factories in central Gujarat.79 Studies by the National Institute of Occupational Health and the Gujarat Pollution Control Board have revealed that air quality is dangerously above what is safe for workers. Yet despite stringent regulations specified for quartz crushing units by the Central Pollution Control Board, there is no system of monitoring in place and no punitive action has been taken against factory owners.80 A survey of 21 villages in Jhabua district, Madhya Pradesh, found that 489 people from 281 households were exposed to silica dust. Of these, 158 have died and 266 are ill with silicosis -- meaning that 86 per cent are either dead or incurably ill following exposure. Ninety four per cent of the deaths have occurred within three years of exposure to silica dust.81

Mining reduces life expectancy. Most mineworkers have a tragically short life span averaging between 45 to 55 years. Children working in the industry from an early age are likely to burn themselves out by the time they reach 30 or 35 years.82 Exposure to numerous health hazards at such a young age greatly lowers their longevity and quality of life. This increased morbidity among adults also forces their children to take over the economic burden of the family. In Rajasthan, many workers interviewed explained that after the age of 40, they were forced to take frequent absences from work due to TB and silicosis and life expectancy amongst mine-workers is reported to be lower than average in these areas.83

Again and again, communities across the country explained how children were forced to drop out of school in order to contribute financially to their family after their mineworker parents had become sick with illnesses such as TB and silicosis. In a village in Panna district, Madhya Pradesh, a man explained how two of his sons (who are both below 18 years) work in the stone quarries and diamond mines because he became ill with malaria and TB and can no longer work. The boys have to work in order for the family to survive and to enable them to purchase medicines.84

Children living in mining sites are victims of both the poor socio-economic status of their parents and families, as well as the difficult environment in which they live. A recent study has revealed that over 50 per cent of children working at a stone quarry in Moshi, Maharashtra have reduced lung function and all the symptoms of asthma. The study was carried out by a local paediatric doctor with 70 children, over a period of two and a half years. The doctor found that children who had been exposed to the dust for over five years were most affected, and most of these children had been exposed to the dust right from their birth.85

The doctor working with Santulan in the Wagholi stone quarries in Maharashtra said that over 40 per cent of children in this area are suffering from anaemia, as their low economic status does not allow families to access adequate nutrition.86 He treats more than 200 stone quarry workers every month for lung problems and bronchial diseases that are very common among stone quarry workers. The first stage of lung diseases is usually bronchitis, then it turns into asthmatic bronchitis and finally into acute asthma. These diseases are caused by dust inhalation.87

Private doctors taking advantage of mineworkers

In Wagholi, Maharashtra, there are more than 60 private doctors running clinics in the stone quarrying area. Often they misguide their patients by informing them that they need saline drips or injections in order to earn money from them. These daily wage labourers are desperate — if they do not work, then they don’t get paid. Therefore they believe the doctors who can give them medicines to help them to get through that day, rather than provide real treatment for their ailments.

Source: Interview with Santulan's doctor, Maharashtra, September 2009.

A study carried out by the NGO Gravis in Rajasthan found that there were two major factors that adversely affected the health of child miners: malnutrition and working in extremely hazardous conditions.88 Interviews carried out by MLPC in the Salumber Primary Health Centre in Morilla village, Udaipur district, revealed the same.89 "We do not know what we will eat tomorrow,” said a woman mine worker from the Bhuri Beri mine who was interviewed during the course of this study. In several villages, women said their children had never been weighed or measured. Very few of the children interviewed ate vegetables regularly, and none of them had fruit or dairy products. To be denied a balanced diet at such a critical age leads to chronic malnutrition and restricts their growth and full mental development, as well as making them highly susceptible to developing serious health problems in the future.90

According to people living in the iron ore mining communities of Bellary, Karnataka, both adults and children are suffering from breathing problems caused by exposure to the red dust. The most common diseases that people reported in the area are asthma and TB.91 Similar stories were heard from mine communities across the country.

Injuries and death due to accidents in mines

Mine and quarry workers across the world are particularly vulnerable to accidents. Although there have been no comprehensive studies to analyse the rate and incidence of accidents in the mining sector in India, there is no doubt that accidents in informal mines and quarries are common. Workers from the eight states interviewed in the course of the study reported that they often became injured at work and incidences of fatalities are alarmingly common.

One PHC in Jodhpur district, Rajasthan, reported that they treat at least 20 mine workers every day who have come in with injuries, mostly caused from blasting work.92 Every mine worker we spoke to in Rajasthan said that they had witnessed accidents at their place of work. In Dhirampuri mining area, Jodhpur district, Rajasthan, we were told that seven to eight people die in mining accidents there every year. A tribal man working in this area explained how an iron rod fell down on his chest and almost killed him. As the contractors provide no help in the event of an accident, he was taken to hospital by his brother who had been working alongside him. He spent around Rs.7,000 on medical treatment and was not able to work for a long period. As the workers are casual day labourers with no employment rights, the contractors take no responsibility for deaths or injuries caused in the workplace. In the event of death, families rarely receive compensation and injured persons are forced to take unpaid time off work and cover their own medical costs.

