Mining children are nobody's baby in Govt of India, ministry and laws are quiet on child rights, says representation

By Our Representative
Raising a major policy issue, a top advocacy group, Mines, Minerals and People (MM&P) has regretted that the plight of the "mining children" is not the responsibility of the Ministry of Mines, Government of India, which looks after all the mines in India, and the result is a strange "mess": the lives of children as a result of mining has to be addressed by other departments like child welfare, education, tribal welfare, labour, environment and others.
Insisting on the need to converge between various departments and agencies for taking care of the mining children, MM&P in a memorandum submitted to government of India ministers and MPs cutting across party lines, says, the issue becomes particularly precarious as "laws and policies related to mining do not address specific rights and entitlements of mining children."
Pointing towards gravity of the problem, MM&P says, "India currently produces 89 minerals out of which four are fuel minerals, 11 metallic, 52 non-metallic and 22 minor minerals. Mining for fuel, metallic and non-metallic industrial minerals is currently undertaken in almost half of India’s districts."
Currently one of the main industries that generate high revenues, the problem of mining children, says MM&P, has acquired added dimension, because the tribal and other marginalized communities have had to fight for their survival in mining areas, such as in Niyamgiri hills, where they were pitted against Vedanta and Posco in Odisha; Steel Authority of India (SAIL) in Salem, Tamil Nadu; iron ore mining in Goa; and coal mining in Chhattisgarh.
"It is in and around these mining areas that we find children the most vulnerable to the stark realities of extractive economy. These children are affected by mining, both indirectly and directly. It is these children who need our concern and attention and should be referred to as the mining children", MM&P says.
It says, "Due to environmental pollution, children are most at risk to various health hazards due to silicosis, TB, structural birth defects, etc. Jodhpur and Makhna (Rajasthan), Rewa and Panna (Madhya Pradesh). Panna is also a classic example where both child mortality rate and maternal mortality rate are very high."
According to MM&P, "While almost 50% of children across states are malnourished, malnourishment is widespread and acute in mining areas. Malnutrition is a problem in many places like Rewa and Udaipur (Rajasthan). In Panna, malnutrition among children is the highest out of all the mining areas."
"Displaced homeless or living in inadequate housing conditions, forced to drop out of schools, children become easy target for abuse, exploitation and being recruited for illegal activities by mafia and even trafficking", the memorandum, signed by MM&P's Rebbapragada Ravi (chairperson) and Ashok Shrimali, secretary general, says, adding, "Cases of sexual abuse and trafficking among children are a harsh reality in all the mining areas."
Then, it says, "Mining children are unable to access schools or are forced to drop out of schools because of circumstances arising from mining activity. Children’s education getting hampered and drop out problems are major concerns in many places like Jodhpur, Makhna, Udaipur, Rewa and Panna."
Also, MM&P says, "Mining regions have large numbers of children working in the most hazardous activities. Since child labour is illegal these activities are mostly done clandestinely taking advantage of the poor condition of the community. Child Labour is prevalent in many places like Panna, Udaipur (Rajasthan) and Tamil Nadu."
Pointing out that due to "large scale mining projects children are fast losing their constitutional rights under the 5th schedule, due to displacement, land alienation and migration by mining projects", MM&P says, "The mining sector is largely dependent on migrant populations (who most often do not have any proof of identity) where children have no security of life and where children are also found to be working in the mines or other labor as a result of mining."

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World Bank clarifies: Its 26th rank to India not for universal access to power but for ease of doing business

By Our Representative
In a major embarrassment to the Government of India, the World Bank has reportedly clarified that it has not ranked India 26th out of 130 countries for providing power to its population. The top international banker’s clarification comes following Union Power Minister Piyush Goyal’s claim that India has “improved to 26 position from 99” in access to electricity in just one year.

"Misleading" satellite images being shared on Balakot surgical strike on Jaish camp

By Dr Vinay Kate*
With every passing day more questions are being raised about the surgical strike India did in Balakot as a response to Pulwama attacks. So far the Indian media has claimed mass casulaty of 300+ terrorists of Jaish-e-Mohammad in this surgical strike, but there is hardly any report from foreign media about the same.

Extreme repression, corporate loot, cultural genocide "characterise" India's tribal belt

Counterview Desk
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Industry in India "barely growing", export growth 0%, whither moral anchors?

Counterview Desk
In a sharp critique of the Modi government, the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIM-A), one of world renowned economist Prof Kaushik Basu, who is Professor of Economics and Carl Marks Professor of International Studies at Cornell University, has told students at the IIM-A’s 54th Annual Convocation on March 16, 2019 that they have a “special responsibility” on their shoulders, “the responsibility to reject narrow sectarianism, uphold scientific thinking, openness to new ideas, and freedom of speech.”

Congress would win just 9 of 26 Lok Sabha seats: Gujarat Assembly segment-wise analysis

By Rajiv Shah
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Gujarat model? Industrial effluents "invade" borewells, discharge coloured water in farms

By Rajiv Shah
In a major embarrassment for Gujarat model, of the 21 samples taken by officials of the state government's environmental watchdog Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB) in two villages of Vadodara district and analyzed by its laboratory in Gandhinagar, the state capital, to find out pollution level in groundwater, 16 were assessed as highly contaminated – these were, in fact, found to be discharging reddish, brownish, reddish, or yellowish water.

Financial inclusion? Not micro-loans; India's poor "need" investment in health, education

By Moin Qazi*
India has grown into a global powerhouse. Its economy is soaring but the picture on the ground is still quite arid. The green shoots that you see are only a patch of its landscape. Most Indians are hapless victims of inequity. India is one country where intense poverty abounds in the shadow of immense wealth.

"Pro-corporate" Supreme Court order on FRA would further marginalize Adivasis

By VS Roy David, JP Raju*
For millions of Adivasis and other traditional forest dwellers February 13, 2019 will go down in history as the day of apocalypse. This is like the proverbial Black Friday where millions of most marginalized people of India were ordered by malicious anti-people draconian Supreme Court order depriving them the life and livelihood by evicting them from their habitats.

India, Pakistan told to eliminate nuclear weapons: N-war "would kill" 2 billion

Counterview Desk
The International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW), a non-partisan federation of national medical organizations in 64 countries, representing tens of thousands of doctors, medical students, other health workers, and concerned citizens, claiming to share the common goal of creating a more peaceful and secure world freed from the threat of nuclear annihilation, has warned that “an unprecedented global catastrophe” awaits the globe against the backdrop of warmongering in India and Pakistan.

Women, business, law: India scores worst among all BRICS, several African nations

By Rajiv Shah
A new World Bank report ranks India 125th in its Women, Business and the Law (WBL) index among 187 economies it seeks to analyse across the globe. The report's main aim claims to be to "gain new insight into how women’s employment and entrepreneurship choices are affected by legal gender discrimination. On a scale of 100, India's score is 71.25, worse than the global average of 74.71.

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