A complaint has been lodged against American pop star Rihanna with the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), Delhi for using mica extracted by child labourers in Jharkhand and Bihar in cosmetic products and hair colour manufactured by her company, Fenty Beauty Foundation, members of the child rights panel said on Saturday.
Vinay Joshi, a founder member of Legal Rights Observatory (LRO), a civil society organisation affiliated to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), has lodged the complaint against the popular singer, requesting the NCPCR to take cognizance of alleged child rights violation in functioning of the cosmetics company owned by the pop star.
“We have received a complaint against Rihanna’s company for encouraging child labour by using mica extracted by children from mines in Jharkhand. Necessary actions will be taken as per the provisions of the law after thorough investigation,” said Priyank Kanoongo, the chairman of NCPCR.
Rihanna has been in the news lately for extending her support to the ongoing farmers’ protest in India on microblogging website Twitter. The singer found herself in the crosshairs of several famous personalities and commoners in India, who maintained that interference by outsiders in internal matters of the country, shall not be entertained.
Several hundred children visit the abandoned mica mines in Koderma and Giridih districts of Jharkhand daily to gather mica flakes, risking their wellbeing and inviting various respiratory diseases. Activists claim that almost a dozen children die every year in mine cave-in at mica mining sites, but their deaths are never reported. The mica, which these children collect, is often sold in the open market from where they are exported to other countries, said Rishikesh Mishra, an activist from Giridih.
Mica dust is one of the major causes for tuberculosis among locals in the area. Mica miners are prone to lung ailments, and the local villagers were at a higher risk due to lack of protective gear and awareness. “Besides mine cave-in, tuberculosis and other lung ailments claim several lives here,” said Mishra.
India is one of the world’s largest producers of mica, which has gained prominence in recent years as an environment-friendly material, used in the car and building sectors, and electronics and cosmetics. Jharkhand, researchers say, produced the most superior quality of mica, which was exported to foreign countries back in the 1970s.
The Forest Conservation Act 1980 banned mica mining in forest areas, where most of Jharkhand’s mines were operating since the Birtish era. However, in wake of casualties and health hazards associated with illegal mica mining and scavenging, the government is proceeding with regularisation of mica mining in the tribal state, officials from the mines and geology department of Jharkhand said.
Sanjay Mishra, former member of the State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (SCPCR) said that local agents purchased mica from children at throwaway prices, and sold them to cosmetics and hair colour companies. “This matter needs to be taken seriously as several children have lost their lives while extracting mica and many more are compromising with their future and health by visiting abandoned mica mines every day,” Mishra said.