From a distance, it looks like a big rat hole. If you get closer, you will understand that it is possible to somehow fit a person of medium size inside. This hole is quite a bit below the ground, it is dark inside, just as dark as the life of the inhabitants here. Engaged in brightening a world full of dark racism. The darkness that shines thousands of watts of light on our faces. The darkness that enhances our physical beauty and brings out the ugly form of the mind.
Mica is a transparent metallic substance. In Bengal it is called as Avro. Its use in various works. Mica is needed to make toothpaste and also to make bright colors. But do you know where it is used the most? Make up makeup. Yes. Our day does not go without that makeup or cosmetics. Mica is the biggest raw material in the cosmetics industry. And hidden behind this Mica collection is the most horrible truth of the cosmetics industry. The truth that this billion dollar industry wants to suppress always wants to deny. When you or a member of your family use expensive makeup on the skin to present themselves beautifully, applying eye shadow, palette, lip color, lipstick or highlighter to make the skin soft and radiant. You may be putting blood on your body behind these products, which may not even be in your imagination. The blood of some small, ignorant children. At the most tender time of life, those who supply the raw materials of your cosmetics are turning into corpses within a few seconds. Deaths that have not been accounted for in any official statistics. No one remembers these unfortunates except the family. Twelve years ago, riding makeup was going on. YouTube is also full of makeup tutorials.
Highlighter has now taken the place of makeup. Instead of lightening the skin color, it temporarily brightens the skin. And the use of mic is so essential for making highlighter. The same thing happened with lipstick or eye shadow. There is no color of its own. It can be used with any color. This makes the makeup of that particular color look much brighter after use. That's why you can't even think of making these makeups without mica. But what does the blood have to do with the use of Mike in makeup. The ugly truth that we said at the beginning or what? To know that we have to go to India. This country of 130 million people has the largest amount of mica. Bihar and Jharkhand in particular have large supply of mics under the ground. Mica is also found in some parts of South India and Rajasthan.
Jharkhand, India's poorest province. The per capita income of the people here is only around fifty rupees per day. It is difficult to eat enough with this money. This bright metal mica is found underground in many places of this province. Officially there is no system of extracting mica. Therefore, the work of digging the ground and creating a mine or collecting mica from there is completely done privately. A big reason for not doing this work by the government is that these mica mines are kept by the local influencers. They manage money in various government departments. For this reason central or provincial. No government has a nose like that. When you go to the mica mining areas, you will feel like you have come to another world. Although it is very difficult for outsiders to enter these areas. Because the pandas of the powerful always guard these places. This whole matter of collecting mica from mines is illegal. But no guts to organize to cover it up. Coal or gold mines are also underground. But there is a big difference between these mines and mica mines. These mines are small in size. Moreover, the use of machinery is almost non-existent here. The whole thing is done by hand.
Pits are made by digging hoofs. The beginning is very hard to get down in that hole. Nineteen to twenty is the danger. A lot of earth and stones may collapse on the head. May become buried alive. Although those who enter inside twenty thirty times a day. All this has gone with them. Such incidents happen here every day, but if no one is injured or killed after hitting the ground, it seems that luck is very good today. Mica mining has another difference from gold or coal mining. Children working as workers in mica mines are very young boys and girls whose age is not more than seven to ten years. A bare chapter of child labor is written every day. The people of the world are not worried about the lawlessness in these murderous areas. Do you know how much money these children earn every day by supplying the raw materials of the cosmetics you use on your body to make yourself look beautiful by spending dollars? Twenty to thirty rupees only. They have to struggle to buy a kilo of coarse rice with that money. But there is no other work in this region. Only work. Engaged in mica extraction as a miner. Therefore, these children are forced to engage in this risky work. In 2016 Thomson Writers Foundation wanted to investigate the origins of mica mining. They carried out an investigative reporting operation in several areas of Jharkhand. The information that came out in that report was shocking. In Jharkhand alone, more than 22 thousand children are involved in mica mining illegally. They don't go to school. Completely deprived of the light of education. The people of this region are struggling to have two meals a day. And so they put the children of the house to work when they are five or six years old. They know that one day they may get sudden news that their beloved treasure has died buried under the soil and stones. But there is nothing to do. Life becomes a little easier when two extra money comes home.
