Part 3 of 3
Working conditionsThe ILO classifies mining as one of the “worst forms of labour” because of the extent and severity of the hazards, and the risks of death, injury and disease.149 Children work long hours without any form of protective equipment, clothing or training. They are exposed to extreme temperatures with no protection from the sun. As well as lung diseases caused by inhaling dusts and gases, child miners often suffer physical strain, fatigue and muscular-skeletal disorders due to the heavy work involved. As their bodies are still growing and developing, they face greater dangers and risk of damage than adult labour in this sector. Many of the injuries and health problems may result in permanent disability — and these health problems may not become apparent until the child worker is an adult.150
Working conditions in the informal mining sector across the world are notoriously poor, and the situation in India is no different. The unorganised sector remains outside the purview of legal protection in terms of labour conditions, so the majority of the labourers work in dangerous, unregulated conditions.
Pay varies across the sector and across states, but is always low and generally lower than the minimum wage of that state. In addition to this, the casual nature of the work means that there are no employment benefits such as sick pay, paid holidays or health insurance, so workers often end up in debt during difficult times, such as periods of ill health.
Conditions in small-scale mines and quarries are almost always extremely primitive. Mining contractors provide nothing to make the workers lives more bearable. None of the sites visited in the course of the study had toilets or drinking water. The lack of sanitation is particularly challenging for women and girls. No shade or shelter is provided at the sites, meaning that children are forced to work in long hours with no protection at all from the sun. Despite the prevalence of accidents, we are yet to come across a mine where the contractors provide anything in the wear of protection, such as helmets or face-masks, to workers and the lack of first aid facilities at the site means that in the event of an accident or illness, workers are often forced to travel long distances to the nearest healthcare centre.Legal framework for Child LabourThere is no blanket ban against child labour in India. The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986, prohibits the engagement of children in certain employments and regulates the conditions for work for children in certain other employments. The list of hazardous forms of employment has been added to on several occasions since the Act was passed in 1986, but mining and collieries are the only forms of mining included on the original list.
Article 24 of the Constitution of India, drafted in 1950, states that: "No child below the age of 14 years shall be employed to work in any factory or mine or engaged in any other hazardous employment." Despite this, 60 years after the Constitution came into effect, thousands of children across India continue to work in mines and quarries.
The government’s response to the situation has previously been to argue that as it is illegal, child labour in the mining sector is not a problem. And they continue to live in denial. This is evident from the answers to the parliament raised on questions related to child labour in mining. This happened when a question was raised in 2003,151 and has been the same later too. In 2005 the Minister of Labour and Employment was asked the Government's reaction to International Labour Organisation (ILO) observation that there are one million children aged between 5 and 17 presently toiling in mines and quarries all over the world; if so, what is the reaction of the Government in this regard; whether the Government had ascertained the exact number of children aged between 5 and 17 toiling in mines and quarries in the country; if so, the details thereof; and the efforts being made to remedy the situation?
The Minister, Sri Chandra Shekhar Rao replied that there is no reference to India in the said report. He added that mining occupations have already been prohibited as hazardous occupation under the Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Act, 1986. What is more he replied that occupation-wise data of child labour in the country is not maintained. (This is surprising since the Census 2001 data quoted in Table 1.4 gives this information.) He added that the Government is implementing the National Child Labour Project Scheme for the withdrawal and rehabilitation of children working in hazardous occupations and processes. The Scheme involves enrolling the working children in special schools and providing them education, vocational training, nutrition, health care, stipend, etc. and finally, mainstreaming them into regular schools.152
lakh: a hundred thousand.
"they fixed the price at five lakhs of rupees"
In the very same year,
based on the fact finding in the iron ore mines of Hospet and Bellary, that was a precursor to the current effort, the Minister for Labour was once again asked about whether several lakh children are still working in the mines throughout the country and a large number of them starting from the age of five, working in the most hazardous conditions and leading a horrible existence as (reported in the Hindu dated May 16, 2005) and whether the school dropout rate is high in mining regions of the country; and whether there is a demand to conduct an enquiry in all the mines in the country and to come up with a comprehensive report on child labour. The honourable Minister replied saying that it is not true that several lakh children are working in mines in Karnataka as reported in the Hindu dated May 16, 2005.
He further reiterated that the use of child labour working in mines is prohibited under the Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Act, 1986 since working in mines has been identified as a hazardous occupation and any employer employing children below the age of 14 in mines is liable to penal action which includes imprisonment.
