Children - Terre des Hommes

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usually not strong enough to carry out this work, but in Bhat
Basti residents explained how some of the younger children
(around 9–10 years old) run away sometimes to the mines
to earn around Rs. 10 for a day’s work. 114
Mine workers in Bhuri Beri village, Jodhpur district, said that
children aged 15 years old worked in the mines where they
work. Some mine workers said that their children were also
employed in other forms of labour, such as in tea shops and
hotels. When a mother or father dies, children are generally
taken out of school to go to work in the city. 115 Illness and
death of a parent also results in children being forced to take
up work in the mines. Two sons of Aarti (name changed)
in Bhuri Beri aged 15 and 12 work in the sandstone mines
while another 12 year old grazes goats. Bimla Devi’s husband
died of TB and she herself was being treated for the same.
In Gandero Ki Dhani, another widow Sonu (name changed)
who is diagnosed with TB has a 12 year old son working in
the mines.
Several children between 12 and 15 years old were
interviewed in the mines around Jodhpur district. Most said
that they had been working there for a few months, since
they had dropped out of school and earned between Rs.
30 and Rs. 50 a day, filling trucks and doing other similar
heavy tasks. 116 Most adult mine workers interviewed said
that children earned around Rs. 50–60 per day working in
the mines. Several villages explained that only children from
the very poor families are working; the others send their
children to school. In one village, for example, residents
estimated that around 90 per cent of the children in the
village attend school; the remaining 10 per cent (around
250 children) were out of school. In this area of Jodhpur
district, several children were spotted driving stone-filled
trucks; none of these children looked more than 14 years
old. None of the children either had any work safety gear
that could protect them from the risks of accidents, injuries
or even minor bruises. For the children, there is no choice
and the risks are high especially during the initial years
of work when they had not yet gained the expertise to
handle the mining work. The workers reported that they
were easily susceptible to eye injuries, mine-slips and mine
collapse, breaking of limbs or their back due to falling, or
from stones crashing over them.
Meeting with stone quarry workers, including child labour at Kaliberi
(Photo July 2009)
Health Impacts
“The younger people in the mines are OK, but as
you get older the breathing problems start.”
- Mine worker, Kaliberi, Jodhpur district
Across the state, mine workers reported numerous health
problems, particularly breathing problems caused by dust
inhalation. Every village and mine site reported widespread
cases of TB, which seem to emerge once a worker is not even
around 40 years of age. In several places, people talked about
lung problems but did not know if they were suffering from
TB or silicosis. Others claimed that when people do suffer
from silicosis, the government says that it is TB anyway
and they are treated for TB. 117 The mine workers and their
children regularly suffer from coughs, colds, fevers and eye
infections. In a PHC close to a mining area in Jodhpur
district, the nurse reported that he treats a large number
of respiratory illnesses. They had 27 people undergoing
treatment for TB at the time of the interview, and he stated
that even more cases were being treated in the sub-centres
in that area. 118 The nurse explained how they also have cases
of silicosis but this was much more difficult to diagnose with
only only four or five cases having been diagnosed in this
PHC, so far.
Women explained that they continued to work until they
were eight months pregnant, carrying out heavy work like
lifting mine waste and loading trucks. Due to a lack of any
kind of maternity benefits, and due to the extreme poverty at
114. Interviews carried out in Bhat Basti, Jodhpur district, July 2009.
115. Interview with female mine workers, Bhuri Beri village, Jodhpur district, July 2009.
116. Interviews with child labour in Kaliberi mining area, Jodhpur district, July 2009.
117. Interviews with mine workers in Jodhpur and Jaisalmer district, July 2009.
118. Interview with nurse, PHC in Fidusar Chopar, Jodhpur district, July 2009.