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Children Working In India apos;s Coal Mines Came As quot;complete Shock quot Fi...

2020-07-06T15:49:48Z

JacquelynEstrell: Created page with "Children working in India's coal mines came as "complete shock", filmmaker says By [/home/search.html?s=&authornamef=Reuters Reuters] Published: 13:12 BST, 6 July 2016..."

Children working in India's coal mines came as "complete shock", filmmaker says By [/home/search.html?s=&authornamef=Reuters Reuters] Published: 13:12 BST, 6 July 2016 | Updated: 13:12 BST, 6 July 2016 [ ] [ ] [ ] </a> By Rina Chandran MUMBAI, July 6 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - When Chandrasekhar Reddy travelled to northeastern India in 2011, the director was looking for material for a film on forests in the region famed for its misty hills and waterfalls. Instead, he found children as young as five working in coal mines. Horrified yet fascinated, Reddy stayed in Meghalaya state for several months, befriending the children and their families, and slowly gaining access to the mines, many of which are illegal. Reddy eventually gathered enough material for his first feature-length documentary, 'Fireflies in the Abyss', which was released in India last week after winning the award for Best Film in the Mumbai International Film Festival in February. Set in the Jaintia Hills, the documentary shows young boys descending steep chutes - little more than "rat holes" - with makeshift ladders to dig coal from hard rock with just a pick axe and a flashlight. "The fact that children were working in the mines came as a complete shock to me," Reddy told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. "So many of my preconceived notions of what is right and wrong, the state, the law, the police, families and relationships - they were all turned on their head, as it is a very different world there," he said. The film tells the story of Suraj, an 11-year-old boy, who was born in India of Nepali parents. He lives with his sister and father, a miner who is drunk most of the time. His mother is dead. Suraj desperately wants to go to school, but is expected to work to help feed the family. Despite a law that bans child labour, India has 5.7 million child workers aged between five and 17, according to the International Labour Organization which estimates there are 168 million child workers globally. Activists estimate that about a fifth of all mine workers in India are children. Many work for more than 10 hours a day in filthy conditions, exposed to coal dust, [http://vacationtravel.mystrikingly.com/blog/a-list-of-natural-bridge-of-meghalaya vacationtravel.mystrikingly.com] silica dust, noxious fumes and the risk of injury or death from collapsing mines. "Fear won't get any work done; you need to give up worrying for your life," one of the young boys with Suraj says. "But if you die here, it's a dog's death." In Meghalaya, which means "abode of clouds" in Sanskrit, many workers are from the neighbouring countries of Nepal and Bangladesh. They are often trafficked with the promise of good jobs, or are in debt bondage to powerful mine owners. In a 2012 report, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, an umbrella group of charities, said children working in the mines in Jaintia Hills faced "hazardous conditions" with no safety or social welfare measures. While state officials have downplayed the prevalence of child labour, the report said the presence of rat holes indicated child workers since it was "humanly not possible for an adult to enter those holes to extract coal". In the end, Suraj gets his chance at receiving an education - with the help of some friends, who also worked in the mines. "The mine workers live in such uncertainty, such desperation, yet there is so much camaraderie and solidarity," said Reddy. "Perhaps that's what keeps them going, and gives some of them the hope that things can change," he said. (Reporting by Rina Chandran, Editing by Katie Nguyen. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, corruption and climate change. Visit news.trust.org to see more stories.)

Divers Locate One Body In Flooded Indian Mine After 35 Days

2020-07-06T14:01:45Z

JacquelynEstrell: Created page with " GUWAHATI, India, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Indian navy divers found the body of one of 15 miners who went missing in a flooded coal mine in a remote corner of the country more th..."

GUWAHATI, India, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Indian navy divers found the body of one of 15 miners who went missing in a flooded coal mine in a remote corner of the country more than a month ago, officials said on Thursday. Rescuers have been struggling to pump water out of the 370-feet-deep illegal "rat-hole" coal mine in the northeastern state of Meghalaya, where the men have been trapped for [http://vacationtravel.mystrikingly.com/blog/a-list-of-natural-bridge-of-meghalaya vacationtravel.mystrikingly.com] 35 days. "One body has been detected by Indian Navy divers using a remotely operated underwater vehicle at a depth of 160 feet," the navy said on Twitter. "The body has been pulled up to the mouth of the rat-hole and shall be extracted out of the mine under the supervision of doctors," it said. Rat-hole mines killed thousands of workers in Meghalaya before India's environmental court banned the practice in early 2014. The mine, located at Ksan near the village of Lumthari in Meghalaya, became flooded after 15 miners went down the narrow pit on Dec. 13. A police official, who asked not to be identified, said a team of doctors, paramedics, and ambulances had been sent to help recover the body. The slow progress of the rescue efforts has been contrasted with the dramatic rescue of 12 Thai boys and their football coach from a flooded cave last July, which drew a massive international audience. (Reporting by Zarir Hussain Editing by Sanjeev Miglani and Paul Tait)

Bus Skids Off Mountain Road In Northeast India Killing 25

2020-07-06T05:22:41Z

JacquelynEstrell: Created page with "Bus skids off mountain road in northeast India, killing 25 By [/home/search.html?s=&authornamef=Associated+Press Associated Press] Published: 10:56 BST, 15 June 2016..."

Bus skids off mountain road in northeast India, killing 25 By [/home/search.html?s=&authornamef=Associated+Press Associated Press] Published: 10:56 BST, 15 June 2016 | Updated: 10:56 BST, 15 June 2016 [ ] [ ] [ ] </a> GAUHATI, India (AP) — A passenger bus skidded off a mountain road and fell into a gorge in India's remote northeastern state of Meghalaya, [http://vacationtravel.mystrikingly.com/blog/a-list-of-natural-bridge-of-meghalaya http://vacationtravel.mystrikingly.com/blog/a-list-of-natural-bridge-of-meghalaya] killing at least 25 people, police said Wednesday. Ten others were injured in the accident late Tuesday near Sonapur town, said top police officer Rajiv Mehta. It was raining heavily and visibility was low when the night service bus veered off the road and fell into the 180-meter (600-foot) -deep gorge, Mehta said. Local villagers and police worked through the night to climb down into the gorge and pull the injured from the bus. Four bodies have been recovered. World Health Organization figures show India has the world's highest road death rate, with about 140,000 people dying each year in accidents commonly caused by speeding, overcrowding and poor vehicle and road maintenance.

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2020-07-06T05:22:38Z

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