Children - Terre des Hommes

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abdominal pains, arthritis, jaundice and other respiratory
ailments. Hydrocele is also reported to have increased in
the last five years. Health officials working at the health
centre in Korked, Raigarh, admitted that there are far more
patients approaching the centre now than before, and this is
due to health problems created by mining. 110
There are also health problems that are found in mining
areas that may not have any direct link with the mining
process, but is related to the migration that takes place as a
result of mining. Amongst these are reports of a high level of
sexually transmitted diseases, in particular HIV and AIDS
in mining communities across the world. HIV is particularly
prevalent in migrant workforces, such as mining labour, and
the risks workers take in the mines on a daily basis means
that unprotected sex is viewed as a minor hazard. 111
With communities becoming economically vulnerable,
children and women are found to become particularly
vulnerable to sexual exploitation and trafficking, and
hence also sexually transmitted diseases and HIV and
AIDS. In a recent survey carried out by the Jharkhand
AIDS Control Society, findings reveal that mine workers
are especially prone to AIDS. This is attributed to the
low literacy rate and poor health facilities in these mining
areas. 112 In Amalabadi village, in Koraput district, Orissa,
in a community that was displaced for mining activities,
residents reported an increase in the spread of HIV
and AIDS. They explained that they were particularly
vulnerable because of their status as migrant workers and
the prevalence of prostitution. There are between 100-200
HIV positive people in the village, which is considered the
highest infection rate in the district. 113
Loss of Access to water
Mining impacts upon access to clean water because it
is an extremely water-intensive activity, and in several
parts of India there have already been serious concerns
relating to water shortages and the mining industry overutilising
its fair share. Mining companies require water
for both the extraction and processing of minerals. The
mining operations, refineries and smelters all require large
quantities of water. The resources for this are the dams that
were originally built to provide water and irrigation for the
local populations living there. Now, mining companies are
diverting it for their own use.
What is worse, not only have the mining operations taken
away access to water, in many places, local communities
are at the mercy of the mining companies for their water
requirements. In the Urimari mining area in Jharkhand,
some of the relocated villages are entirely dependent on the
company to provide drinking water, as the water sources in
this area are too contaminated for consumption. The water
trucks usually come around midnight, so women are forced
to wait around for hours at night for water to arrive. 115
Some of the villages like Milupara that are close to the mine
sites suffer from both water and air pollution. The villagers
observed that water contamination is affecting reproductive
health as children are observed to be born either weak or
with some abnormalities. Health officials at the health
centre in Korked, Raigarh, reported that fungal infections
and hepatitis are on the rise, mainly due to infections from
polluted water.
In Orissa and Andhra Pradesh, most of the bauxite is
located on hilltops and the water supplies in these areas
are just below the deposits. This is bound to affect the
health of children living in and around the mining sites.
A similar story can be seen in Goa, in the iron-ore mining
areas. Despite its vast network of rivers and lakes, water is
becoming increasingly scarce in the state. Mining involves
pumping out ground water as mine pits get filled from the
aquifers below, thereby depleting the entire groundwater in
the region, as was witnessed in Shirgao village of Bicholim,
in North Goa. The villages around this mine have been left
completely without water both for irrigation and drinking,
and farmers complain that agriculture is seriously affected
by this disturbance to the water table. 118
109. Interviews with mining-affected communities, Raigarh district, Chhattisgarh, November 2009.
110. Interviews with health officials, Korked, Raigarh, Chhattisgarh, November 2010.
111. Stablum, A., Reuters, Is HIV a timebomb under the mining industry?, 18 July 2007.
112. Saboo, S., Telegraph India, Mineworkers ‘prone’ to AIDS, 29 July 2009.
113. Interviews in Amalabadi village, Koraput district, Orissa, June 2009.
114. Presentation by Ravi Rebbapragada, Samata, New Delhi, August 2008.
115. Interviews in mining-affected communities in Urimari coal mining area, Jharkhand, September 2009.
116. Ibid.
117. Interviews out with health officials, Korked, Raigarh, Chhattisgarh, November 2010.
118. E. Bild, CorpWatch, Goa Cursed By Its Mineral Wealth, April 2009.