In Bellary district, Karnataka, the women mine workers interviewed said they had also witnessed accidents in the iron ore mines. One woman had lost her newborn baby in an accident at the site, whilst another had seen a 20-year-old pregnant woman crushed to death by rocks.93

At the age of 12, Yellappa Chaugule was left orphaned when his parents lost their lives in a stone quarry accident. He was sent to work in a quarry by his aunt to earn for his survival. However, five years back he was rescued from the quarry and is now attending a Santulan-run school.

“My name is Mohit (name changed). My age is around 16-17 years, I am not sure. I am from the village of Salarapentha. After my family lost our land for the mining company, my father became sick with tuberculosis after working for some time in the mining company, and he died. The company initially promised all the affected that jobs will be provided to all families, but so far no villager got a job. I am the highest qualified person from my village as I failed in matriculation. I work in the mines as a daily wage worker and earn Rs. 60 per day. Sometimes I earn Rs. 1,800 per month when there is full time work, but most often, work is irregular. We do not have access to drinking water, medical facilities or housing from the company. I am married and I have a lot of tension to make my family survive. So I take mahua (a type of alcohol) sometimes to beat the stress. My mother is also a victim of tuberculosis and it is very difficult to handle the expenditure on medical costs and also buy food. I was very interested in going to college but I have to support my family.”

Source: Interview carried out in Keonjhar district, Orissa, 16 February 2010

Accidents from blasting activities are common in stone quarries across India. In November 2009, a newspaper reported how five people were killed and six injured in a stone quarry blast in a “freak explosion” triggered by a lightning flash in a stone quarry at Mathur village, 15 km from Chengalpattu, in Tamil Nadu.94 A local police officer explained how similar accidents have occurred in at least two other quarries in the area. This shows how adequate safety mechanisms have not been put in place to protect people working in these quarries. Children are affected when the adults in the family die or are injured in mining accidents.

Because their bodies are growing and developing, children working in mining are at even greater risk of being injured or falling ill than adult workers. Ill health problems may not become apparent until the child worker is an adult.95 Forced to carry out work heavier than their bodies are designed to cope with, children may suffer from severe back pain, spinal injuries and other musculo-skeletal disorders. Ill health problems may not become apparent until the child worker is an adult. A study carried out amongst children working in mines in Nepal showed that the frequency of injury there is very high, with 59 per cent of these child workers explaining that they get injured very frequently, frequently or occasionally.96 Children are also forced to work under direct sunshine and are exposed to high temperatures, particularly in India where the mining and quarrying “boom” season takes place just before the monsoon, when temperatures reach over 40 degrees celsius in many parts of the country.

The CHILDLINE study of the limestone mines of Junagarh district, Gujarat, found that a large number of children working in these mines were suffering from occupational health problems, such as frequent coughs and colds as well as skin diseases. However, a lack of awareness in the community about the health hazards of mining meant that people were attributing these problems to the climate, or not knowing what was causing them to fall sick. They were not relating it to the work they were carrying out.97

Of course, because the employment of children in mining is banned, there are no records to show the number of children injured each year in mining accidents in India. However, anecdotal evidence from the mining areas suggests that accidents and injuries are common. According to a register kept by Santulan in Maharashtra, they had records of 31 cases of major mining accidents, which had taken place between 2004-07 in the Wagholi mining area, of which three cases were children. However, this data is incomplete and therefore cannot be taken as an accurate reflection of the situation of mine accidents, as records are not being maintained properly either by the mine workers, mine owners or by local organisations. Most of the time, the mine owners provide first aid and primary treatment but no long term treatment or compensation, however serious the injury. In many cases, workers have been made permanently disabled and could not continue work, which pushes the burden of family survival on the children. A women’s group in Moshi, Maharashtra told the researchers that a 15-year-old boy had recently been killed in an accident whilst working in a stone quarry nearby.98 The CHILDLINE study in Gujarat found that 30 per cent of the children interviewed had experienced accidents whilst working in the mines, mostly from breaking stones and blasting.99

Health impacts because of living near mines

Living close to the mining sites brings its own set of health problems. The most well documented is the impact of uranium mining, with the radiation known to cause serious illnesses and diseases. Although the government insists that there is no threat of radiation to local people or health hazards from the uranium mining, local residents tell a different story in Jaduguda, Jharkhand. The radioactivity associated with uranium and nuclear waste dumped in this area has been a cause of major health hazards, and severe deformities have been observed among the children of the area.100 Women living in close proximity to these uranium mines in Jaduguda, where radiation levels have been scientifically proven to be above the permissive limits, have experienced a number of reproductive health problems with high rates of miscarriages and children being born with physical and mental deformities.101 There are reports of at least 50 severely deformed children living in Jaduguda. Many of these children can neither speak nor walk and their parents remain uncertain about what has caused these problems.102 The Uranium Corporation of India Limited (UCIL) insists it is not to blame and has defended its health and safety record in court. However, studies have found that congenital deformities in the area are far higher than the national average, and symptoms synonymous with health problems caused by radioactive waste.103