He said that instructions to enforce strictly the Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Act in the entire country for all hazardous occupations including working in mines for children has been conveyed to all the state governments including the Government of Karnataka and that the government is very serious in effective enforcement of the Act and in the implementation of the National Child Labour Projects in the country. “Mining is a very widespread activity in the country and it takes place both in the organised sector and in the unorganised sector. There is no evidence to indicate that the school drop out rates amongst children working in mines is higher than the general drop out rates in the other areas in the country” he added.153
The National Child Labour Project (NCLP) is the oldest scheme of the government to address child labour and was initiated in 1988, to target children working in hazardous occupations in the child labour endemic districts. The scheme involves establishing Special Schools for rescued child labourers and provides children with a stipend of Rs.100 a month, as well as nutrition, vocational training and regular health check ups. The coverage of the NCLP scheme increased to 250 districts during the Tenth Plan, and now includes a number of areas where there is widespread mining, such as districts in Chhattisgarh, Orissa and Rajasthan. The NCLP scheme has been heavily criticised for its failure to reach the number of children necessary. Of the 150 districts sanctioned under the Tenth Plan, projects have still only been sanctioned in 86 of these districts, and although the scheme has now been officially increased to a total of 250 districts, this still only covers half the country.154 Whilst we know that there are huge numbers of children across the country still engaged in hazardous forms of labour, as of May 2007, only 392,413 children have been mainstreamed through the NCLP scheme.155
It was a shocking discovery during the field visits that there are hardly any NCLP schools operating in the areas where mining-affected children live. In most places, it is the local NGOs who are providing these facilities either in the case of Pashan Shalas in Pune district of Maharashtra or in the form of Tent schools run in Bellary and Sandur districts in Karnataka.
In addition to the national laws on child labour in the mining sector, there are several international conventions which relate to this form of labour. The guiding international framework for child rights is the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which was signed by India in 1992. Article 32 of the Convention states:
“States Parties recognise the right of the child to be protected from economic exploitation and from performing any work that is likely to be hazardous or to interfere with the child’s education, or to be harmful to the child’s health or physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development.” 156
In spite of this agreement, children continue to be employed in hazardous work in mines and quarries across the country. India has also ratified the ILO Convention C123 Minimum Age (Underground Work) Convention, 1965 in 1975, which bans children under 16 years from working in underground mines.
Ajit (name changed) hails from Dom Koral village of Tikiri. He is 17 years old. As his father died five years ago, he was forced to take on the entire burden of the family and become the sole breadwinner. He works as a manual labourer under different contractors in mining activities and earns around Rs.60 a day. He stated that the mining work is erratic due to the community protests and strikes, and hence his earnings are irregular. “I do odd jobs at the mine site as there is construction work going on. Work is very tough and therefore, I have gradually become addicted to liquor and gutka -- I can’t help it”.
Source: Interview carried out in Dom Koral, Kasipur, Orissa, 13 June 2009.
Efforts to address child labour in miningAlthough some efforts have been made by NGOs and the ILO to address the problem of child labour in the mining sector across the world, this continues to be a neglected area — perhaps due to the lack of quantitative data on the scale of the problem. The ILO’s International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) has adopted mining and quarrying as one of its global areas of focus, due to the dangerous nature of the work. Pilot projects undertaken by ILO-IPEC in Mongolia, Tanzania, Niger and the Andean countries of South America have shown that the best way to assist child miners is to work with the children’s own communities.157 The IPEC programme explains how mining and quarrying communities have been helped to organise co-operatives and to improve their productivity by acquiring machinery, thus eliminating or reducing the need for child labour. However, the ILO recognises that while projects on the ground can assist child miners in a practical way,
only worldwide awareness of the problem can mobilise the international effort that is needed to end the practice for good.158
In India, the ILO–IPEC programme initiated a project in Andhra Pradesh to eliminate child labour in the state, and a component of this was focused on reducing the number of children working in slate mines and factories in the state.159
