Children - Terre des Hommes

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Table 2.07: Socio-economic distribution of children in Pashan Shalas
District Taluk No. of stone No. of No. of Caste categories
quarry clusters centres children SC ST VJ NT OBC Open
Pune Haweli 6 40 1,268 246 50 710 67 92 103
Khed 1 6 186 38 -- 116 11 15 6
Shirur 3 4 120 12 -- 83 8 14 3
Daund 1 1 23 7 -- 13 2 -- 1
Ahamadnagar Ahamadnagar 3 3 41 17 -- 21 -- 1 2
Shrigonda 1 1 10 2 -- 7 -- -- 1
Kolhapur Kaveer 1 8 134 21 1 81 8 1 22
Shirol 1 4 117 52 11 27 2 8 17
Satara Karad 1 2 37 1 -- 34 -- 1 1
Sangli Tasgaon 2 3 19 3 -- 8 -- 2 6
VJ= Vimukta Jati; NT=Nomadic tribe
Source: Dagad Phool, Santulan, 2007-08
Total 20 72 1,955 399 62 1,100 98 134 162
NCLP schools—to provide nutrition and prevent them
from child labour, is seriously missing. NCLP schools,
which were conceived to take care of this section of children,
were non-existent in the areas visited by us. The health
condition indicates a need for urgent action on malnutrition
and mine pollution related problems that these children
were medically proved to be suffering from. As Maharashtra
proceeds with its high growth infrastructure model of
development, it has to make a conscious effort at meeting its
commitments to the children given in the Eleventh Plan as
well as the MDG goals.
states that were a part of this study, which have a typical
situation with regard to children affected by small scale
mines and quarries.
(Acknowledgements: The above case study was done in
partnership with Santulan, an organisation working for the
rights of mine workers in Maharashtra. We wish to thank
Mr. Bastu Rege, Mrs. Pallavi Rege and the team of Santulan
for providing us with information and for organising the
field visits.)
To achieve this, unless the regulations regarding quarrying
and mining are reviewed to include viable living and working
conditions for mine workers, the very economy of mining
stands questioned. There have to be strong pre-conditions
in terms of responsible mining towards workers as well as
the environment, as the current processes of granting mining
leases do not bring legally binding accountability. Especially
as these are small in size and quantum of work, scattered
in nature and therefore also provide scope for unchecked
illegal extraction and processing, stringent measures for
checks and balances are more necessary in this context. Our
recommendations, in the context of small-scale mining and
migrant labour, which are presented at the end of the report,
are based on our experiences in Maharashtra, and other