The love of life is insignificant to that demand. Most of the mica is now abandoned. A haunted atmosphere inside. The darkness is overwhelming. Nothing can be seen without a torch. There are no safety concerns. Boys and girls are going inside without any kind of protection. Bringing sand and soil in a basket. The mineral mica is mixed in that soil. Mica is separated from the soil by sifting them through a sieve or cleaning them by hand. Entering the mine again and again throughout the day. Approximately one kilogram of mica is available. Even if the work is done continuously for eight or nine hours. The killer's people bought that one kilogram of mica for twenty five to thirty rupees. This is the price of these children's hard work all day long. There is no holiday in their life, no Eid, Puja, joy, nothing. There's just hard work. Those lucky enough to survive among these mica workers have no better life than death. If injured, crippled for life. And among those who are not seriously injured, most of the children are affected by head injury at a very young age. Eight to nine hours a day in mica mines. And so within a few years, the spine and waist rate sit revolting.
Have to spend the rest of your life with all these problems. Twenty to thirty children die every month in Jharkhand alone while working in mica mines. That is an average of one per day. Whose turn will ever come? No one knows but these numbers of deaths are covered up on paper with skill. Eleven-year-old Pooja Burna saw her beloved girlfriend fall to the ground in front of her eyes. What happened next, he will not go again. He only remembers the crowd of people and the scene of his girlfriend's bloodied body being brought out from inside. Just think about it, risking your life and working all day for a salary of only thirty rupees, the mica brought by children like Pooja is the same mica that brightens your skin and enhances your beauty. Are you wearing cosmetics? Or smearing the blood of these ignorant children on their own bodies. Ask yourself this question standing in front of the mirror. And that's when we see the end of the dark underbelly of the makeup industry. After collecting all the mica from the mines by child laborers they are cleaned. Then by ship they go to other countries especially China. After several more rounds of processing there, this mica is ground into powder. They are used in various types of makeup. Almost all the famous makeup brands use mica in their products to enhance radiance.
In this competitive market, does anyone want to lag behind their competitors? The interesting thing is that the Indian government does not know how many children are working in these mica now? How inhumane and in the environment they live. How unsafe conditions are they having to work. In 2019 a survey was conducted to find out how many children worked in mica mines. The report of that survey has not been published anywhere yet. The makeup industry is billions of dollars. There is a huge demand for these products around the world. Customers are spending a lot to make their skin look a little brighter. It's a matter of presenting themselves in front of everyone. But the source of that beauty where that place is covered in darkness. Poverty is the daily picture there. Two types of stories of division and class discrimination are written every day in both ends of the world. This beauty industry is no exception. Although of late, the picture is changing little by little. Although the speed of that change is very low. Several brands, including the famous cosmetics manufacturer L'Oréal ST L'Oréal, have decided to reduce the use of authentic micas in their products and use synthetic micas. After two thousand and twenty two years, they plan to not use any more authentic mics in their products.
They have also launched a movement called Responsible Mica Initiative or MRI. They will no longer do business standing on the blood of child labor. This is what these brands have said for now. And even if they use authentic mica, they will pay attention to issues such as protecting labor rights or stopping child labor if workers are being paid a fair wage at the mica receiving location. But there is a big problem here too, after a few days if the brands stop using natural mica then the people of most parts of Jharkhand will be in danger. Because there is no farming in this area. No business. Men work in coal mines and children in mica and mines. This is how the families here earn a living. Therefore, there is work to be done by the government, there is also work to be done by the cosmetics manufacturers.
If brands insist on protecting labor rights by not buying illegally collected mica, an industry will develop here, employment will increase and child labor will gradually come down to zero. But breaking this syndicate of mica mining traders and tying a bell around the cat's neck are two similar tasks. So everyone is against walking that way. Another important work in this area is the Nobel Laureate Indian Kailash Satyarthi. The Kailash Satyarthi Children's Foundation founded by him has been working with children working in mica mines for the past fifteen years. So far, about three thousand and four hundred children have been rescued from the clutches of this mining mafia and taken to school by the workers of this institution. They have made a child friendly village in the heart of Jharkhand. In that village the children dominated. Not only that, parents of children also get a monthly allowance from this foundation. Otherwise, due to the greed or lack of money, many people will take their children out of school and use them as killers again. Interestingly, apart from government and private donations, a beauty product brand is also pouring money into this initiative of Kailashar Satyarthi Foundation. American company ST Lauder. Those who themselves use mica in their products. They are the ones who are donating a large amount of money to this project for the development of the lives of these children. It is a small attempt to atone for their sins.
Fashion designer and beauty expert Carrie Hammer had one thing to say. The Business of Beauty is Very Angle. If you know the story of the dark world hidden behind the business of beauty production, it is natural that this statement seems to be always true. Why don't you use makeup to make yourself look beautiful? Google will find the presence of mica in its ingredients. You may not feel the presence of two drops of blood when we use these products because these events are very carefully hidden from you. Raghav Boyal would not want any black mark to fall on this billion dollar industry. But this scar is so dark that it cannot be covered by any beauty product or makeup in the world.
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