The National Child Labour Programme (NCLP) is the flagship programme of the government to eliminate child labour in hazardous situations. In the case of mining children there are two problems related to this: 1) Since not all mining occupations are listed as hazardous, all child labour in mines is not covered by this programme. 2) where they exist, they do not tend to function effectively. As is now the practice, most government programmes are run by NGOs. In this case they are run by NGOs with very small funds and so they are run badly and with little motivation. Since there is little or no proactive motivation from government labour departments to identify areas that have child labour, it all depends on the motivation of the local NGO, if there is any.Increased vulnerability to violence and abuseThe majority of mining areas are not safe environments for a child to grow up in. There are many social problems associated with mining operations. Numerous reports across the world have documented how mining activity is often accompanied by the widespread availability and consumption of alcohol, an increase in gambling and the introduction or increase in prostitution. Violence, alcohol-induced and domestic, may increase.160 Very difficult working and living conditions, and the uncertainties of life, can encourage excessive alcohol consumption habits amongst quarry workers. Alcoholism is prevalent, particularly in male mineworkers, and in some cases leads to domestic violence and the ill-treatment of children.161 Amongst the population displaced for the Urimari coal mining project in Jharkhand, alcoholism has risen. One woman explained that alcoholism has increased since the mining started and that 80 per cent of the family income is now spent on alcohol.162Mining sites are rough places to live and work. Some children become engaged in prostitution and they are also confronted by problems related to alcohol and drug abuse, and violence.163 The ILO highlights how the mining environment often becomes a degrading social environment, with increasing levels of prostitution and criminality, as well as an erosion of family and social structures.164 Alcoholism amongst male workers has been identified as a major issue in Rajasthan. In Budhpura, Bundi district, illicit alcohol is supplied to labourers at a subsidised rate, which promotes alcoholism.165
In Jodhpur district, Rajasthan, women mineworkers explained that alcoholism is rampant among men and some women. Men, women and children are all addicted to chewing gutka (a chewable form of tobacco). The reasons they give for this is to ease the physical tiredness and pain experienced after a hard day’s work.166 Consumption of alcohol, tobacco and drugs by child mineworkers is a significant problem. A study carried out in Jodhpur and Makrana in Rajasthan, found that 60 per cent of the child labourers interviewed were dependent on ghutka, tobacco and alcohol.167Tikripada village in Keonjhar district, Orissa, consists of a population of 1,200, mostly from Scheduled Tribes. Since all the families in the village lost their agricultural land for mining, and they are now forced to work as daily wage labour for mining contractors, social problems have increased in the village. With the influx of external migrant populations, such as truck drivers, youth in the village have now become vulnerable to addictions to alcohol and gutka, and crimes such as theft have increased. A large increase in the number of liquor stores in the area since the introduction of mining has meant that men, women and young children have all become dependent on alcohol, which they claim is due to heavy work load in the mines.168
Mining areas often coincide with the parts of the country most affected by child [girl] trafficking. One example is the case of Sundergarh district in Orissa, which has a serious problem in terms of trafficking, particularly of young girls. It was estimated by a survey conducted by the Rourkela Social Service Society that every day there is trafficking of at least 20 girls to cities such as Delhi and Mumbai. At least 7,000 girls were trafficked each year from Sundergarh district according to their survey. The main reasons for this high incidence of trafficking are stark poverty, indebtedness created by mining and other industries, and the nonimplementation of developmental schemes in the areas. As industrialisation, in particular mining, has spread rapidly in the district, adivasis, who form a majority of the population have become vulnerable to migration and trafficking. The district also has an alarming rate of unwed mothers and prostitution.
In addition to these social problems and abuses, child mineworkers face violations in terms of their rights to leisure and recreation. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child clearly recognises the right of every child to rest and leisure, and to engage in play and recreational activities.169 However,
the concept of free time and recreation is almost absent from the daily lives of children working in mining and quarrying. 170
ConclusionThe findings in this study paint a frightening picture of children’s rights in mining areas across the country. Because there is so little information available mining children live where they have no way of proving the number of stones they break, the number of debts they repay, the number of nights they starve, the numbers that have lost their parents or watch them dying each day with tuberculosis or silicosis, the numbers who are victims of the rape of their bodies and the pain of their souls.
Malnourished, denied access to education, and living and working in dangerous conditions, India’s “mining children” are leading horrendous lives. Previously unexplored, and therefore inevitably neglected, the links between children and mining have not yet been taken seriously by either policy-makers or activists. It is hoped that this report will provide the basis for further action and advocacy work on these issues, to ensure that children’s rights no longer be violated by the mining sector. The report also provides evidence, once again, that profits from mining do not simply ‘trickle down’ and benefit the local community. Instead, the situation of children living in the parts of the country wealthiest in natural resources is abysmal. The central government, state governments, mining companies and nongovernmental organisations need to work together to ensure that these children are no longer denied their basic rights, and to ensure that the development, so promised by the government and the mining sector, becomes a reality for all.
