- 5 weeks ago
Millions of sandstone quarry workers in India breathe toxic dust that causes a deadly lung disease. To treat the illness, workers are forced to take out loans that trap them for life.
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00:00These sandstone mines are killing tens of thousands of men.
00:08They're constantly breathing in clouds of toxic dust that cause a deadly lung disease.
00:21Most workers don't make it past the age of 40.
00:27Annu has worked here his whole life, and so did his father.
00:32But it destroyed his lungs.
00:35To pay for medical bills, workers have to borrow money from their employer.
00:39But they don't earn enough to pay off these loans.
00:42So they keep working here, even though this dust is suffocating them now too.
00:51Activists say this is a form of modern-day slavery.
00:55They can't say anything. Why did they curse?
00:58They're bonded.
01:00But as global demand grows for this sandstone,
01:04this work is creating an entire village of widows,
01:09who are now trying to pay off loans of those who are long gone.
01:19So why are conditions at these mines so deadly?
01:23And how can families get away from a job that's killing them,
01:28as long as they're chained by debt?
01:41Just a few miles from the sandstone quarries of Rajasthan lies this village.
01:48Almost every single resident here is a widow.
01:53Years of breathing dust at the quarries took their husbands' lives.
01:59Now, they have also turned to sandstone to support their families.
02:04Like 27-year-old Bimla.
02:07Why did they kill me?
02:09Why did they kill me?
02:10Why did they kill me?
02:11Why did they kill me?
02:11Why did they kill me?
02:12Why did they kill me?
02:13Why did they kill me?
02:16Why did they kill me?
02:18Now, the women spend their days chipping away at these smaller sandstone pieces,
02:24shaping them into tiles.
02:25While the men work in the heart of the quarry.
02:32Over $160 billion worth of unmined sandstone can be found in Rajasthan.
02:39The men start by cutting stones from the walls of this pit.
02:44They drill holes about a foot apart and create outlines with paint so they know where to eventually cut the
02:52rock.
03:01No one wears a mask because temperatures here can hit nearly 120 degrees Fahrenheit.
03:08So they're constantly exposed to this fine dust.
03:15It builds up deep in the lungs.
03:17The body tries to wall it off with scar tissue, but that hardens the lungs and over time makes it
03:24impossible for oxygen to pass through.
03:27That's called silicosis, a deadly disease.
03:31To cover his father's care, the family borrowed money from a local bank and the quarry supervisor.
03:43Both charge interest.
03:47Anu was trying to pay this off when he got hurt.
03:51He was breaking a slab just like these workers when a rock dropped and shattered his foot.
04:16Today he says he owes 125,000 rupees or about $1,380.
04:23And paying it off has been hard because he earns just $5 a day, not nearly enough to keep up
04:30with expenses and make loan payments.
04:46We couldn't track down the operator of Anu's quarry.
04:50But another mine owner we contacted didn't answer any of our phone calls.
05:00Most workers live a couple of miles from the quarry in Bhilbasti neighborhood.
05:11Including 32-year-old Hira Ram, who has been sick for eight years.
05:20His 26-year-old wife, Shayati, looks after him.
05:32And silicosis patients often grow painfully thin because they lose their appetite.
05:55To afford treatment, Shayati had to send their children away to live in government hostels.
06:03It's a sacrifice she's learned to live with.
06:07I'm a little bit tired.
06:09I feel bad, but I'm going to leave.
06:13I'm going to leave.
06:14I'm going to leave.
06:15I'm not going to leave.
06:17I'm going to leave.
06:18I'm going to leave.
06:20I'm going to leave.
06:22Shayati's neighbor, Sapna, is trapped in the same cycle.
06:27Her husband died five years ago from the same disease that's killing Hira.
06:33But before he passed, he'd borrowed money, forcing Sapna into stonework.
06:43To pay off his loans, she had to borrow more.
06:47About 500,000 rupees or $5,500.
06:51This time from her boss at the quarry.
06:54But he charges 70% interest.
