Children - Terre des Hommes

50
Kolar district: Key facts
Total population: 2,536,069 (Census 2001)
Population (0–14 years): 803,954 (Census 2001)
Literacy rate:
Total 62.84 per cent
Male 73.17 per cent
Female 52.23 per cent (Census 2001)
Percentage of out-of-school children(6–14 years): 0.7 per cent (ASER 2008)
Percentage of children enrolled in anganwadi centre (AWC)
or pre-school (3–4 years): 94.8 per cent (ASER 2008)
Number of child labour (5–14 years): 44,098 (Census 2001)
Under five mortality rate (ranking):
117 out of 593 districts surveyed
(Jansankhya Sthirata Kosh)
Bellary district: Key facts
Total population: 2,027,140 (Census 2001)
Population (0–14 years): 749,227 (Census 2001)
Literacy rate:
Total 57.4 per cent
Male 69.2 per cent
Female 45.28 per cent (Census 2001)
Percentage of out-of-school children (6–14 years): 14.1 per cent (ASER 2008)
Percentage of children enrolled in AWC or pre-school (3–4 years): 89.1 per cent (ASER 2008)
Number of child labour (5–14 years): 66,767 (Census 2001)
Under five mortality rate (ranking):
380 out of 593 districts surveyed
(Jansankhya Sthirata Kosh)
once a thriving gold mining area has been abandoned, with
unemployment rates high amongst the local population.
Situation in Mining-affected
Communities of Bellary and
Kolar Districts
Karnataka, which means ‘where one’s ears want to wander’ has
a story that makes neither the ears nor the eyes of the nation
wish to wander, as the red dust camouflages the sordid state
of children living in the iron ore mines of Bellary and where
the gold can no longer offer its glitter to the young generation
of Kolar. The two stories presented here are that of Bellary, a
site of the ‘red Indian children’, and Kolar that speaks of
a journey of the lost youth, the refugees of a ‘golden’ past.
One can be found at almost every mine site breaking iron
with their fragile hands, while the other disappears every
morning and is chugged back into the mining township late
after sunrise. One works along with the adults to supplement
the meagre wages; the other is the sole supporter of the
retrenched adult. One has lost its childhood, the other its
youth. These case studies clearly show all the three cycles of
mining—proposed areas, existing mines and closed mines—
and how during all the three cycles children are cruelly
made vulnerable to the unaccounted costs of mining.The
Karnataka state overview of child development is presented
here within which context the status of children affected by
mining is juxtaposed.