GURIA is a dark-eyed little girl, who lies on a rope bed in the shade of her house, waiting for her daddy to come home. She grins as she sees him, and those dark eyes light up. Her father returns his daughter's smile as he picks her up in his arms. But his eyes are filled with tears. Guria can't speak. Nor can she walk. She can't feed herself. Her hands — if you can call them hands — are bent and quiver. Her legs are useless. But her eyes reach out. Guria is seven years old.

A stone's throw from her house, another girl lies on another bed made of rope. She is 23. She is like Guria, save for the fact she also seems to be in pain. She gasps for breath; her look is anguished. She is fully dressed in her outdoor clothes, but she never goes anywhere, never has been anywhere. For 23 years this has been her life.

The parents of these girls aren't sure what's caused their daughters' plight. There are around 50 other children in the village of Jaduguda in a similar condition. ….

But the critics of the mine say it is the children who survive, for however long, who are the most damning evidence of the damage being done — children with skeletal distortions, partially formed skulls, swollen heads, missing eyes and ears, fused fingers, blood disorders, and brain damage.

Source: Mark Whitekar, Jaduguda's hapless children, The Hindu, May 06, 2006

Health workers in the cities of Punjab like Bathinda and Faridkot have also observed a sharp increase in the number of children born with birth defects — physical and mental deformities and cancers among children. Scientific tests carried out in 22 villages in the district found that uranium has contaminated milk, wheat, pulses and water.104 This groundwater contamination could have been caused by granite found in Tusham hills in Bhiwani, Haryana, as granite contains radioactive metals like uranium. Tests also revealed that the children had massive levels of uranium in their bodies -- in one case more than 60 times the maximum safe limit — which they believe to be caused by the power stations located close by.105

In Bellary district, Karnataka, the local population complained of breathing problems caused by dust pollution from the iron ore mines. Both adults and children also said they suffered hearing problems from the noisy blasting work.106

In Sundergarh district of Orissa, where limestone and dolomite quarrying are taking place, local communities complained of numerous health problems. According to the medical officer of the Community Health Centre (CHC) in Birmitrapur, occupational health problems are significantly higher in the area and he reported that people suffered from respiratory illnesses, malaria, tuberculosis (TB), filaria and other water borne diseases mainly due to mining activities. He also stated that there is a severe shortage of medicines in the PHC due to the high rate of illnesses, but the hospital does not get any help from the mining companies even as a social welfare cause.107 Reported cases of TB in the area have increased from 228 in 2006, to 433 in 2009.108

In Raigarh district, Chhattisgarh, the home of coal, iron ore, dolomite and limestone mining, the most common illnesses reported amongst the children were malaria, diarrhea, pneumonia, skin ailments, bronchitis, gastroenteritis, abdominal pains, arthritis, jaundice and other respiratory ailments. Hydrocele is also reported to have increased in the last five years.100 Health officials working at the health centre in Korked, Raigarh, admitted that there are far more patients approaching the centre now than before, and this is due to health problems created by mining.110

There are also health problems that are found in mining areas that may not have any direct link with the mining process, but is related to the migration that takes place as a result of mining. Amongst these are reports of a high level of sexually transmitted diseases, in particular HIV and AIDS in mining communities across the world. HIV is particularly prevalent in migrant workforces, such as mining labour, and the risks workers take in the mines on a daily basis means that unprotected sex is viewed as a minor hazard.111

With communities becoming economically vulnerable, children and women are found to become particularly vulnerable to sexual exploitation and trafficking, and hence also sexually transmitted diseases and HIV and AIDS. In a recent survey carried out by the Jharkhand AIDS Control Society, findings reveal that mine workers are especially prone to AIDS. This is attributed to the low literacy rate and poor health facilities in these mining areas.112 In Amalabadi village, in Koraput district, Orissa, in a community that was displaced for mining activities, residents reported an increase in the spread of HIV and AIDS. They explained that they were particularly vulnerable because of their status as migrant workers and the prevalence of prostitution. There are between 100-200 HIV positive people in the village, which is considered the highest infection rate in the district.113

Loss of Access to water

Mining impacts upon access to clean water because it is an extremely water-intensive activity, and in several parts of India there have already been serious concerns relating to water shortages and the mining industry overutilising its fair share. Mining companies require water for both the extraction and processing of minerals. The mining operations, refineries and smelters all require large quantities of water. The resources for this are the dams that were originally built to provide water and irrigation for the local populations living there. Now, mining companies are diverting it for their own use.114

