Giridih District, Jharkhand, India, 2018. Abrasions and broken bones are part of daily life in the Mica mines. Then there’s the quartz dust that they stir up and breathe in. In the evenings, the workers return home with a rattling cough. Many of the workers contract asthma and black lung disease, which makes them more susceptible to tuberculosis and cancer. Many families subsequently go into debt to pay for medication and hospitalization.
