Children - Terre des Hommes

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There are several other contentious issues that the local
population is angry about, as they are already experiencing
severe crisis in water, agriculture and health. Our visits to
the villages reflect some of these concerns, particularly in
the context of children and why there is a strong mood of
protest and violence from the people, given their history of
exploitation by the mining companies.
Status of Children’s Education in
Tamnar Block
Local livelihoods destroyed due to mining activities
(Photo November 2009)
Another serious issue, as stated by an activist from the
Raigarh-based Jan Chetana People’s Movement 196 , is that
mining companies are simply acquiring rich agricultural land
on which farmers are dependent for their sustenance, even if
they do not do mining. This is the case of Jindal Steel and
Power Plant, which got the lease in June 2006 but has not
undertaken any mining activities till date. Technically, the
lease should be cancelled as per the rules of the Ministry of
Environment and Forests, but the Jindals continues to hold
control over the land because of its sheer muscle power over
the state machinery.
One of the main villages studied was Gare village in Tamnar
block. It has a total population of 741 with 150 households of
which 400 are below the age of 18. The total ST population
is 438 and SC population is 44. The village has two primary
schools, one middle school and one anganwadi centre. Table
2.09 gives details of children attending the primary school
in Gare village, which is in a poor condition, both in terms
of infrastructure as well as in teaching. There are only two
teachers and they are new to the school and neither of them
are qualified. The Jindals did set up a school but it 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.
Table 2.09: School enrolment data in primary school of Gare village
Class Total Number Boys Girls SC ST OBC General
I 11 9 2 2 6 2 1
II 9 6 3 3 6 -- --
III 12 6 6 -- 7 4 1
IV 12 4 8 2 7 2 1
V 11 3 8 1 5 5 --
Total 55 28 27 8 31 13 3
Source: School teacher of the primary school, Gare village
196 Mr. Rajesh Tripathi