What is worse, not only have the mining operations taken away access to water, in many places, local communities are at the mercy of the mining companies for their water requirements. In the Urimari mining area in Jharkhand, some of the relocated villages are entirely dependent on the company to provide drinking water, as the water sources in this area are too contaminated for consumption. The water trucks usually come around midnight, so women are forced to wait around for hours at night for water to arrive.115

Some of the villages like Milupara that are close to the mine sites suffer from both water and air pollution. The villagers observed that water contamination is affecting reproductive health as children are observed to be born either weak or with some abnormalities.116 Health officials at the health centre in Korked, Raigarh, reported that fungal infections and hepatitis are on the rise, mainly due to infections from polluted water.117

In Orissa and Andhra Pradesh, most of the bauxite is located on hilltops and the water supplies in these areas are just below the deposits. This is bound to affect the health of children living in and around the mining sites. A similar story can be seen in Goa, in the iron-ore mining areas. Despite its vast network of rivers and lakes, water is becoming increasingly scarce in the state. Mining involves pumping out ground water as mine pits get filled from the aquifers below, thereby depleting the entire groundwater in the region, as was witnessed in Shirgao village of Bicholim, in North Goa. The villages around this mine have been left completely without water both for irrigation and drinking, and farmers complain that agriculture is seriously affected by this disturbance to the water table.118

Serious health problems have already been documented in some areas. The impacts of polluted and scarce water are most severe on children, who suffer from living in unhygienic conditions and from inadequate water consumption. For example, around the chromite mines in Orissa, a study revealed that chromium present in the water is causing irritation of the respiratory tract, nasal septum ulcers and pneumonia. Children with sores all over their body are also described as a common sight.119 In the mica mining areas of Andhra Pradesh, people as young as 20 are suffering from arthritis. And water contamination from the mica mines has given rise to several health hazards such as nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea.120

In Tamil Nadu, communities living close to the lignite mines in Cuddalore district explained how earlier, they had no problems with their water supply. But now the lignite mining has gone deeper and deeper, the water supply has been affected and farmers are not getting enough water for their agricultural land. The flow of water has also changed as this has been diverted for mining. Their drinking water is now contaminated with dust, which the locals say is causing an increase in stomach problems.121

A woman interviewed in Jodhpur district, Rajasthan, explained how water was so scarce in their village, that she was unable to bathe her children. Her six daughters were covered in dust and grime, and when she was asked about their health and hygiene she explained how she had so little water, she could not afford to waste it on bathing her children, but instead had to save it for drinking purposes.122

In Dhanapur, in Bellary district, Karnataka, the majority of the population was engaged in agriculture until private companies purchased land from the government and started mining there. Farmers complain that they no longer have access to water for cultivating their crops, as the mining companies are using the water for their activities. Their crops are also affected by the dust from mining. Many farmers have been virtually put out of business and have been forced to sell their land to mining companies.123

Existing legal, policy or programme interventions on health

The Mines Act, 1952, laid out guidelines for the safety of workers. It prescribes the duty of the mine owner to manage mine operations and health and safety in mines. It also lays out the number of working hours in mines, minimum wage rates and other related issues. However, whilst it is possible that this is being applied in some of the larger, formal sector mines, there is no evidence of its application in the small-scale mining sector, where the vast majority of mine labourers currently work in India.

The Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981, and the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, state that air pollution due to fines, dust, smoke of gaseous emissions during prospecting, mining, beneficiation or metallurgical operations and related activities shall be controlled and kept within “permissable limits.” However, this permissible limit is a highly debatable issue.124

Legislation to address child health problems in relation to mining is completely absent. Basic health programmes and services do not reach the children as the administrative machinery is not geared towards making local modifications to accommodate the peculiar situations of migrant and mining affected children. The PHCs are also not equipped to cope with the kind of diseases that the mining affected population are exposed to, such as silicosis. Even the barest support structures like the anganwadi centres [AWCs] that are intended to reduce child malnutrition, have found to be not functioning in many of these mining regions.

Anganwadi is a type of rural child care centre in India. They were started by the Indian government in 1975 as part of the Integrated Child Development Services program to combat child hunger and malnutrition. Anganwadi means "courtyard shelter" in Indian languages.

A typical Anganwadi centre provides basic health care in a village. It is a part of the Indian public health care system. Basic health care activities include contraceptive counseling and supply, nutrition education and supplementation, as well as pre-school activities. The centres may be used as depots for oral rehydration salts, basic medicines and contraceptives. As of 31 January 2013, as many as 13.3 lakh (a lakh is 100,000) Anganwadi and mini-Anganwadi centres (AWCs/mini-AWCs) are operational out of 13.7 lakh sanctioned AWCs/mini-AWCs. These centres provide supplementary nutrition, non-formal pre-school education, nutrition and health education, immunization, health check-up and referral services of which the last three are provided in convergence with public health systems.

