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134 the impacts are visibly evident with respect to the displaced communities, to juxtapose this against the proposed mining areas like Kasipur (UAIL project) which is very close to NALCO and has the same socio-economic background. These case studies bring out issues related to displacement, rehabilitation and the constitutional rights of adivasi children when faced with a complete reversal of their resource base and indigenous cultures. The peaceful adivasi belt of Keonjhar, which was once the pride of Orissa tourism, has now gained notoriety as the hotbed of crime, corruption, violence and smuggling after large corporations and contractors started plundering the areas like Joda and Barbil for minerals. We studied the impacts that this transition has had on the children living in this region, which can be compared to the situation of mining in Bellary, Karnataka. Sundergarh in western Orissa is also an adivasi area where mining of dolomite and limestone has been happening since pre-independence and impacts are again clearly measurable, especially with a large number of adolescent girls working in the mines for ridiculously low wages. The status of mining in Orissa alone and the impacts on people, particularly children, can be taken as an indicator for the status of mining-affected communities in the rest of the country. Orissa is also one of the poorest states in India with low human development indices especially in the regions where mining has been taking place. If mining, as projected, is a vehicle of economic development, what we saw in Orissa is far from reflected in the lives of people living and working in the mines. The general development pattern in the state and the case studies here speak for themselves. Impacts of Displacement on <strong>Children</strong> in Damanjodi by the National Aluminium Company Limited’s Bauxite Mining Project Rajesh (name changed) is 15 years old and comes from the village of Janiguda. He works in a roadside restaurant at Dumuriput of Damanjodi. His family lost all their land for the NALCO project and converted his father, who did not get a job in the company, into an alcoholic. Having spent all the compensation money on liquor, the father has left the family on the streets. Rajesh dropped out of school and had to come to Damanjodi town in search of work to support his family. He earns around Rs.1,200 per month while working in the hotel and sends home around Rs.1,000 every month. He says,”Work in the hotel is difficult and there is no time for rest except after 12 in the night every day”. Source: Interview carried out in Dumuriput, Damanjodi, February 2010. Koraput is one of the poorest districts in Orissa and is a Scheduled Area having 50 per cent ST (585,830 out of 1,180,637) and 13 per cent SC (153,932 out of 1,180,637) population. Undivided Koraput was a vast region of thick deciduous forests and fertile agricultural lands with traditional food crops and shifting cultivation practised by the adivasis. The adivasis cultivated two crops a year on rainfed irrigation with the fundamental objective of subsistence and food security. Forestry and collection of forest produce to sell in the local markets was the other main source of livelihood. After independence, Koraput and its neighbouring districts bear testimony to several development projects and industrialisation that led to land alienation, forced migration and serious impacts on the natural resources and livelihoods of the local people, particularly the adivasis. Hydro projects like Upper Indravati, Balimela, Kolab, Jolaput reservoirs drove out thousands of families from their villages and homes, not once but multiple times. Setting up of the HAL factory, NALCO and other ancillary industries further reduced the local population to landlessness and poverty. The bauxite mining project and its township completely changed the socio-economic fabric of the adivasis. The meetings with village leaders, Project Affected Person (PAP) unions and group discussions with women in the displacement (DP) camps and affected villages reflect the deplorable status of the local people and the condition of the children whose families were directly or indirectly affected, behind the apparent urbanisation witnessed around Damanjodi town. Our effort here was to understand the impacts that mining has had on the lives of children whose families were displaced by NALCO and those living in this mining region and how it has affected their health, literacy, education, social protection, economic security and legal rights. Prior to mining, the region had vast natural resources on which the adivasis depended for their survival. Development intervention from the government whether for education, medical support or economic upliftment, was negligible and the adivasis barely received any benefits. Mining was declared as the need of the hour for the nation as well as for the local population and it was meant to bring economic prosperity for both and therefore, the NALCO bauxite project was
