Children - Terre des Hommes

18
How do the mining districts
in India fare in terms of child
development?
In order to examine the impact of mining on children in
India, it is relevant to look at some of the child-related
development indicators in the key mining districts across
the country. The Table 1.3 brings together some of these
statistics for the 15 districts where field research has been
carried out during the course of this study, and for an
additional nine districts, identified as being amongst the
most heavily mined areas of the country. The situation of
children will be discussed in more detail for the majority
of these districts in the state overview section of the case
studies. However, a cursory glance at the table reveals that
in many of the districts, mineral wealth is not leading to
better development outcomes for children. In the districts
more dependent on mining, the majority have a lower than
national average literacy rate; more than 10 percent of
high rate of child labour. In a national study on under five
mortality rates in India, these districts have also ranked
close to the bottom (see: Dantewada, Chhattisgarh;
Panna, Madhya Pradesh; Koraput and Rayagada, Orissa).
In contrast, the districts which have more diversified
economies and are less dependent on mining can be seen
to have better development outcomes for children across
the board, for example, Cuddalore (Tamil Nadu) and Pune
(Maharashtra).
Who is affected by mining?
Mining areas tend to be occupied by the poorest and most
marginalised sections of society. Indeed, it is a twisted
irony that the poorest people live on the lands richest
with natural resources. This is because a vast majority of
mining in the country is taking place in tribal areas. Adivasi
children lose their constitutional rights under the Fifth
Schedule over their lands and forests when their families
are displaced from their lands.
Despite the passing of the Samatha Judgement in 1997,
which is intended to protect the rights of tribal people
to their lands, violations continue and over 10 million
adivasis have lost their land in India. Across the country,
Samatha Judgement
The Fifth Schedule of the Constitution of India deals with
the administration and control of Scheduled Areas and of
Scheduled Tribes in these areas. It covers tribal areas in
ten states of India: Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Gujarat,
Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya
Pradesh, Orissa, Chhattisgarh and Sikkim. Essentially, the
Schedule was intended to provide a guarantee to adivasi
people and protect the lands in the Scheduled Areas from
being transferred to persons other than tribal. However,
violations of this Schedule in Andhra Pradesh, when
lands in the scheduled area of Visakhapatnam district
were transferred to Birla Periclase and 17 other mining
companies, led the NGO Samatha to initiate a court case
in the Supreme Court against the state government for
leasing out tribal lands to private mining companies. This
led to the historic Samatha Judgement in July 1997, which
rendered all leases to mining companies in Scheduled Areas
null and void and prohibited the future lease of lands in
these areas to non-tribals.
Fifth Schedule Areas. 25 The Fifth Schedule covers tribal
areas in ten states in India, and it guarantees prevention of
transfers in the form of mining leases to private companies.
However, violations of this constitutional safeguard are
taking place by transfer of lands in the Scheduled Areas to
persons other than the Scheduled Tribes, for which control
the State is instrumental. It has allowed transfer of land
mining companies, either as joint ventures with state
bodies holding the majority ownership (as was done with
Rio Tinto and Orissa Mineral Development Corporation)
or as private joint ventures (as in Utkal Alumina Limited
in Kasipur, Orissa) or directly to a private company (as in
Vedanta/Sterlite in Lanjigarh, Orissa). By opening up more
land for private mining companies, tribal communities
are facing forcible displacement.
A very conservative estimate indicates that in the last 50 years,
approximately 20.13 million people have been displaced
in the country owing to big projects, such as mines and
dams. Of these, at least 40 per cent are indigenous
tribal people. Only one-fourth of these people have been
resettled.
25. Samata, Fifth Schedule Areas, http://www.mmpindia.org/Fifth_Schedule.htm, uploaded: 11 December 2009.
Shanti Sawaiyan,
26. Forcible Displacement and Land Alienation is Unjust: Most of the Forcibly Displaced in Jharkhand are Adivasis, A paper for the III International
Women and Mining Conference, 2004.