Children - Terre des Hommes

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Although there is no data to show the extent of migration
for mining and quarrying work in India, evidence suggests
that migration in general is increasing, and the number of
These children are torn away from their education and social
networks. Estimates suggest that somewhere between half a
million to 12 million migrant labourers work in small-scale
mines in India. Regular streams of new migrants leave the
tribal belts of Bihar, Orissa, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and
other states to seek work in the mines. Migrants comprise
the most vulnerable sections of society, with the majority
coming from Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
Mining contractors often prefer to hire migrant labour, as
they are easier to control and less likely to organise. Migrant
workers are not organised sufficiently to lobby and form a
pressure group. It also enables them to hire whole families,
as they may just officially employ the adult members of
the family, but the parents will bring the children along
to work with them. This pattern of employment can
be seen in unorganised mines and quarries across the
country, from Rajasthan, to Maharashtra and Karnataka.
Children interviewed in the stone quarries in Pune district,
Maharashtra had come from Nepal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh,
West Bengal and Orissa.
These mining communities live an almost parallel existence,
without access to services provided for the other villages in
their area, such as schools, health services and ration cards.
These people are not reached by the government services
that they are entitled to, and are instead forced to survive
without any state support. Many migrant workers do not
possess Public Distribution System (PDS) ration cards
and hence are forced to buy food grains and kerosene at
higher market prices. Most lack any form of identification
and thus find it difficult to access local services. They often
face difficulty accessing education and healthcare services in
the areas where they settle. In some sites in Maharashtra,
the workers explained that even though they did own ration
cards, the mine owner kept hold of the cards (perhaps with
the intention of keeping them bonded and to stop them from
leaving). A sixty-year-old woman informed the team that she
finally got her ration card four months ago, but the Public
Distribution System dealer had asked her to come after six
months as her name was not yet entered in his records. The
mineworkers end up spending heavily on basic food supplies
and their consumption is usually far below the basic daily
intake required. The diet of mineworkers’ children consists
of barely two meals of rotis (bread), chillies and rarely any
vegetables or dal (lentils). Hence, most of the children are
malnourished and anaemic.
Right to Housing as a human right
The requisite imperative of housing for personal security, privacy, health, safety, protection from the elements and many
other attributes of a shared humanity, has led the international community to recognise adequate housing as a basic and
fundamental human right.
While in the international context the right to adequate housing as enshrined in Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights, Article 11(1) of the ICESCR provides that:
“Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for health and well being of himself [or herself] and his [or her]
family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services.”
and that,
“The States parties will take appropriate steps to ensure the realisation of this right, recognising to this effect the essential
importance of international cooperation based on free consent.”
Further, The CRC obliges state parties to provide, in cases of need, material assistance and support programmes to families
and children, particularly with regard to housing (Article27(3)).
61. Consortium for Research on Educational Access, Transitions and Equity, Distress Seasonal Migration and its Impact on Children’s Education, May 2008, p. 1, 2.
62. Sudhershan Rao Sarde, Regional Representative, IMF-SARO, Migration in India: Trade Union Perspective in the Context of Neo-Liberal Globalisation, p. 2.
63.
64.
65.
Ibid, p. 5.
Interviews with child mineworkers, Pune district, Maharashtra, September 2009.
Interviews in Moshi stone quarrying area, Maharashtra, September 2009.