India is to legalise the mining of mica, a sparkly mineral used in eyeshadows and car paint, in a bid to cut the number of children who labour – and often die – to produce it.
The announcement comes nearly a year after a series of Guardian investigations into mica found that crippling poverty forces many families and their children to mine the highly prized mineral, with as many as 20,000 children believed to be working in the mines, about 90% of which are illegal.
A later investigation by Thomson Reuters Foundation found that at least seven children had died in just two months as they scavenged for the mineral in illegal mines.
Activists lauded the decision to legalise mica mining, but warned that high poverty levels meant the move was unlikely to stop child labour.
Two states in eastern India, Jharkhand and Bihar, account for roughly 25% of the global production of mica, which is used by the cosmetics, building and automotive industries in various products. Household and luxury brands including L’Oréal, Estée Lauder, Rimmel, Merck, BMW, Vauxhall and Audi have all been linked to India’s mica mines.
Jharkhand’s mines commissioner, Aboobacker Siddique, told Reuters that the authorities would first tackle the disused mines and dumps of scrap mica, where children scavenge alongside their families for the mineral. The government would then auction off the disused mines and other reserves, with the intention of keeping out children and their families.
“People were taking up these scraps illegally and accumulating and selling it,” said Siddique. “To stop this, we decided to remove the waste dumps of mica by selling it in auctions.”
Roughly 100 mica dumps have so far been identified for auction, Siddique added. Once these have been sold, “ghost” mines and fresh reserves of mica would be put up for auction.
But it is unclear what will happen to the children – and their families – once this source of income dries up. A recent inquiry by Jharkhand’s labour department found that illegal mica mining was the main part of families’ livelihoods, and confirmed that some people had died while scavenging because of mines collapsing.
Supply-chain analysts commended the move to legalise mica’s production, but said it would not be a magic wand. “It’s a positive move, but just making illegal mines legal won’t automatically eliminate child labour, child deaths or debt bondage,” said Peter Bengtsen, who investigated mica’s supply chains for the 2015 mica DanWatch report.
“Mica-mining families are poor, and either cannot afford to send their children to school or don’t see the benefit, so children will continue working for extremely low payments.”
Labour officials also said they had launched a public awareness campaign across the state to stop child labour, and had rescued about 250 children working in small shops and restaurants.
Aidan McQuade, director of Anti-Slavery International, said it was now up to the Indian government “to ensure that the policy is properly implemented and its impact ensures decent work in mica, and an end to the exploitation of children and vulnerable adults”.
Terre des Hommes Netherlands, which has done extensive research into India’s mica mining, said the effect of the legalisation would depend on how the companies who own the mines run their operations as a result.
“If adults earn fair wages and are able to work under decent conditions – safe and healthy – then they will have the ability to improve their lives and send their children to school instead of taking them to the mines,” said child rights officer Aysel Sabahoglu.
“Sometimes foreign companies buy sites, import their own people, build their own villages and the majority of the money made will flow out of the country. In such a situation, the local community can at best profit from new infrastructure. However, if the buying party is obliged to invest socially in return, then the local community can [also] profit from the legalisation.”