135 opened up in Damanjodi, Orissa. This case study looks at the ground realities in the context of children in the region, which may differ from the popular understanding of mining and development. Overview of National Aluminium Company Limited NALCO, one of the first public sector mining companies in India, was established in the year 1981 with the purpose of extracting bauxite ore from the vast reserves in the Panchpatmali hills of Koraput district and processing it into alumina. The total deposit of ore being extracted by NALCO is 112.8 million tonnes and the refinery complex in Damanjodi, which is 11 km away from the mine site, has an installed capacity of 8 lakh million tonnes of alumina annually. The total land area occupied by the company is 10,058.76 acres, of which 427.3 acres is for mining, 2638.96 acres is for the township and 6,992.5 acres is for the plant area. Out of the total land 2,805.49 acres is government land and 2,834.56 ha, which is around 41.36 per cent of the total land area, belongs to local farmers. 264 NALCO has a captive power plant with a capacity of 55.5 mw as against its actual need of 32 mw. Displacement and Compensation/ Rehabilitation From the primary data collected through interviews with PAPs, it was gathered that 26 villages of Koraput, Potangi, Semiliguda and Laxmipur blocks were directly and indirectly affected with 597 families directly displaced, both in terms of land and housing. This action research was conducted in the villages of Amalabadi, Champapadar, Damanjodi, Goudaguda, Janiguda, Marichimala and Putsil, which are apparently some of the most affected by the project. Out of the total project affected population, 254 households or families are from the adivasi communities, 56 families are from dalit communities and the rest of the families are OBCs like the Malis and Sundis. According to the statements made by displaced people the recent update of displaced families for NALCO, is 631 families. As per the initial resettlement made by NALCO, 597 families were taken as displaced families. Out of these, 441 were rehabilitated in Amalabadi DP camp, which was meant to provide resettlement for 13 villages affected by the project. This was later increased to 156. A second DP camp at Champapadar was initiated for 75 households for the displaced from Khoraguda (a village affected but not visited by our study team) and Champapadar villages. 265 At present there are more than 200 families who are living in the Champapadar DP camp. The housing provided by NALCO consists of 10x10 ft structures. As rehabilitation was never properly completed, the PAPs invested their own money in building their houses or supplementing the inadequate housing provided by the company. The DP camp of Champapadar is situated far away from the township of the company while that of Amalabadi is closer. The two DP camps were provided with basic drinking water facilities. Some villages have tube wells and taps but most of them also depend on the stream and river water for their domestic purposes. A huge protest and rally taken out by the employees of affected families last year to demand for inclusion of women headed households in the rehabilitation programme, reflects the neglect of single women and widows among the PAPs. The company does not provide any medical facilities for the affected families and basic services like drinking water, electricity and education are either not provided or marginally provided by the company. Most of the villages affected had lost fertile agricultural land. Damanjodi had the highest number of displaced families (around 170) where private agricultural land was also alienated. The people reported that they received a compensation of Rs.3,000 per acre for paddy land and Rs.1,100 per acre for dry land. In Putsil it was found that the average compensation received per family was Rs.1,300 per acre. In Marchimala, 50 households lost their land but not their houses. These families did not receive any alternate land. They were only given a monetary compensation, which averaged around Rs. 1,500 per acre. Only one person who lost his land and house was given a job with the company. In Janiguda village more than 240 acres of land was taken by the company but people who had lost their land were not given any alternate livelihood. Only cash compensation averaging Rs. 1,500 per acre was given. Since the villagers only lost land and not their homes the company did not provide any jobs. The 75 families displaced from Champapadar received an average compensation of Rs. 1,500 per acre. 266 264. EPW, June 15, 1996, pp 1533-1538. 265. Source General Secretary of NALCO Displaced and Land-loser Employee Association 266. Statement of the villagers at Janiguda
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India’s Childhood in the "Pits" A
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iii Acknowledgements This report, c
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Table of Contents About the Study 3
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4 List of states and districts visi
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6 However, closer observation of th
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8 In addition, almost all work perf
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10 Impacts Children are affected di
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12 is mandatory and this must be
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15 National Overview Mining has imp
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17 Table 1.2: Number of illegal min
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19 Table 1.3: Key indicators in min
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21 migrate to plain areas or are co
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23 had no land to start with and wo
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25 Although there is no data to sho
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27 2,055 children enrolled in Santu
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29 we will eat tomorrow,” said a
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31 GURIA is a dark-eyed little girl