Key Findings
The significant findings from this national study point to eight most critical areas of concern with respect to upholding the rights of India’s children vis-à-vis mining. These are:
1. Increased morbidity and illness.
2. Increased food insecurity and malnutrition.
3. Increased vulnerability to exploitation and abuse.
4. Violation of Right to Education.
5. Increase in child labour.
6. Further marginalisation adivasi and dalit children.
7. Migrant children are the nowhere children.
8. Mining children fall through the gaps and there is urgent need to amend laws, policies and programmes to address their specific rights and entitlement.
Responsible mining and responsibility towards local communities is not visible in India. Therefore, the fear that exists in the hearts of the communities and public is whether private companies can ever be made accountable if the public sector has no record of best practices. With India’s thrust for the future being privatisation of mining projects, there is little hope for sustainable mining to be implemented with seriousness, in the absence of best practices from the public sector and the looming gaps that exist in the law and regulatory mechanisms.
The corporate induced conflicts and state of terror in these regions, particularly in Orissa, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand were visible all through the study where data collection was interrupted several times due to strikes, bandhs, non cooperation of local communities due to fear of police and industry repercussions, and the inability to travel without fear of violence.A lot depends on the political will, public accountability and bureaucratic transparency. A lot also depends on a nation’s conscience.
Unless the collective conscience of policy makers, the mining companies and the general public is awakened to the harsh reality of the lives of the mining children and the price they pay for the glamour, the glitter and the development and growth that mining brings, nothing will change._______________
Notes:19. Ministry of Labour and Employment, Government of India, Selected State-wise Average Daily Earnings of Workers in Mining Industries by Sex-Age in India, 2007.
20. Ministry of Labour and Employment, Government 20. of India, Selected State-Wise Average Daily Employment and Number of Reporting Mines in India, 2002 – 2005.
21. Interviews with mineworkers, Mariyammnahalli, Bellary district, Karnataka, June 2009.
22. Interview with Mr. Bastu Rege, Director, Santulan, September 2009.
23. Interviews carried out in Hospet area, Bellary, Karnataka, June 2009.
24. Interviews with residents of Jethwai village, Jaisalmer district, Rajasthan, July 2009.
25. Samata, Fifth Schedule Areas,
http://www.mmpindia.org/Fifth_Schedule.htm, uploaded: 11 December 2009.
26. Shanti Sawaiyan, Forcible Displacement and Land Alienation is Unjust: Most of the Forcibly Displaced in Jharkhand are Adivasis, A paper for the III International Women and Mining Conference, 2004.
27. Tata AIG Risk Management Services Ltd, Rapid environmental impact assessment report for bauxite mine proposed by Sterlite Industries Ltd near Lanjigarh, Orissa, August 2002, p. 7 of the executive summary.
28. For a full overview on Scheduled Tribe children and education, see Status of Children in India: 2008, published by HAQ: Centre for Child Rights.
29. Ministry of Human Resource Development, Chapter on Elementary Education (SSA and Girls Education) for the XI th Plan Working Group Report, 2007, pp. 14.
30. For a full overview on Scheduled Tribe children and health, see Status of Children in India: 2008, published by HAQ: Centre for Child Rights.
31. Paradox of Hunger amidst Plenty. Report of the Special Rapporteur on Right to Food, Jean Ziegler, on his Mission to India (August 20-September 2, 2005. Combat Law Volume 5 Issue 3. June-July 2006.
32. Samatha, A Study on the Status and Problems of Tribal Children in Andhra Pradesh, 2007.
33. Carlos D. Da Rosa, James S. Lyon, Philip M. Hocker, Golden Dreams, Poisoned Streams, Published by Mineral Policy Center, August 1997.
34. Bhanumathi Kalluri, Ravi Rebbapragada, 2009, Displaced by Development - Confronting Marginalization and Gender Injustice - The Samatha Judgement - Upholding the Rights of Adivasi Women, Sage Publications.
35. Vidhya Das, Human Rights, Inhuman Wrongs – Plight of Tribals in Orissa, Published in Economic and Political Weekly, 14 March 1998.
