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Children - Terre des Hommes

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116<br />

state, and by May 2007, had rehabilitated a total of 12,464<br />

children, according to official data. 201 In September 2009, the<br />

International Labour Organisation’s International Programme<br />

for the Elimination of Child Labour launched a convergence<br />

project to tackle child labour in five states of India with the<br />

largest child labour problem, one of these being Jharkhand.<br />

It also aims to tackle the trafficking and migration of children<br />

from these states.<br />

As of March 2008, there were 143,143 children (age group<br />

between 6 and 14 years) officially out of school in Jharkhand. 202<br />

Pratham’s ASER 2008 survey indicated that around 5.6 per<br />

cent of children in Jharkhand are not in school. 203 This would<br />

suggest that around 416,587 children in that age group are in<br />

fact out of school in the state. The ASER figures also show<br />

that nearly a third (30.1 per cent) of children aged 3–4 years<br />

are not enrolled in an anganwadi or pre-school. According to<br />

the 2001 Census, 71 per cent of girls living in rural areas in the<br />

state are married by the age of 18 years.<br />

Unsurprisingly, child health data in the state also indicates a<br />

need for urgent action. The sex ratio in the state is 941 girls<br />

to every 1,000 boys, suggesting a high level of male child<br />

preference and female foeticide. The NFHS-3, conducted<br />

in 2005-06, showed that IMR in the state are 69 per 1,000<br />

live births. Very worryingly, this was actually an increase<br />

from 54 per 1,000 live births when the NFHS-2 survey was<br />

conducted in 1998. 204 The figure for rural areas is even worse,<br />

where 73 out of every 1,000 children do not survive past their<br />

first year.<br />

Mining in Jharkhand<br />

In 2007-08, Jharkhand was the leading producer of coal and<br />

kyanite, and the second leading producer of gold in the country.<br />

The state accounts for about 35 per cent of rock phosphate, 29<br />

per cent of coal, 28 per cent of iron ore, 16 per cent of copper<br />

ore and 10 per cent of silver ore resources of the country.<br />

In 2007-08, the value of mineral production in Jharkhand<br />

was Rs. 95.28 billion, an increase of 11.5 per cent from the<br />

previous year. In terms of value, over 90 per cent of the state’s<br />

The burning coal from CCL mines, Hazaribagh (Photo September 2009)<br />

mineral production comes from coal. The state accounted for<br />

8.6 per cent of the total value of mineral production in the<br />

country in 2007- 08.<br />

Uranium is being mined and processed by Uranium<br />

Corporation of India Limited (UCIL) for use in the country’s<br />

nuclear power reactors through four underground mines,<br />

an open-cast mine, two processing plants and a by-product<br />

recovery plant, all in Purbi Singhbhum district. 205 The district<br />

is also famous for Jamshedpur, the first steel city of India,<br />

where Tata Steel has its operations.<br />

Mining continues to be the source of many controversies in<br />

Jharkhand. Despite the fact that the state is extremely rich<br />

in mineral resources, the population, particularly its large<br />

ST population, have failed to benefit from this wealth. The<br />

district of Paschim Singhbhum is blessed with large reserves<br />

of iron ore and manganese. However, this has not led to<br />

improved living conditions for the population. Almost half<br />

the population is below the poverty line, and the percentage<br />

of households with a toilet in the district is a measly 26.6 per<br />

cent. Similarly, only 13.9 per cent of children aged between<br />

12 and 35 months are fully immunised in the district, and the<br />

literacy rate remains very low, at 46.45 per cent.<br />

Forests in Jharkhand cover around 29 per cent of the state’s<br />

total geographic area. 206 Much of the state’s mineral resources<br />

are located under these forests. For the mostly adivasi<br />

201. Accessed from indiastat.com, Compiled from the statistics released by: Rajya Sabha Unstarred Question No. 3759, dated on 09.05.2007. and Lok Sabha<br />

Unstarred Question No. 994, dated on 20.08.2007 and Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 2415, dated on 03.12.2007, Selected State-wise Number of Child<br />

Mainstreamed under National Child Labour Projects (NCLP) in India, till May 2007.<br />

202. Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 576, dated 21.10.2008, State-wise Number of Out of School <strong>Children</strong> in India, as on 31 March 2008.<br />

203. Pratham, ASER 2008 survey.<br />

204. NFHS-3, Factsheet Jharkhand, 2005- 06.<br />

205. Ministry of Mines, Annual Report 2008-09.<br />

206. Government of Jharkhand’s website, http://jharkhand.nic.in/about.htm

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