Children - Terre des Hommes

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for labour elsewhere. The presence of five orphanages in such
a small area is evidence of this.
Earlier the Birds group had taken up social welfare activities
by putting aside some part of its profit to create a ‘shesh fund’.
Student scholarships were provided through the ‘Edward
Benthol Fund’ as part of their philanthropic activities.
Conclusion
Sundergarh has been declared as one of the most polluted
and backward regions in the country and stands at a junction
between three states where trafficking of children and women
is known to be extremely high. The human development
indices for children are some of the lowest in the country and
this is reflected in the scale of child and human trafficking in
the district. It was estimated by a survey done by the Rourkela
Social Service Society that every day there is trafficking of
at least 20 girls to the urban cities like Delhi and Mumbai.
At least 7,000 girls were trafficked in each year from the
Sundergarh district according to their survey. In 2003-04, a
survey done by the same organisation shows that in the same
year atleast 35,000 girls were trafficked to different parts
of the country. The main reason for this high incidence of
trafficking is the stark poverty, and non-implementation of
the developmental schemes and mining projects in the areas.
As industrialisation, especially mining, spread rapidly in the
district, adivasis, who form a majority of the population have
become vulnerable to migration and trafficking. The district
has also an alarming rate of unwed mothers and prostitution.
In the year 2006, 12 persons afflicted by HIV/AIDS from
the areas of Birmitrapur and Rajgangpur died.
Sundergarh has also witnessed a spurt of violent actions from
extreme left (Maoist) groups and the region is now considered
as politically disturbed. With multinational mining interests
eyeing the adivasi lands in Sundergarh, it is anticipated that
political violence between the state and Maoist groups will
increase in the future. Sundergarh stands as an example of
how an agricultural adivasi region has been taken over by
mining contractors, traders, land mafia, corporate agents in
nexus with police and political forces. The fact that the Indian
Bureau of Mines team which was sent to conduct investigations
into alleged mining scams, had been interrupted in their field
investigations, makes one suspicious on the pressure that the
mining conglomerates could bring on the political powers.
The alarming status of groundwater depletion and the
contamination of water bodies in the dolomite and limestone
quarry areas of Sundergarh is the biggest problem expressed
by women who fear to collect this water for their domestic
use. The frightening situation is that they have no alternative
source and this crisis brought on the region by rampant
mining activities does not stir any response from mining or
state authorities. Besides, it is not only the mineral extraction
but the existence of several sponge iron factories, both in the
case of Sundergarh and Keonjhar, which are adding to the
high levels of air pollution and water contamination in the
region. New projects are being cleared in Sundergarh and the
people expressed a deep sense of fear and frustration that it
is the mining lobby that controls the administration in the
district and not any governance institutions. Hence, in state
after state, we have witnessed a complete collapse of the state
and its institutions as a result of mining.
(Acknowledgements: The case study in Sundergarh district was
undertaken in partnership with GAFSCA. We acknowledge
the help and support of Fr. Nicholas Barla and his team in
facilitating the field visits and meetings in the villages, as well
as in sharing the data and information available with their
organisation).
Proposed Mining in Kasipur and
Conflict due to Utkal Alumina
Limited Limited
Ajit (name changed) hails from Dom Koral village of Tikiri. He
is 17 years old. As he lost his father 5 years ago, he was forced
to take on the entire burden of the family and become the sole
bread-winner. He works as a manual labourer under different
contractors in mining activities and earns around Rs.60 per
day day. He stated that the mining work is erratic and hence his
earnings are irregular. “I do odd jobs at the mine site as there is
construction work going on.Work is very tough and therefore, I
have gradually become addicted to liquor and gutka, but I can’t
help it.”
Source: Interview carried out in Dom Koral, Kasipur, June 2009.
Kasipur block is in Raigada district of undivided Koraput
region in the state of Orissa. The hills of Kasipur, in
Koraput district, have very rich deposits of bauxite and the
mining industries, both national and multinational, have
been eyeing these resources for unscrupulous exploitation
at the cost of social, economic and environmental
destruction.