India, the coal mines of Meghalaya

In Meghalaya, a small state nestled in the northeast of India, the hills of Jaintia keep the scars of more than 50 years of coal mining. As far as the eye can see, these lands of christian tribes are drilled of gaping holes, deep of a hundred meters. From their base leave tiny galleries, which penetrate into the depths of the earth. Here, we call them "rat holes." Twelve hours a day, several thousand men crawl through these small mines to extract coal, without any protection, only with the force of their arms and often at the cost of their lives. The galeries are so low that they are forced to dig crouching or lying down. These miners, often teenagers, came from the poorest regions of India, Nepal and Bangladesh, attracted by the promise of substantial salaries. However, they collect only the crumbs of the richness of the black gold of Meghalaya. The money of coal remains in the hands of a handful of local who own the land and the mines. They use this financial manna to buy homes and send their children away from Jaintia Hills because their lands, for a long time, have no future : coal made ​​acidic water and the soil unsuitable for agriculture. Despite this ecological disaster, nothing seems to stop the uncontrolled exploitation of coal in Meghalaya. Instead, India, whose energy requirement is increasing, is intensifying its production and uses more and more migrants regardless of their working condition. Every year, hundreds of miners die in complete anonymity, caved in because of the collapse of a gallery. They leave behind in their homeland, grieving families who have no news to some of their relatives for decades.