-- Anganwadi, by Wikipedia

Loss of Access to Education

All children have the right to elementary education. However, in mining areas across the world, children can be seen toiling away in mines and quarries as opposed to attending school. Poverty is not the only reason for this. The global economy in which we live ensures that child labour suppresses wage levels; children continue to be employed in this sector because companies can pay them less than adults to carry out the same work. Privatisation and informalisation of labour has directly led to increase in child labour, particularly in the mining industry which keeps the workers impoverished and indebted in a vicious trap. A study carried out in a mining area in Tanzania revealed that children had been forced to drop out of school due to a lack of resources. Primary schools in this area were characterised by poor facilities, such as a lack of classrooms, textbooks and other teaching equipment. The low success rate of progression from primary to secondary school meant that children ended up working in the mines because of the lack of alternatives for further education and training.125

“The main problem is the lack of education here. We are telling the government that we will give land and a building, but please give us a decent school. The mines can close anytime but if our children are educated, they can find a job elsewhere.”

Source: Mineworker, Jethwai village, Jaisalmer district, Rajasthan, July 2009.

The problem of children accessing education in mining areas begins right from their birth. Despite an increasing recognition of the importance of early childhood care and education, these facilities are not available in many mining areas. A lack of crèche facilities and anganwadi centres in these districts means that mothers often have no alternative but to take their small children to work with them. As well as missing out on essential education and development opportunities, a mining site is one of the most hazardous places for a young child to be spending their days. ASER data reveals that several of the most heavily mined districts in the country also have some of the highest number of children aged between three to six years not enrolled in an anganwadi. In Orissa, 56.9 percent of children in Koraput and 48.3 percent of children in Rayagada are not enrolled in an AWC. And in Rajasthan, 51.4 percent of children in Jodhpur and 36.5 percent of children in Udaipur are not enrolled in an AWC.126 Among the mining communities visited in these two states, many people reported a lack of AWC facilities in their area.

One of the main villages studied in Chhatisgarh was Gare village in Tamnar Block which has a total population of 741 of which 400 are below the age of 18. The village has two primary schools, one middle school and one anganwadi centre. While the infrastructure and teaching leave much to be desired, the school set up by the Jindals is far away from the village and too expensive for the local people to send their children. Only the children of employees of Jindals, therefore, attend this school.

In Khamariah village, a mining area in Chhattisgarh, there is an AWC, but only around 10-15 children attend it regularly. This is because the AWC building is dilapidated and people said it was too dangerous for children to sit inside as the roof may collapse any time. The records say that there are 28 children enrolled, but on the day our team visited only two children were present.127 Sometimes the mining companies simply encroach into the school premises or bulldoze the schools if they hinder their mining activities like in the case of Goa, and Andhra Pradesh where the school was used as a store house by the Birla Periclase agents.128

With mines and quarries often located in remote areas, this is also compounded by a lack of or difficult access to education, particularly secondary education. The headmaster of the high school in Potanga village, Jharkhand, complained that mining activities are not good for children, as the quick money that they can earn from mining encourages them not to attend school.129

Education figures from the most heavily mined districts in India tell a worrying story. According to the most recent ASER survey by Pratham, Koraput and Rayagada districts in Orissa have some of the largest numbers of out of school children in the country, with 17.0 percent and 17.7 percent respectively of children aged 6-14 years still out of school in 2008.130 Similar statistics can be seen in other mining districts across the country. In Bellary, Karnataka, 14.1 percent of children remain out of school and in Jodhpur and Udaipur districts of Rajasthan — where thousands of people are employed in small-scale stone quarries — 12.1 per cent and 10.0 per cent of children respectively are missing out on an education completely. Mining is clearly not promoting education and development in these districts and is instead creating a culture in which children work rather than go to school.

In several districts of Rajasthan, mine workers explained how they had made financial sacrifices to send their children to school, but after several years of attending local government schools, their children were still not able to read or write due to the poor quality of the education provided and frequent teacher absences. One village in Jaisalmer district — where 90 per cent of residents work in mining -- explained how they had now given up on their government school and had set up their own private school in the village. However, not all the parents were able to afford to send their children to this school.

