Child workers trapped in illegal mica mines

KODERMA/BHILWARA/SYDAPURAM: In the depths of India’s illegal mica mines, where children as young as five work alongside adults, lurks a dark, hidden secret — the

KODERMA/BHILWARA/SYDAPURAM: In the depths of India’s illegal mica mines, where children as young as five work alongside adults, lurks a dark, hidden secret — the cover-up of child deaths with seven killed in the past two months, a Thomson Reuters Foundation Investigation has revealed.

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Investigations over three months in the major mica-producing states of Bihar, Jharkhand, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh found child labour rife, with small hands ideal to pick and sort the valued mineral that puts the sparkle in cosmetics and car paint.

But interviews with workers and local communities discovered children were not only risking their health in abandoned “ghost” mines, but they were dying in the unregulated, crumbling mines.

In Bihar’s Chandwara village, a father’s grief laid bare the ugly reality of the illegal mining that accounts for an estimated 70% of India’s mica. Vasdev Rai Pratap’s 16-year-old son, Madan, was killed along with two adult workers in Jharkhand on June 23.

“I didn’t know how dangerous the work in the mines is. Had I known, I would never have let him go,” said Pratap, sitting on a charpoy outside his home. “They said it took almost a day to dig out his body after the mine collapsed. They cremated him without telling me. I didn’t even see my boy before they set him alight.”

Pratap, like other victims’ families and mine operators, has not reported the death, choosing to accept a payment for his loss rather than risk ending the illegal mining on protected forest land that brings income to some of India’s poorest areas.

The farmer has yet to receive a promised Rs 1,00,000 payment from the operator of the illegal mine. No one from the mine was available to comment.

Indian law forbids children below the age of 18 from working in mines and other hazardous industries, but many families living in extreme poverty rely on children to boost household income.

The Thomson Reuters Foundation findings were backed up by Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi’s child protection group Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA), which documented over 20 mica-related deaths in June — including that of Madan and two other children. BBA discovered four children were killed in July.

India is one of the world’s largest producers of mica that has gained prominence in recent years as an environment-friendly material, used by major global brands in the car and building sector, electronics and make-up.

Once boasting over 700 mines, the Indian mica industry was hit by 1980 legislation to limit deforestation and the discovery of substitutes for natural mica, with only 38 reporting mines in 2013-14, according to Bureau of Mines data.

Renewed interest in mica has sent illegal operators scurrying to access the hundreds of closed mines.

A mines ministry spokesman said safety in mica mines was a matter for state governments who are facing pressure from mining companies and social campaigners to licence more mines and crackdown on a black market that involves intimidation, worker exploitation, and child deaths.

BBA workers, who have been trying to stop child labour in Jharkhand’s mines, said fewer than 10% of mica mine deaths are reported to police.

The National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), a government organisation, found children as young as eight mining during a trip in June to Jharkhand.

“We didn’t get any reports of children being injured or dying ... But it may be happening,” said Priyank Kanoongo, the head of NCPCR’s fact-finding mission.

Investigations by the Thomson Reuters Foundation found children working in and around mica mines.

In Giridih’s Tisri area in Jharkhand, Basanti said her 10-year-old son, Sandeep, had been working in the mines since he was seven and the family in total earns `300 a day. “I know it’s dangerous, but that’s the only work there is,” she said, a metal dish partially filled with mica at her side.

In Rajasthan’s Bhilwara district, boys as young as five were seen climbing down narrow shafts to cut mica with a hammer and chisel, while their sisters sifted mica on the surface.

Dhanraj Sharma, a commissioner in Rajasthan’s labour ministry, said he was not aware of child miners.

“They may be playing there, they may be doing some small things for the parents. That doesn’t mean they are working,” he said.

In Koderma’s Dhab village, where BBA is working, Pooja, 13, proudly shows off the rundown school she has attended for almost two years since she left mica mining.

“I like going to school,” Pooja said. “The mining was dangerous… we were always looking up thinking the earth and rocks might fall on us. It happened to me once but I managed to get out as my friend Munni helped me.”

(A Thomson Reuters Foundation investigation)