"Hooked at a tender age”, Times of India, 11 July 2007

A report by an NGO’s has brought to light the prevalence of child labour in the stone quarries of Rajasthan and their dependence on tobacco, alcohol and other intoxicants. Gramin Vikas Vigyan Samiti (GRAVIS) and Health Environment Development Consortium (HEDCON) found that 60 % of the children were working under poorly conditions and get addicted to tobacco and alcohol on an early age.

"Dust, disease plague mineworkers’’, Hindustan Times, 16 May 2007

The Health Environment Development Consortium (HEDCON) wrote a report about the inhumane conditions under which two million mineworkers in Rajasthan have to work. They emphasized the lack of safety provisions, the malnutrition, ill health and physical impediments and the high number of occupational lung diseases. Looking at these conditions HEDCON filed a PIL in the High Court against Labour, Medical and Health, and the Mines departments as well as the Mines Safety Office.

‘’No protection from silicosis for mineworkers, says PIL’’, Times of India, 24 March 2007

In a PIL, Health Environment Development Consortium (HEDCON) pleaded that there is a need to protect, labour force from silicosis, which is rife among them because of inaction on the part of the state government and malpractice by mine owners. HEDCON examined the health of 151 mine workers and 70 of them were certified by a medical practitioner to be suffering from silicosis.

‘’Tough life for women miners’ in Rajasthan’’, Times of India, 1 March, 2006

In their struggle to earn a meager livelihood, women mine labourer’s in Rajasthan face violence, disease and environmental pollution. Health Environment Development Consortium (HEDCON) and Gramin Vikas Vigyan Samitri (GRAVIS) focused on the conditions of these workers. Most of these women work from early childhood to support their family and are trapped as bondage labourer’s due to their loans. Beside this many of them are windows or have either alcoholics or sick men for husbands.

‘’Book on women mineworkers’’, Hindustan Times, 2 January, 2006

Women work force constitutes around 30 percent share among overall mineworkers indulged in mines of Rajasthan. Still these women are forced to work and live in inhuman conditions and their basic and human rights are being violated by the mine owners. Health Environment Development Consortium (HEDCON) released a study “Tears of Dust – Women labour in the mines of Rajasthan- No trace of human rights’’. The study focuses on the miserable working conditions, their exposing to violent and increased vulnerability to diseases.

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