In the mining areas of Bellary district, Karnataka, many families explained how their economic situation was so poor that their children are forced to work rather than attend school. With the decline in mining in the area due to the economic downturn, some children have started to leave the mines and go back to school, but many others are simply forced to look for alternative sources of income for their family. Some children continue to go to school in the morning and work in the afternoon, others are only seasonal workers, whereas a large number continue to work as fulltime employees.131 Girls were particularly likely to be out of school, as parents did not recognise the importance of educating them when “they will be married in a few years anyway.”132 A number of families in Mariyammnahalli village have lost their farmland to mining. Therefore they have had to take their children out of school and send them to work. The Don Bosco Shelter in Hospet explained that parents in the mining areas are willing to send their children to school, but their economic situation was so bad that they are forced to send their children to work in the mines just to fulfill their basic need for food.133

Existing legal, policy or programme interventions in education

In September 2009, 16 years after the idea was first mooted, the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 has finally been enacted by Parliament. This provides for free and compulsory education for all children in India aged between 6 to 14 years. Other key features of the Act include mandated improvements to the quality of education provided to all children. Whilst this is a positive step in the right direction, it remains unclear how this legislation will be implemented in the mining areas, where large numbers of children are still forced to work rather than attend school, and where issues of displacement and migration impact greatly on the child’s right to education.

Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan is the government’s flagship education programme aimed at achieving the universalisation of elementary education in India. However, the programme remains flawed in a number of ways. For example, the scheme’s policy of promoting parallel systems of education has meant that children across the country are being denied equal opportunity to a quality education. Although the scheme has achieved some success in terms of increasing enrollment figures, retention continues to be a huge problem, with as many as 31 per cent of children dropping out before class V. This is particularly true in rural backward areas where mines and quarries tend to be located. In addition to this, the programme has failed to yet bring real improvements to both the facilities and quality of education provided in the majority of these mining areas.

Whilst the government is still failing to provide quality education to all children in mining areas, there have been a number of NGO initiatives aimed at children in these parts of the country. In Maharasthra, the NGO Santulan has set up a number of Pashan Shala schools around the stone quarrying areas, which currently reaches 2,001 children scattered across five districts in Maharashtra, mostly the children of stone quarry workers who would otherwise be working alongside their parents. These schools have now been recognised by the state government. In Rajasthan, the organisation MLPC has established a number of crèche facilities around the mining areas in Jodhpur district to address the problem of mothers having to take their small children to work with them. These crèches currently have 650 children under 6 years of age enrolled.

Internationally, efforts to reduce child labour and promote education in mining areas have been limited or at least not widely documented. In Peru, a number of NGOs, the ILO, the Government of Peru and the U.S. Department of Labour joined forces to launch an education project to combat child labour in mining in the country. This project aimed to remove children from gold mining and place them in quality school settings.134

Increase in Child Labour

“The image of youngsters, blackened by coal dust, lugging laden carts from tunnels deep underground was one of the factors which stirred the ILO membership to adopt conventions against child labour at the start of the 20th century. Astonishingly, almost a hundred years later, that very image can still be seen in small-scale mines of Asia, Africa, Latin America, and even parts of Europe.”

- ILO, International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour, Mining and Quarrying

Children as young as 5 years of age are working, in horrendous conditions, in mines and quarries across the world. Child labour in the mining sector is prevalent in many parts of Africa, South America and Asia. The majority are working in small scale “artisanal” mines, which tend to be unregulated and often located in remote, hard-to-reach areas. The International Labour Organization (ILO) defines child labour in mining as the “Worst Form of Child Labour,” stating that “While all forms of child labour are harmful to children, those who work in the mining sector are in particular danger, labouring in conditions that pose a serious risk to their health and well being, exposing them to serious injury or even death on a daily basis.”135

The global recession has led to an increase in small-scale mining, and thus the use of child labour, in a number of countries across the world. In 2008-09, Zambia's copper mining industry has been forced to downsize its operations. With nowhere else to go, unemployed miners have been forced into informal, artisanal mines (that were previously unable to compete with the large mines when copper prices were high) operating outside the regulatory framework with poor working conditions. As a growing number of households are feeling the effects of the recent slump in the demand for copper, children are being forced into working in these small-scale mines.136

Child labour in mining

Cold, dark and dangerous these "unofficial" and unregulated coal mines and gold mines are no places for children. Due to extreme poverty and lack of access to education, some feel they have little choice but to risk the dangers. In some mines, children work as far as 90 metres beneath the ground with only a rope with which to climb in and out, inadequate ventilation and only a flashlight or candle for light. In small-scale mining, child workers dig and haul heavy loads of rock, dive into rivers and flooded tunnels in search of minerals, set explosives for underground blasting and crawl through narrow tunnels only as wide as their bodies. In quarries, children dig sand, rock and dirt, transport it on their heads or backs, and spend hours pounding larger rocks into gravel using adult-sized tools to produce construction materials for roads and buildings.

Source:: ILO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, Press release: Cold, dark and dangerous -- Asian children in mining, 9 June 2005.

In India, the global recession has meant that demand for minerals has reduced, and in some parts of the country mining activity has slowed down since 2008, following the “boom” years of the early 21st century. This further highlights the unsustainable nature of the work as many mine workers have suddenly found themselves unemployed. Since they work as daily wage labourers, with no contracts or employment rights, they do not receive compensation or even notice of their impending unemployment. In Bellary district, Karnataka, the local population reported that the number of child labourers in the mining sector has decreased due to reduced demand for iron and manganese since the peak period of 2000-2005. Child labour is not being reduced because of positive efforts to address the problem by the state or the mining companies; instead it is because of the overall status of mining due to recession. Many of these children have been forced to turn to other forms of work to generate an income, as opposed to being able to access education, and child labour is bound to increase again once the market improves and demand for the minerals increases.