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33 Serious health problems have alr
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35 In several districts of Rajastha
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37 Table 1.4: Total number of child
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39 Bearing in mind that many of the
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41 children are working in mines in
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43 significant problem. A study car
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45 Part II State Reports 1. Karnata
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48 basic healthcare to its populati
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50 Kolar district: Key facts Total
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52 and pursued higher education. Th
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54 has created a peculiar aesthetic
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56 number of children working in th
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58 almost every child is absent for
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60 Table 2.02: Survey on children n
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62 the village were cough, eye infe
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65 Maharashtra State Overview Mahar
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67 154 are in Maharashtra (making i
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69 poverty, (ii) education, (iii) h
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71 Quarry is a very big area spread
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73 family works as a unit and manag
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75 Table 2.06: Class-wise distribut
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77 Children in stone quarries hit b
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80 Literacy levels are also poor in
Page 82 and 83: 82 and quarrying in the state. Of t
Page 84 and 85: 84 Follow up interviews were carrie
Page 86 and 87: 86 At Thumbli village, residents ex
Page 88 and 89: 88 usually not strong enough to car
Page 90 and 91: 90 Inadequate Health Facilities Sev
Page 92 and 93: 92 Many of the Workers in the Mines
Page 94 and 95: 94 that 296,979 children aged betwe
Page 96 and 97: 96 This case study covered two mine
Page 98 and 99: 98 Traditional Forest Dwellers (Rec
Page 100 and 101: 100 in the mine sites ekeing out a
Page 102 and 103: 102 Conclusions Panna, once a rich
Page 104 and 105: 104 Commission, Government of India
Page 106 and 107: 106 The top five most mined distric
Page 108 and 109: 108 There are several other content
Page 110 and 111: 110 Table 2.11: Enrolment of childr
Page 112 and 113: 112 companies for their power plant
Page 114 and 115: 115 Jharkhand State Overview The st
Page 116 and 117: 117 population who live in these fo
Page 118 and 119: 119 around coal, but to also provid
Page 120 and 121: 121 Status of Anganwadi Centres and
Page 122 and 123: 123 due to multiple government duti
Page 124 and 125: 125 Uranium Corporation of India Li
Page 126 and 127: 128 farming and forestry. It is the
Page 128 and 129: 130 attendance at birth, the high p
Page 130 and 131: 132 were displaced for mining proje
Page 134 and 135: 136 for construction and other indu
Page 136 and 137: 138 Table 2.17: School enrolment da
Page 138 and 139: 140 village also complained of cont
Page 140 and 141: 142 about the status of children in
Page 142 and 143: 144 exposed to the toxicity from th
Page 144 and 145: 146 for labour elsewhere. The prese
Page 146 and 147: 148 State Excesses and Human Rights
Page 148 and 149: 150 Table 2.25: Information collect
Page 150 and 151: 152 The DP Camp is far away from th
Page 152 and 153: 154 Naik and Mr. Prahlad Naid who a
Page 154 and 155: 156 Social Cost of Displacement As
Page 156 and 157: 158 Table 2.32: Comparative village
Page 158 and 159: 160 Rajabandha also has a low cost
Page 160 and 161: 162 on land to be acquired in some
Page 162 and 163: 165 Andhra Pradesh State Overview T
Page 164 and 165: 167 Mining in Andhra Pradesh Almost
Page 166 and 167: 169 small areas where there are qua
Page 168 and 169: 171 other families also working in
Page 170 and 171: 173 Nature of Quarry Work Tradition
Page 172 and 173: 175 Conclusions The three micro-lev
Page 174 and 175: Part III Summary and Recommendation
Page 176 and 177: 180 Whose Child is India’s Mining
Page 178 and 179: 182 attention on child labour issue
Page 180 and 181: 184 are not working in the mines.
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186 proposed to be the basis of th
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188 explored, clear design and work
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OUR EXPERIENCE WITH THE RIGHT TO IN
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193 Andhra Pradesh areas. Appr
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195 Tamil Nadu Orissa informati
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197 compensation for land and R
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Annexures
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200 Karnataka The tables below give
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202 Drop-out children brought back
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205 Glossary Adivasi: The term used
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207 and educational development. Pa
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