Children - Terre des Hommes

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According to their plans, the private companies operating
there were meant to use water sprinklers to prevent the
dust from spreading. However, the villagers claimed this
never happens so dust was spreading all over the area. In
addition to this, the flowing water that they previously had
for agriculture, had been blocked off by the large plant close
by, and by the walls formed once the mining company began
digging stones. Before, they could cultivate their land twice
a year; now they cannot cultivate at all. 97
The campaign for National Rural Employment Guarantee
Act (NREGA) began in Rajasthan and is regarded by many
as working more effectively there than in any other state, to
provide work for the rural poor who lack alternative livelihood
options. The Act states that in every family, one person is
entitled to 100 days of work per year at the minimum wage. In
several of the villages visited, people explained that in addition
to mining work, a number of residents were employed in
NREGA work. However, they argued that the NREGA was
not operating properly in this area, as people were not being
paid the full wages (Rajasthan’s minimum wage is Rs. 100 a
day). The kind of work they were doing was road construction
and building canals, but they are only being paid around Rs.
40–60 a day and being told that they have not worked properly
or hard enough to earn their full Rs. 100. 98 In Joga village,
also in Jaisalmer district, over 100 people were reported to be
getting work from the NREGA, but they also got less than
the minimum wage of Rs. 80–90 per day. 99
There were also problems in terms of delayed payments for
Thermal Power Project in Thumbli village (Photo July 2009)
work carried out under the NREGA. In Meghwal Basti, a SC
community about 16 km from Jodhpur, all 13 households have
a job card. It is mostly women who are the job cardholders.
The reason given for this was that the NREGA payments were
sometimes delayed beyond the 15 day payment period (the last
payment had been delayed by 2 months). As the households
were depedent on daily wage labour for their survival, if the
men also worked under the NREGA there would be days
when they would not receive any money. So the men continued
to work as daily wage labourers in the mines and the women
took up the NREGA work. 100
Displacement
Rajasthan has the second largest deposit of lignite in India
after Tamil Nadu. Lignite, which is often referred to as ‘brown
coal’, is used for steam electric power generation. In Barmer
district, western Rajasthan, the state-owned Rajasthan
State Mines and Minerals Limited has been expanding its
lignite mining operations in recent years and now operates a
huge open-cast mine near Giral village. Locals reported that
many people have been displaced from this land. In keeping
with the displacement policy for public sector companies,
the displaced were offered only Rs. 2,000 for one bigha 101
of land. However, locals explained that they were asking for
Rs. 17,000 per bigha for their land and three villages in the
area—Thumbli, Akali and Jalela—were now embroiled in a
court case. 102 Without their land, some former farmers were
now forced to work as contract labour at the mine site and
were employed in roles such as security guards and labourers
there. At a public meeting on the land dispute in June 2009,
locals were advised by officials that they should just accept
the Rs. 2,000 being offered to them as: “The government is
going to take your land by force anyhow, so it is better to take
the compensation which the government is giving now.” 103
“The government is telling us that this mining is
going to be profitable to the country and that this
is for India’s development. But if this is India’s
development, are we not a part of India? Why is
the government not considering us?”
- Resident, Thumbi village, Barmer district
97. Ibid.
98. Interviews in Jethwai village, Jaisalmer district, July 2009.
99. Interviews in Joga village, Jaisalmer district, July 2009.
100. Interviews carried out in Jodhpur district, October 2009.
101. One bigha is equal to 2,500 sq m in Rajasthan.
102. Interview with local farmer, close to Giral mine site, Barmer district, July 2009.
103. Ibid.