36. Government of India, National Mineral Policy, 2008.
37. See case study report on NALCO project-affected community in Koraput, Orissa.
38. Vedanta response to Survival International media statement, 20 August 2008, published in the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre website.
39. Samatha, People’s Struggle Against Utkal Alumina Plant in Kasipur, 2002.
40. Se UNICEF, Displaced Children,
http://www.unicef.org/emerg/index_displ ... ldren.html, uploaded: 10 February 2010.
41. Theodore E. Downing, Avoiding New Poverty: Mining-Induced Displacement and Resettlement, April 2002, pp. 14.
42. The Guardian, Gethin Chamberlain, Vedanta versus the villagers: the fight for the sacred mountain, 12 October 2009.
43. Ibid.
44. Interviews carried out in mining-affected communities in Urimari coal mining area, Jharkhand, September 2009.
45. Ibid.
46. Interviews in mining-affected communities in Cuddalore district, Tamil Nadu, August 2009.
47. Interviews with mineworkers, Mariyammnahalli, Bellary district, Karnataka, June 2009.
48. Interview with Child Rights Trust, Hospet, Karnataka, June 2009.
49. Bhanumathi Kalluri, Ravi Rebbapragada, 2009, Displaced by Development " Confronting Marginalisation and Gender Injustice – The Samatha Judgement " Upholding the Rights of Adivasi Women, Sage Publications.
50. Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, Internal Displacement in India, November 2007,
http://lib.ohchr.org/HRBodies/UPR/Docum ... ssion1/IN/ IDMC_IND_UPR_S1_2008_InternalDiscplacementMonitoringCenter_uprsubmission.pdf; uploaded: 14 October 2009.
51. Theodore E. Downing, Avoiding New Poverty: Mining-Induced Displacement and Resettlement, April 2002, pp. 11.
52. Interviews in Damanjodi, Orissa, June 2009.
53. Interviews in mining-affected communities in Koraput district, Orissa, June 2009.
54. Ibid.
55. Interviews in Thumbli village, Barmer district, Rajasthan, July 2009.
56. Interviews in mining-affected communities in Urimari coal mining area, Jharkhand, September 2009.
57. Census of India, 2001.
58. Pratham, Annual Status of Education, 2008.
59. Interviews in mining-affected communities in Koraput district, Orissa, June 2009.
60. Ibid.
61. Consortium for Research on Educational Access, Transitions and Equity, Distress Seasonal Migration and its Impact on Children’s Education, May 2008, p. 1, 2.
62. Sudhershan Rao Sarde, Regional Representative, IMF-SARO, Migration in India: Trade Union Perspective in the Context of Neo-Liberal Globalisation, p. 2.
63. Ibid, p. 5.
64. Interviews with child mineworkers, Pune district, Maharashtra, September 2009.
65. Interviews in Moshi stone quarrying area, Maharashtra, September 2009.
66. Interviews with mineworkers, Bhat Basti, Jodhpur district, Rajasthan, July 2009.
67. Visits to mine sites, Maharashtra, September 2009.
68. Ibid, p. 2.
69. Ibid, p. 34.
70. Interviews with mining-affected communities, Panna, Madhya Pradesh, August 2009.
71. Ibid.
72. Interview with Santulan, Maharashtra, September 2009.
73. Interviews with mineworkers, Bellary, Karnataka, June 2009.
74. CHILDLINE India Foundation, Living with Stones – Children of the mines, part of the Children at Risk report series, 2008.
75. ILO, Eliminating Child Labor in Mining and Quarrying: Background Document, 12 June 2005.
76. MLPC, Broken Hard,
http://www.indianet.nl/steengroeven/fac ... enhard.pdf, uploaded: 11 February 2010.
77. Frontline, Annie Zaidi, Silent Victims of Silicosis, 4 November 2005,
http://www.flonnet.com/fl2222/stories/2 ... 009200.htm, uploaded: 19 October 2009.
78. Ibid.
79. Economic and Political Weekly, Amita Baviskar, Contract Killings: Silicosis among Adivasi Migrant Workers, 21 June 2008.
80. Economic and Political Weekly, Amita Baviskar, Contract Killings: Silicosis among Adivasi Migrant Workers, 21 June 2008.
