PRAVIN KUMAR
Koderma, Oct14: The mica industry in Koderma was once at its peak during 1995. Experts in this regard say that the MMTC company used to make Mica paper. Around 500 employees used to work in the plant located at Koderma. When the plant was closed, all the employees were shifted to other places. At present, only 25 employees have been kept for the maintenance of the plant.
Experts say that mica was mined in Koderma and Giridih districts by BMTC Bihar Mica Company. The work of making powder by purchasing mica from local traders is being done at present. Whereas before 1995, mica paper was prepared for which MMTC used to spend$1.5. On the other hand China used to make mica paper and sell it for 1 dollar, after buying mica from India.
Due to this the mica industry completely collapsed in the district. MMTC Company used to export mica but now this work is done independently by the dealers in the district. Since most of the mica mines are in forest areas, the legal mica mines are completely closed. Even after this, illegal trade of mica is being done. At present, many mica crushers are running here. According to the experts, crores are being earned from the illegal business of Mica.
Mica is extracted from the closed mines in which generally the entire family is involved. children take out Dhibra from the closed Mica mines.
Mica mining has been going on since 1920s
India is known as the largest exporter in the world. Large reserves were found in Koderma during the construction of a railway line by the British in the 1920s. Its foreign demand peaked during the Second World War and the subsequent Cold War.
Illegal mining leads to frequent accidents
According to the report of Thomson Reuters Foundation, the work of mica mining is going on indiscriminately in two mica-dominated districts of Koderma and Giridih of Jharkhand. People are working in illegal mines. Police records, local newspaper reports, interviews with private institutions and statements of officials and eyewitnesses show that people are often victims of accidents in these mines. These accidents are nowhere found in the police records. Local people say that the work of picking dhibra is done in the closed mines of Mica and it is estimated that more than 10 people lose their lives in a year in it. Social activists say that villagers do not report accidents because they fear arrest as they know it is illegal.
Filmmaker Deepak Bada says….
Filmmaker Deepak Bada who works among the tribal community says, by making the right policy for mica mining, the state can get huge revenue. More than 75 mica mines are closed in the state. But even after this, its mining continues. If the government opens the mines, child labor can stop in the area as well as more than 2 lakh people can get better employment opportunities.
To eradicate the stigma of child labor, the state government can regularize the mica mining workers, traders and other businessmen of Koderma and Giridih and can also get revenue. Due to lack of a proper policy in the state, mica is being smuggled on a large scale and sent to China.
Describing the experience during film production, Deepak says, “For many years now, Kailash Satyarthi Foundation and Responsible Mica Initiative (RMI) have been running many community programs to keep children away from the mines, but on the ground, change is not visible far and wide”.
Deepak Bada’s film ‘The Dark Secret Behind Your Shiny Makeup’, that narrates the pain of the mica-based community, has been selected for the prestigious Japan Prize 2021 Film Festival for Educational Media. The film explores the on-ground relationship between mica mining and the world’s largest cosmetics companies.