A new port in Kerala sparks fears of sea erosion in coastal villages

The destruction of homes during the monsoon has left residents anxious. But experts say it is too early to blame the erosion on port construction.

When ferocious waves crash over the sea walls and hit the foundation of her home in Valiyathura, a fishing village in Kerala’s Thiruvananthapuram district, Alphonsa begins to say prayers, holding the Bible.

The 60-year-old woman has had sleepless nights for the last three months ever since the sea became rough after the monsoon gathered momentum in the second week of June. The fate of her tiny brick house worries her most. When it was built 10 years ago, it stood more than 500 metres away from the shoreline. But the erosion of the beach has reduced the distance to a mere two metres now. Even the sea wall – a defence structure made of boulders – can no longer protect the house from the sea water that comes flooding in.

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Courtesy: Scroll.in

Udaipur’s water threatened by India’s largest reserve of phosphate

Pollution from the Jhamarkotra mines poses a threat to waters near and far, and also causes severe health issues in the miners. Why is there no post facto environment impact assessment?

Huddled in the Aravali range in the southern part of Rajasthan about 26 km from Udaipur, is the largest reserve of phosphate in India. Also known as the Jhamarkotra mines, it is the only commercially exploitable rock phosphate deposit in the country. Phosphate is crucial for the sustenance of fertilizer plants but is available here only between 380 and 600 m below ground level, which can only be reached through deep excavation. The phosphate reserves came up for digging in 1968 when the Rajasthan State Mines and Mineral (RSMM) Corporation initiated open cast mining in the area. The mine, which covers an area of 18.44 sqkm and is divided into eleven blocks, contains approximately 74.68 metric tons of rock phosphate. The land was acquired in the late 1960s and then prepared for mining.

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Courtesy: Your Story

Women in Mining launched

With the increasing number of woman in mining more attention needs to be paid to either safety, wellness and general working conditions.

At the moment regulations are inadequate for their safety and well-being.

Women in Mining is not just employment but an important transformation agenda to reverse the historical exclusion of women in the mining industry. The Mining Charter and the Employment Equity are some of the progressive transformation legislation post 1994.

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Courtesy: Witbank

Why over 10 million children in indian are working as labour despite Progressive laws

The problem of child labour has been a perennial one – and it has denied these very children the ‘kingdom of heaven’. Child labour isn’t anything new – and it has denied them the basic rights of childhood including the rights to play, education and leisure. Instead, they are bundled to work in dangerous work environments where they don’t think of these inalienable rights.

As per a study in 2012-2013, India had an estimated 32 million persons in the age group of 14-18 years, who are engaged in labour. A majority of them work in rural areas – and nearly 75% of children are employed in agriculture, as cultivators or in household industries.

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Courtesy: Youth ki Awaz

Local tribals, farmers, fisherfolk and other sections are up in arms against the proposed DMIC

Several civil rights organizations of Gujarat and Maharashtra, including Khedut Samaj Gujarat, mines, minerals & People, Adivasi Ekta Parishad, Bhoomi Sena and Kashtkari Samgathan, took out a huge rally in Talasari in Maharashtra on August 9, which also happens to be the World Indigenous People’s day. Memorandum sent to Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the end of the rally:

We, the farmers, tribals, fisherfolks, labourers and citizens men and women of Gujarat and Maharashtra have gathered here today at Talasari (Maharashtra) under the common banner of ‘Bhoomi Putra Bachao Andolan’, on the occasion of the International Day of Indigenous Peoples and Kranti Divas, to highlight our fears and apprehensions on account of the proposed and planned Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC). Read more

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