81. Ibid.
82. Gravis, Tales of Woe: A Report on Child Labour in the Mines of Jodhpur and Makrana, March 2004, p. 12.
83. Interviews with mining-affected communities, Rajasthan, July 2009.
84. Interview with former mineworker, Panna district, Madhya Pradesh, September 2009.
85. The Times of India, 50 per cent children at Moshi quarry have asthma, 18 November 2009,
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city ... ildren-at- Moshi-quarry-have-asthma/articleshow/5241904.cms.
86. Ibid.
87. Interview with Santulan doctor, Wagholi, Maharasthra, September 2009.
88. Gravis, Tales of Woe: A Report on Child Labour in the Mines of Jodhpur and Makrana, March 2004, p. 20.
89. MLPC interview with Salumber PHC, Morilla village, Udaipur district, October 2009.
90. Gravis, Tales of Woe: A Report on Child Labour in the Mines of Jodhpur and Makrana, March 2004, p. 20.
91. Interviews with mineworkers, Bellary district, Karnataka, June 2009.
92. Interview with nurse, Fidusar Chopar Primary Healthcare Centre, Jodhpur district, Rajasthan, July 2009.
93. Interviews with mineworkers, Bellary district, Karnataka, August 2009.
94. Express Buzz, Dennis Selvan, Five killed in stone quarry blast, 20 November 2009,
http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/stor ... led+in+sto ne+quarry+blast&artid=8%7CXU1eGNYq8=.
95. ILO, Eliminating Child Labor in Mining and Quarrying: Background Document, 12 June 2005.
96. Ibid.
97. CHILDLINE India Foundation, Living with Stones – Children of the mines, part of the Children at Risk report series, 2008.
98. Interviews carried out in Moshi, Maharashtra, September 2009.
99. CHILDLINE India Foundation, Living with Stones – Children of the mines, part of the Children at Risk report series, 2008.
100. Ranjan K. Panda, Undermining Development, 2007,
http://www.skillshare.org/skillshare_in ... pment.html, uploaded: 20 October 2009.
101. mines, minerals and PEOPLE, Impacts of Mining on Women’s Health in India, 15 April 2003.
102. BBC News, Mark Whitaker, Living next to India’s uranium mine, 4 May 2006.
103. India Environment Portal, Aparna Pallavi, Uranium mine waste imperils villages in Jaduguda, 14 March 2008.
104. India Environment Portal, Savvy Soumya Misha, Uranium in food, water in Bathinda, 30 April 2009.
105. The Observer, India’s generation of children crippled by uranium waste, Gethin Chamberlain, 30 August 2009.
106. Interviews with mining-affected communities, Bellary district, Karnataka, June 2009.
107. Interviews with health officials, Sundergarh district, Orissa, November 2009.
108. Data provided by the CHC, Birmitrapur, Sundergarh, Orissa, November 2009.
109. Interviews with mining-affected communities, Raigarh district, Chhattisgarh, November 2009.
110. Interviews with health officials, Korked, Raigarh, Chhattisgarh, November 2010.
111. Stablum, A., Reuters, Is HIV a timebomb under the mining industry?, 18 July 2007.
112. Saboo, S., Telegraph India, Mineworkers ‘prone’ to AIDS, 29 July 2009.
113. Interviews in Amalabadi village, Koraput district, Orissa, June 2009.
114. Presentation by Ravi Rebbapragada, Samata, New Delhi, August 2008.
115. Interviews in mining-affected communities in Urimari coal mining area, Jharkhand, September 2009.
116. Ibid.
117. Interviews out with health officials, Korked, Raigarh, Chhattisgarh, November 2010.
118. E. Bild, CorpWatch, Goa Cursed By Its Mineral Wealth, April 2009.
119. mines, minerals and PEOPLE, Impacts of Mining on Women’s Health in India, 15 April 2003.
120. Ibid.
121. Interviews in mining-affected communities, Cuddalore district, Tamil Nadu, August 2009.
122. Interviews in Bhat Basti, Jodhpur district, Rajasthan, October 2009.
123. Interviews with farmers in Dhanapur, Bellary district, Karnataka, June 2009.
124. Background Paper by mines, minerals and People (MMP) for the Indian Women and Mining seminar, Impacts of Mining on Women’s Health in India, April 2003.
125. ILO, Eliminating Child Labor in Mining and Quarrying: Background Document, 12 June 2005.Pratham, Annual Survey of Education, 2008.