06:57And payments are due every 15 days.
07:00Meanwhile, as a woman, Sapna is paid about half of what the men make.
07:05Just 300 rupees a day or about $3.
07:09Not nearly enough to raise four children on her own.
07:16Sapna's daughter came to work with her.
07:18Until the dust took her life too.
07:29She was only 20.
07:33And now, Sapna also has silicosis.
07:36But she still works when she can.
07:52Since losing her loved ones, Sapna has borrowed more, including money to pay for her family's funerals.
07:59She says she's still in debt, but doesn't know how much she owes.
08:07The women rarely meet the mine owners, who are allegedly wealthy locals with political ties.
08:13They lease the land from the government that owns it, and sometimes use false names to escape accountability.
08:20They hire contractors to recruit workers, run the day-to-day operations, and negotiate loans.
08:38In this village, Sapna is surrounded by other widows like her.
08:46Radha Bai began working at the quarry in 1983.
08:52A few years later, silicosis from mining killed her husband.
09:09The 60-year-old still mourns the partner she lost 29 years ago.
09:15To get by, Radha works in the quarry.
09:29She makes about 30 tiles a day and earns just 30 cents.
09:35Meanwhile, Habas can sell a single tile for up to 60 cents – twice what Radha makes
09:41in an entire day.
09:53The widows aren't safe at the mines.
09:56They say they're constantly harassed by male workers.
10:00In many villages in India, they're believed to bring bad luck and are often shunned by
10:05their own families at occasions like weddings and baby showers.
10:11In ancient rituals, some Hindu families even burned widows alive at their husbands' funerals.
10:16The practice, called sati, was officially banned in 1829.
10:22But the stigma still exists.
10:32It's not just men and women who are trapped in these jobs, but children too.
10:36Even though child labour has been banned in India since 2016, kids above the age of 14 are legally
10:43allowed to work, but not in hazardous jobs like mining.
10:48Still, sometimes the children who end up here are even younger.
11:12Anu never married because of his debt, and he lives with his parents.
11:17Today, he's meeting his cousin Navaraji Ram for a cup of tea.
11:26Navaraji was diagnosed four years ago with silicosis, too.
11:32I was diagnosed with silicosis.
11:33I was diagnosed in school.
11:40I was diagnosed with the same kind of food, but I didn't know the same.
11:45Navaraji has also taken notes to send his children to school.
12:04He prays he can keep working for a few more years so he can pay off his debt.
12:26To save money, Navaraji has given up on treatment.
12:34But many minors get check-ups at a nearby hospital.
12:46For decades, doctors were misdiagnosing many patients with tuberculosis, which is treatable.
12:54But workers kept dying.
12:56So in 2009, the Rajasthan State Human Rights Commission stepped in and discovered it was
13:03actually silicosis, a slow but certain killer.
13:08No one survives the disease.
13:22Independent estimates suggest that today, there are about 800,000 cases of silicosis across Rajasthan.
13:32And even though this disease is a worker's life sentence, the rock they dig up travels far
13:39and wide.
13:42Sandstone is easier to carve than other rocks.
13:45So it has been used in India for centuries to build fortresses and palaces which draw hundreds
13:52of thousands of tourists each year.
13:54It was even used to construct the president's house.
13:58The state's capital, Jaipur, is famous for its sandstone structures.
14:02In 2025, about $60 million worth of sandstone left the country.
14:08Many exports are bound for the US, Europe and the UK, where it's used to decorate bathrooms,
14:15driveways and cobbled roads.
14:18In the US, a single square foot tile can range from $10 to $30, which is much more expensive than
14:25concrete.
14:27But before it's exported, the stone moves through a long chain of middlemen,
14:32erasing any link to specific quarries.
14:38A dealer who sits in Europe or the UK, does he have any option?
14:43He is also vulnerable.
14:45He can't say that his stone was not exploited there.
14:51Rana Sen Gupta runs a local NGO called Mine Labour Protection Campaign or MLPC.
