Children - Terre des Hommes

102
Conclusions
Panna, once a rich adivasi belt, is today ravaged by the greed
of the diamonds. Panna is a district of tragic development
paradoxes. It is one of the districts that figure in the national
statistics for the poorest human development indicators.
It has some of the lowest levels of literacy in the country
and also lowest health indicators. Panna district has the
highest number of malnourished children in the country,
according to reports. Yet this district exports diamonds
to the world from India and the mineral revenues from
diamond alone comprise a substantial per cent of the total
revenues from mining. As in South Africa, Sierra Leone
and other African countries which supply diamonds to the
world market and yet have some of the worst indicators of
growth, particularly with respect to children, Panna holds a
similar story in India. The case study here showed how selfsufficient
adivasi farmers who were involved in subsistence
farming and could provide food security for their children,
have become landless labourers in the stone quarries and
diamond mines. This situation also forced their children to
end up in the mines instead of attending school. In most of
the anganwadis visited, they are either dysfunctional or their
purpose of addressing the nutrition and health of infants, is
far from being met. Panna is a glaring example that mining,
even in the case of a precious stone like diamond, has serious
negative impacts on children’s development. Unless there is
official acknowledgement of this and a review of the mining
processes in this region and a review of the development
policies adopted here, especially with respect to displacement
of adivasis for the sake of conservation of wildlife, there is
little hope for the future of the children.
(Acknowledgements: The above case study was done in
partnership with MLPC, Jodhpur which is working for the
rights of mine workers in the villages from where the data
was collected.)