126. Pratham, Annual Survey of Education, 2008.
127. Interview with anganwadi worker, Khamariah village, Chhattisgarh, November 2009.
128. Bhanumathi Kalluri, Campaign Against Illegal Mining – Experience of Samatha and the Tribals of Anantagiri, 1997.
129. Interview with headmaster, Potanga village high school, Hazaribagh district, Jharkhand, September 2009.
130. Pratham, Annual Survey of Education, 2008.
131. Interviews with female mineworkers, Bellary district, Karnataka, August 2009.
132. Interviews with mineworkers, Bellary district, Karnataka, June 2009.
133. Interview with director, Don Bosco Shelter, Bellary district, Karnataka, June 2009.
134. Pamela Baldwin, The impact of education in Peru’s gold mining communities, 26 October 2006,
http://ourworld.worldlearning.org/site/135. ILO, Digging for Survival: The Child Miners, 2005.
136. ILO, The global crisis and rising child labour in Zambia’s mining communities: Are we facing a downward decent work spiral?, 10 August 2009.
137. ILO, Digging for Survival: The Child Miners, 2005.
138. Ibid.
139. One lakh is equal to 100,000.
140. Fact-finding Team, Our Mining Children, April 2005.
http://rimmrights.org/Documents/2005-In ... report.pdf, uploaded: 10 February 2010.
141. K. Lahiri-Dutt, Digging to Survive: Women's Livelihoods in South Asia's Small Mines and Quarries, 2008.
142. Interviews with children, Kallali, Bellary district, Karnataka, June 2009.
143. Interviews with mining-affected community, Panna district, Madhya Pradesh, September 2009.
144. Interviews at diamond mine, Panna district, Madhya Pradesh, September 2009.
145. K. Lahiri-Dutt, Digging to Survive: Women's Livelihoods in South Asia's Small Mines and Quarries, 2008.
146. Gravis, Tales of Woe: A Report on Child Labour in the Mines of Jodhpur and Makrana, March 2004, p. 16.
147. Ibid; and field interviews in mining-affected communities across India, 2009.
148. MLPC, Broken Hard,
http://www.indianet.nl/steengroeven/fac ... enhard.pdf, uploaded: 11 February 2010.
149. ILO, Eliminating Child Labour in Mining and Quarrying, 2005.
150. Ibid.
151. Fact-finding Team, Our Mining Children, April 2005.
http://rimmrights.org/Documents/2005-In ... report.pdf, uploaded: 10 February 2010.
152. Lok Sabha starred question No.19 answered on 25.07.2005
153. Lok Sabha Starred Question No. 208. Answered on 8.08.2005
154. HAQ: Centre for Child Rights, Still Out of Focus: Status of India’s Children, 2008.
155. Information accessed on Indiastat.com; Compiled from the statistics released by Rajya Sabha Unstarred Question No. 3759, dated on 09.05.2007. and Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 994, dated on 20.08.2007 and Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 2415, dated on 03.12.2007.
156. Convention on the Rights of the Child, Article 32.
157. ILO, Digging for Survival: The Child Miners, 2005.
158. Ibid.
159. ILO,
http://www.ilo.org/public/english/regio ... dia/p2.htm, uploaded: 24 August 2009.
160. Mining, Minerals and Sustainable Development Project, Breaking new ground: mining, minerals and sustainable development, 2002.
161. K. Lahiri-Dutt, Digging to Survive: Women’s Livelihoods in South Asia’s Small Mines and Quarries, South Asian Survey 15:2, 2008, p. 217 – 244.
162. Interviews carried out in mining-affected communities in Urimari coal mining area, Jharkhand, September 2009.
163. ILO, Eliminating Child Labour in Mining and Quarrying, 12 June 2005, p. 11.
164. Ibid, p. 16.
165. P. Madhavan and Dr Sanjay Raj, Budhpura ‘Ground Zero’ Sandstone quarrying in India, December 2005.
166. Interviews carried out with women mineworkers, Jodhpur district, Rajasthan, October 2009.
167. Gravis, Tales of Woe: A Report on Child Labour in the Mines of Jodhpur and Makrana, March 2004, p. 20.
168. Interviews carried out in Tikripada village, Keonjhar, Orissa, February 2010.
169. United Nations, Convention on the Rights of the Child, Article 31.
170. ILO, Eliminating Child Labour in Mining and Quarrying, 12 June 2005, p. 17.