The life of a child miner

Rani (name changed) is 10 years old and working in the sandstone mines in Jodhpur, Rajasthan. She earns Rs. 70 a day, cleaning mine waste from 9am till 5pm. She works about 15 days a month because she gets tired and needs to rest, and sometimes can’t find work in the local mines. She has been to school (an NGO-run crèche) for just two days in her life. She is already addicted to gutka and fights with her mother to spend money on soap and gutka for herself.

Source: Interview carried out in Jodhpur district, Rajasthan

“My father died of some illness and therefore I had to go with my mother to the quarry,” said a 12 year-old girl in one of the mines in Maharahtra. She broke down when asked to describe her work.

Source: Interview in a stone quarry in Pune District, Maharashtra

Gutka, ghutka, guṭkha or betel quid is a chewing tobacco preparation made of crushed areca nut (also called betel nut), tobacco, catechu, paraffin wax, slaked lime and sweet or savory flavourings, in India, Pakistan, other Asian countries, and North America. It contains carcinogens, is considered responsible for oral cancer and other severe negative health effects and hence is subjected in India to the same restrictions and warnings as cigarettes. Highly addictive and a known carcinogen, gutkha is the subject of much controversy in India. Many states have sought to curb its immense popularity by taxing sales of gutkha heavily or by banning it. Gutka is manufactured in the sub-continent and exported to a few other countries, often marketed under the guise of a "safer" product than cigarettes and tobacco. Reported to have both stimulant and relaxation effects, it is sold throughout South Asia and some Pacific regions in small, individual-sized foil packets/sachets and tins that cost between 2 and 10 rupees each. It is widely consumed in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and the Madhesh region of Nepal. Gutka is consumed by placing a pinch of it between the gum and cheek and gently sucking and chewing, similar to chewing tobacco. As with paan and other smokeless tobacco products, there are preventive efforts to encourage users to quit and young people not to start.

-- Gutka, by Wikipedia

Table 1.4: Total number of children working in mining and quarrying in India (main and marginal workers)

It is difficult to measure the number of children involved in mining, because of the remoteness, informal character of the sector and mobility factors. However, the ILO estimates that more than one million children are involved in mining across the world.137 The actual figure, though, may be much higher than this, particularly given that the ILO states that 250,000 children work in mines in Niger alone. Child labour in the mining sector is prevalent in numerous countries across Africa, Asia and Latin America, where children can be found working mostly in small-scale underground and opencast mines and quarries. They work in the extraction and processing of various types of ore and minerals, including goal, silver, iron, tin, emeralds, coal, chrome, marble and stone. The ILO describes how “Today’s child miners do not work directly for big mining companies. They may work for a small local mining or quarrying concern or with their own families on small concessions near bigger mines.”138

It is impossible to give an accurate figure for the number of children working in mining and quarrying in India. According to the Census 2001, there were 45,135 children between 5-14 years working in the mining sector (see table 1.4), which means that the mining sector employs nearly 7 per cent of working children in India. Child labour figures are only disaggregated in the census up to 14 years. However, figures reveal that [there] are huge numbers of 15-19 year olds working in this sector -- 161,585 according to the Census — so there are likely to be very large numbers of children 15–18 years working in the mines. Field visits to mining areas confirmed this to be the case — this age group of children is very visible in the mines and quarries across the country as they are better able than younger to children to carry out physically demanding work.

However, the figures provided by the Census grossly underestimate the scale of the problem. Organisations working on mining in Rajasthan estimate that around 375,000 children work in the mines and quarries across that state alone. In Karnataka, estimates suggest that there are at least a few lakh139 children engaged in mining there.140 So the number of children working in mining in India is, in fact, likely to be much closer to the one million that the ILO gives as the worldwide figure. The blurring of children and women’s labour has been cited as one impediment to accurate data on children working in mining in India, as often in reports and statistics women and children are lumped together.141

“My name is Sudeep. I am working with my father here in the stone quarries since 3-4 years. Now I am 18 years old. I come from Panna village. There is no fixed rate of payment for the work I do. For digging out one plate of stone we get Rs. 70-120 per day. In a day we can take out 5-6 plates of the stone, as a group. I can say that I earn Rs.100-120 in one day. But I can only work for 12-15 days in a month as the work is very strenuous. I have never been to school”.