15:21Rana says it's hard for the government to keep track of conditions
15:24as there are over 30,000 mines cutting across Rajasthan
15:29and just one state agency to keep watch.
15:32So the NGO fills critical gaps while looking out for workers and widows.
15:55The state is legally required to pay women a one-time sum of 300,000 rupees
16:00or about $3,300 if their husbands die of silicosis.
16:05But often, there are no employment contracts
16:08and many women are too afraid to officially report their debts.
16:20About 85% of women here can't read or write.
16:25Activists say mine operators take advantage of that when they issue their loans.
16:55By law, the state should give sick workers a one-time payment
16:59of about 100,000 rupees or $1,000.
17:03And government data shows that from 2022 to 2025,
17:08more than 118,000 people in Rajasthan applied for the aid,
17:13saying they had the disease.
17:14But the state only certified about 6,000 cases
17:19and paid out just 5,000.
17:24Experts say the government routinely rejects claims
17:27to dot responsibility and limit how much it has to pay.
17:34If you go to the mining department,
17:36they will also say that labor is not my subject.
17:38And if you go to the labor department,
17:39they will also say that it is not my subject.
17:41If you go to the mining industry,
17:42then where will you go?
18:05We emailed India's Ministry of Mines,
18:08its Labor Department,
18:09and Rajasthan's State Labor and Mining Department
18:12and called every number listed on their websites.
18:17Two officials hung up on us when we started asking questions.
18:20Several of our calls went unanswered
18:23and other numbers weren't in service,
18:26including the one for Rajasthan's silicosis help desk.
18:31Still, Rana says the state could save thousands in compensation
18:35if they focused on preventing the disease in the first place.
18:39He points to quarries around the world
18:42that use machinery like wire saws to cut rocks
18:45so workers are not directly exposed to dust.
18:48But that equipment can be expensive.
18:51And if mine owners won't buy it,
18:54Rana says the state should,
18:57as this land still belongs to the government.
19:00You have to see the government
19:01that if you are giving someone to a mining,
19:05then you have to give them back up.
19:08Basically, financial, technology,
19:11political will,
19:13there should be a guarantee for the government.
19:16There should be a guarantee for the government.
19:17If we are going to achieve it,
19:19then we will not achieve it for anyone's goals.
19:22But the oppression goes back centuries.
19:26Most workers here are considered Dalit or untouchables.
19:30It's the lowest rung in the Hindu caste system,
19:33which was outlawed decades ago,
19:35but still exists.
19:51There they found sandstone and other rocks and began selling them.
19:56Soon, the government wanted to cash in,
19:58so it claimed ownership of all underground minerals
20:01and offered mining licenses.
20:04Historically, some were reserved for marginalized communities.
20:08But many locals couldn't afford these permits,
20:11and that opened a door for the wealthy.
20:26So on paper, the work was reserved for the lowest caste.
20:30But in reality, the mining belonged to those with money.
20:44While we were filming this video,
20:46Hira Ram was admitted to the hospital.
20:49with an parish in this article.
20:50you didn't have a worry about it.
20:52me.
20:56There's no worry about it.
20:58and you're not a worry about it.
21:01We have arrived here,
21:02and now we have arrived here.
21:04I've had a new building,
21:06who have to do things to do.
21:08We do not have a new building.
21:11The money is going to be there.
21:22Hira died a month after we filmed this documentary.
21:28He told us he'd always worry about the family and friends he would leave behind.
21:36Anu now has silicosis too.
21:40And he doesn't know how much longer his lungs will hold out.
21:44So he keeps a quiet list of the things he'd do if he ever escapes this dust, before it
21:51claims his life too.
21:53We have to do it.
21:54We have to do it.
21:56We have to do it.
21:57We have to create a hospital.
22:01We have to give a doctor.
22:04We have to give a doctor.
22:05We have to give a doctor to a school.
22:10We have to do a good job.
22:11We have to do it.
22:32I'm going to see.
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