Children - Terre des Hommes

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Table 2.06: Class-wise distribution of Pashan Shala children (1997– 2007)
Year /Class I II III IV V VI VII VIII Total
1997-98 84 - - - - - - - 84
1998-99 144 4 - - - - - - 148
1999-2000 107 79 - - - - - - 186
2000-01 332 52 16 - - - - - 400
2001-02 494 25 15 - - - - - 534
2002-03 502 146 19 - - - - - 667
2003-04 1,157 148 47 36 - - - - 1,388
2004-05 1,316 268 134 118 46 - - - 1,882
2005-06 1,265 349 202 95 76 21 20 - 2,028
2006-07 1,102 297 189 162 140 79 16 16 2,001
Total 6,503 1,368 622 411 262 100 36 16 9,318
Source: Dagad Phool, Santulan, 2007-08
a reason for these poor families to be spending more on
basic food, so therefore, their consumption is much below
the basic daily intake required. Many of them stated that
they had even stopped consuming tea, which is the most
basic commodity, consumed as it keeps their energy high,
since the price of sugar had suddenly shot up. The diet
of mine workers’ children consists of barely two meals
of rotis with chillies and onions and rarely any vegetables
or dals. Hence, most of the children seen appeared to be
malnourished and anaemic.
Education is also severely affected and is reflected in the
retention among children of mine workers. Table 2.06
shows the sharp decrease in class-wise retention among
children of mine workers. It reflects on the highly migrant
nature of these children who leave the schools because of
the migratory pattern of their parents, whose livelihood
in the quarries and mines is not guaranteed. Achieving
the right to primary education for mine workers’ children
is a huge challenge, given the highly erratic manner of
migration. As stated by Santulan, unlike other sectors
where migrant families return to their native villages
seasonally, in the mining sector, mine workers shift from
one mine to another wherever the contractors find work for
them. Therefore, there is no link with their native village for
the children and this completely amorphous nature of life
and the social disconnect, gives rise to insecurity and the
lack of an identity so strongly felt by the mine workers and
their children.
Further, a caste-wise break up of children in Pashan Shalas—
as given in Table 2.07—from the mine workers’ clusters,
shows that while the Vadars are the majority population of
mine workers, there is a signification increase in the SCs
among the mine worker group. In the past, it was mainly
the Vadar community who were traditionally involved in
stone-breaking acitivities, but the crisis in agriculture in
Maharashtra and neighbouring states like Andhra Pradesh
and Karnataka forced agricultural labourers from SC
communities to shift to mine labour.
Conclusions
The case study of Maharastra clearly brings out the need
for addressing the serious violation of rights of the migrant
and unorganised sector workers in the mining industry. The
link between mining and violation of the rights of children is
mainly because of the unviable economics of quarrying and
small-scale mining as far as workers are concerned. Their life
is bound by a vicious cycle of low wages, hazardous work,
uncertain livelihood, poverty, indebtedness, lack of basic
facilities, death and, therefore child labour and child abuse.
A clear association between landlessness, migration, ad hocness
of the mine workers’ lives which translates into lack of
basic institutions and protections for the children of mine
workers, is visible. The shocking state of their housing, lack
of access to potable drinking water and lack of institutional
support for children—anganwadis, primary schools or