Source:: Interview carried out in Purna panna stone and diamond quarries, 18 August 2009

In Kallali, in Bellary district, Karnataka, large numbers of children from the Madiga community (a Scheduled Caste) are engaged in stone crushing work, prescribed to be their traditional occupation. Over 20 percent of the children aged between 8-14 years from the villages in this area are said to be working at the mining sites. According to the children interviewed, there are over 100 crushing machines in the surrounding area, and at each crushing site at least 20-25 children are working, most of them girls, earning around Rs.100-110 per day for their labor.142

In Panna district, Madhya Pradesh, locals explained how most of the boys and girls start working by the age of 10. In Bador village, the community elders said that there were about 200 children in the village, of which around 100 attend the primary school. However, they drop out by fifth grade and join the mine labour. Parents explained that as future breadwinners of families, they have to learn the work early in life.143 At a diamond mine in Panna district, the research team found 6 children working alongside their families. Four of the children were below 12 years of age and were helping their parents throw the soil away. The parents stated that the children are enrolled in school, but they work half the day in the mines and then attend school in the afternoon.144

In Mannor village, which has a child population of around 300, only 20 are reported to be attending school. When children reach the age of 10 or 12, they join daily wage work in the diamond mines. It is claimed that only 2 children have studied up to class V in this village.

Cases of state and industry irresponsibility are seen even where a precious stone like diamond is concerned, children are working in Madhya Pradesh to find diamonds for local contractors, where the stakes are extremely high but the trade routes are deliberately made elusive. The Obulapuram mines and the child labour in Bellary is another clear example of this. The local contractors who hire child labour do not even make a pretension of hiding the facts. In Bellary they stated that they are immune from laws and regulations, which they flout openly because “it is taken care of” by the Obulapuram Mines. This reflects the arrogant defiance to law as law-keepers can be easily purchased to the highest levels of power. In most of the areas we found that mining, undoubtedly, was a dirty business with more illegal than legal modes of operation.

Poverty is often presented as the only factor that explains child labour in the mining sector. However, the actual picture is far more complex than this. A multitude of socioeconomic factors have led to a situation where, in the 21st century, large numbers of children can still be seen toiling in our mines and quarries. The systemic and deliberate reason is that child labour is cheap, and this cheap labour is welcomed by contractors in the mining and quarrying sector. Children are also compliant, easier to control and have no bargaining power. Children are often forced into mining because of the low wages received by their parents. They are pushed into the labour force in order to enable the family to survive, particularly in difficult times, such as that of family injury or illness.

Bearing in mind that many of the workers in the mining sector are migrant labourers, women also commonly migrate with their families and therefore provide a family unit of labour, which includes children.145 The lack of child-care and schools in mining areas is another factor which explains the presence of high numbers of children at mines and quarries across in India. Women as new migrants move into small mines of quarries with little or no support for looking after children, so they are forced to take their children with them to the workplace.

The continued abuse of bonded labour in the mining sector also pushes children into the mines. In Rajasthan, the high incidence of injuries and illnesses amongst mineworkers, and the lack of any health care or insurance, means that adult workers frequently get into debt, as they have to borrow from the contractors during difficult times. They are then forced to provide free labour whilst they pay off these debts. This form of bondage often becomes inter-generational, with children working to pay off the debts of their parents when they are unable to do so.

Shristhi (name changed) is 16 years old and works in a mine site. Her father, who was a mineworker, died of an illness nearly 5 years back. She has one older sister (married), a younger sister who is at home, three brothers at school and one brother older than her who also works as a mine worker. Her mother too works in the mines. Shristhi earns about Rs. 100/- a day working from 9.00 am to 5.00 pm. She said that she had been working for nearly 4 years now as they needed the money to run the house. Around two to three days in a month she does not go to work as she rests at home. She suffers from leg and backache. Shristhi has never been to school.

Source: Interview in Jodhpur district, Rajasthan, October 2009.

Child labour perpetuates the cycle of poverty within families. Forcing children to work below a subsistence wage, in the unsustainable work that small-scale mining and quarrying provides, greatly reduces the chance that these children will ever be able to pull themselves out of the poverty into which they were born. The risks are even greater for girls, as these sub-standard wages often force young girls into much more severe forms of exploitation, such as prostitution.146

Again and again, research shows that where children are given viable options, they wish to attend school -– and parents equally want their children educated to give them the opportunity of a better future.147 Mining is not viewed as a “desirable” form of livelihood and children working in mines are there as a last resort in terms of survival.

As well as working in the mines and quarries, there is a high incidence of other forms of child labour in the mining areas across India — in all likelihood, due to low wages and high rates of illness amongst adult mine workers. Field observations in Jodhpur district, Rajasthan confirmed that although some children are employed in paid work — in mines, agriculture or restaurants — a far greater number are involved in adult-releasing tasks or supplement adult labour.148 Such activities include herding goats, fetching water and firewood, looking after younger siblings and other domestic tasks.

An accurate analysis of child labour in the mining areas also needs to take these kinds of activities into account, as these children are still missing out on their right to education and the opportunity to attend school.