Children - Terre des Hommes

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This case study covered two minerals–stone quarries and
diamonds–both of which are found together in Panna
district. At present the major diamond mining is assigned to
a Government of India undertaking, the NMDC Diamond
Mine Project. The belt starts from Paharikhera Northeast
to Majhgawan Southwest and has a width of around 30 km.
There are several small-scale open-cast diamond mines in
Panna. There are at least 121 leases in Panna district 150 for
diamond extraction. The villages covered for the study were
Bador, Jhallar, Janawar, Umraban, Chainsingh Dharampur,
Hardua Rakseha and Gandhigram, all falling under Panna
and Ajaigarh blocks in Panna district.
Demographic Profile of the District
Panna is a district in the state of Madhya Pradesh. The town
of Panna is the district headquarter. The district is a part of
Sagar Division. Panna district was created in 1950, shortly
after India’s independence, from the territory of several
former princely states of British India, including the states
of Panna, Jaso, most of Ajaigarh, and a portion of Paldeo.
It has five blocks and six towns. The proportion of the ST
population in the district is a little above 13 per cent and
that of the SC population is marginally higher, at 15 per
cent. The major adivasi group in the district is Gond.
Despite its rich mineral wealth and its status as the sole
producer of diamonds in India, Panna remains one of the
least developed districts in the state of Madhya Pradesh. The
district has a HDI ranking of 0.479, meaning that it ranks
fifth from the bottom in the state. This is considerably lower
than Indore, at the top of the list with a ranking of 0.710. 151
Per capita income in Panna is also strikingly low—0.274
on the HDI ranking scale—the fourth lowest in Madhya
Pradesh. The district has serious challenges to face in terms
of providing its population with basic amenities. Only 34.6
per cent of households have electricity and a dismal 11.1
per cent of households have a toilet. A tiny 6.8 per cent of
households in the district have electricity, a toilet and access
to safe drinking water. 152
state as a whole. 153 This suggests a high degree of female
foeticide and discrimination against girls in the district. In
2002, it was reported that over 61 per cent of women in
the district marry before they reach 18 years of age. 154 Not
surprisingly, both the IMR and under five mortality rate is
high in Panna— respectively 93 per 1,000 live births and
132 per 1,000 live births. 155
According to the Census, 13,303 children between 5 and
14 years were working as child labourers in the district in
2001. As the NCLP is not currently active in Panna, there
are currently no government programmes to address child
labour in hazardous occupations in the district.
How Diamonds Are Mined
Increasing amounts of land previously used for agriculture
had now been converted for mining and quarrying activities.
This is an extremely worrying situation, given that around
80 per cent of the state’s population still live in rural areas
and are dependent on agriculture for their livelihoods. Many
of the communities interviewed across all the districts had
previously relied upon agriculture or livestock grazing for
their survival, but were now working as daily wage labourers
in the mines due to lack of available land.
Children working in diamond mines under contractor’s supervision
(Photo August 2009)
Panna also has a lower than average sex ratio for the
state—907 girls to 1,000 boys, as opposed to 920 for the
150. Secretary, PKMS
151. Government of Madhya Pradesh, Human Development Report, 2007, http://www.mp.gov.in/difmp/mphdr2007.htm.
152. District Factsheet, Government of Madhya Pradesh, Human Development Report, 2007, http://www.mp.gov.in/difmp/mphdr2007.htm.
153. Data accessed on indiastat.com; taken from National Commission for Women, 2001.
154. District Factsheet, Government of Madhya Pradesh, Human Development Report, 2007, http://www.mp.gov.in/difmp/mphdr2007.htm.
155. Ibid.