Children - Terre des Hommes

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Orissa including Kasipur is well known for malnutrition and
starvation deaths. The people in Kasipur villages reported that
every year 25–30 children below the age of 6 years die due to
malnutrition and related illnesses. Waterborne diseases like
malaria, diarrhoea and communicable diseases like TB are
highly prevalent in the area. Immunisation of children is badly
implemented making them vulnerable to some of the fatal
childhood illnesses. Due to neglect from state administration
the region continues to suffer from health problems and infant
mortality.
On the one hand as existing administrative neglect poses
serious threats to the health and development of the children,
on the other hand the displacement due to mining, shift
from agriculture to manual labour and lack of food, has led
to child labour and increased child malnourishment. The
constant state of terror and violence that has been perpetrated
in the area due to mining, gives reason for community level
government staff like teachers and health service providers,
to further neglect their duties and not visit the villages. This
forespeaks serious trouble ahead for the children of this
area. The complexities in the political disturbance have been
aggravated, with religious fundamental groups, both Hindu
and Christian taking advantage of the vulnerable situation.
The multiple pressures from the police, corporate, Maoist,
communal, non-adivasi and other interests on the adivasi
population have created a prolonged situation of terror with
innumerable false police cases hanging on the heads of the
local agitators, thereby creating not only a messy political
situation, but also severe insecurity and uncertainty of life for
the women and children living in this area.
Many of the women, whose husbands face false cases, are
helplessly living in starvation, have had to withdraw their
children from school and are faced with the burden of
supporting their families while their husbands are either in
and out of jail or spend most of their time and money on
attending court hearings.
Conclusions
It is not clear what benefits the proposed mining project will
bring to the adivasi children in an area which has already high
rates of malnourishment, infant mortality and low school
attendance. Rehabilitation, mostly restricted to monetary
compensation with little promise of employment, as bauxite
mining is technology intensive, holds hardly any hope for the
local community in terms of economic sustenance. While it
is true that the existing development situation is no better in
terms of education and health indicators of children, mining
is unlikely to improve this situation. Rather, it may only lead
to more alarming indicators as is seen in the NALCO affected
communities and even in Kasipur itself where immediate
impacts have been an increase in child labour.
Unless rehabilitation clearly spells out commitments from the
state and the mining companies with respect to children and
improving their access to quality education, health care and
social security, the amorphous promises may end in the mine
tailings dumps. Unless these specific development programmes
and investments are set as a pre-condition to sanctioning
of mining leases and a strong regulatory mechanism that
regularly monitors the implementation with respect to child
related interventions, monitors the health and nutrition levels
of children there will be no serious and concrete responsibility
displayed.
Moreover, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of
Indigenous Communities emphasises the right to Free Prior
and Informed Consent (FPIC) of local adivasi communities,
which is ratified by India but not respected when it comes
to Greenfield projects in adivasi areas. Neither in Kasipur
nor in neighbouring Lanjigarh has the Orissa government
implemented the FPIC principles, especially in the context
of children and the communities’ demands for protection
of their children’s rights. At one stroke, these projects have
wiped out the constitutional Fifth Schedule rights as well as
that of the verdict given in the Samatha Judgement, to the
adivasi children of Kasipur, whose ownership to lands as
future land-holders is being destroyed by transferring their
lands to private mining companies.
Therefore, it nullifies the purpose of the Fifth Schedule for the
future generations of the adivasi people. This is particularly
so in Orissa, where almost every inch of adivasi land is
being proposed for some project or the other and where a
large portion has already been shelved off to industries. It is
difficult to envisage mining as a sustainable development for
children or for the community as long as legal and voluntary
commitments remain on paper alone. This is the greatest
injustice that mining in India has brought to the adivasi
children.
(Acknowledgements: This case study was done in partnership
with Ankuran, Rayagada and the assistance of Mr. Badal
Kumar Tah, Mrs. Bidulata Huika in the field visits to Kasipur
and surrounding villages. We specifically thank Mr. Navin