It seems my clothing and other nonessential items have multiplied in my Delhi home, as is the case for many of us. So, I decided to collect some of my old things and donate them to an NGO I've been working with for the last three years in Jharkhand, the Srijan Foundation. The Srijan Foundation works on a broad range of issues, from human trafficking, safe migration, livelihood issues, girl’s empowerment, and child welfare. Due to my research focus, I usually focus on trafficking issues, but this trip I took some extra time to visit Srijan’s child welfare programs and homes. 

On my final day in Jharkhand, we visited some of the coal mining districts. Despite the poverty of the region, Jharkhand is rich in coal deposits. After the coal has been largely exhausted and the mine is no longer profitable, companies shut down operations. The land left is decimated and no longer suitable for any kind of agricultural use, contrary to laws that require mining companies to restore the land to its original state. As a result, the local population must find another way to make a living. They turn to illegal mining and extract the remains of coal from these mines, selling it on the local market for a tiny profit. The average income of families living on illegal mining is about INR 2500 or about $40 a month. It’s hardly enough to get by and the work is brutal. In an effort to keep cool, miners usually drink rice beer. Rice beer (Handia) once a traditional drink made and served by the women of the community, has now become commoditized. It’s now readily available, concentrated, and cheap, leading to high alcoholism rates, especially amongst tribal men. Suffering from substance abuse, unaware of the importance of education, or lacking the resources to transport their children to school on a regular basis, many of the children in this region end up working alongside their parents in the mines. It’s an extremely hazardous place, and black lung is rampant. In an effort to curb the almost unlivable amount of dust in the area, mining companies have filled their mines with water. These pits are hundreds of meters deep and extremely dangerous, as most nearby residents are unable to swim. Furthermore, these deep pits lower the water table and deprive nearby farmers of already severely limited groundwater.

One village we visited was perched on the edge of a mine. The scene was almost unearthly. Giant mounds of coal and dirt bordered deep, layered rifts in the earth with bottomless green pits of water in the middle. Everything was covered in gray dust. You could smell the tarry stench of coal roasting in the 115-degree sun. When the wind blew, I quickly found myself chocking and covered in a fine gray film. Alerted by community workers about the child labor occurring in this village, the Srijan Foundation provides care and protection for the children of the village. Through case workers, Srijan develops an individual assistance plan for each child, often paying for the children’s school supplies, transportation to school, and providing them with clothes and food. They visit the children on a regular basis to ensure that they continue to go to school and have their basic needs met. Even with Srijan’s support, some families feel that older girl children are a burden on the rest of the family and they try to marry them off as soon as possible, leading to high rates of child marriage.

Some children, however, have been altogether abandoned by their families and need institutional or foster-based care. To meet the high demand for care, Srijan runs several children’s homes and specialized adoption agencies. Following our visit to the coal mines, we made our way into town to visit a children’s home and adoption agency. Most of the orphans are girl infants, abandoned in the jungles or survivors of infanticide after being dug up from the soil and rescued. One particular newborn’s ear was partially missing after being eaten by ants while she was buried. It was heartbreaking to see the condition of these rescued newborns, but reassuring to see that agency caretakers there are doing all they can to nurse them back to health. Luckily, Srijan runs some of the best homes and they have high rates of successful adoptions. However, many of the orphanages in the region keep children in subpar conditions, sometimes leading to death from infection and unhygienic conditions. In other cases, children handed over to these orphanages may get “lost” in the system and sold off to the highest bidder. While some children sold may go to families unwilling to go through the lengthy, official adoption process, others are sold to traffickers. It was here that I was able to hand over my overweight suitcase of donations to the adoption agency’s director whose face lit up with delight upon receiving it. This was a tiny gesture compared to vast amount of work Srijan is does on a daily basis and in difficult conditions. Although I’ve worked in India for the last three years, I was still shocked by some of the ground realities in Jharkhand that so few people, both in India and outside India, know about. I witnessed only a sliver of the suffering but enough, at least, to share the message.