>> and throughout the morning, get a global perspective on the news... >> the life of doha... >> this is the international news hour... >> an informed look on the night's events, a smarter start to your day. mornings on al jazeera america ♪ >> they work in the darkest depths of the earth, your honor seen and unheard by the world above. >> the air is toxic and the walls could collapse at any

moment. day after day, children crawl into these dunls tunnels, searching for what they call black diamonds. >> coal mining has grown into a multimillion dollar business, in india's northeastern state. driven by the world's hunger for energy.

but what is the human cost for this development and is the price too high? it's i'm karishma vian. and during this week's 101 east we're investigating the reports of thousands of children working in these deadly coal pits. >> i wake up at 6:00 in the morning, brush my teeth have breakfast and go to work.

i work for six or seven hours. my job is to cut and dig coal. i also pull it out. >> karma has been working as a coal miner for more than a year. after his family left their home, to find work. he just celebrated his 16th birthday. he spent it in here, crawling in what locals call a rat-hole mine. the tunnel is filled with sulfuric gas and karma needs to go deeper and deeper inside to find coal. today he's wearing one of our cameras to film sections of the mine that are simply too small for us to fit in.

>> underground, the rat hole opens up into a network of connecting burrows. these man made pillars are supposed to prevent the tunnel from caving in. but often they fail. that's because the workers here are given no training. karma works with his older brother who sings in the mine to fend off boredom and fear. their father also worked here

before he died of tuberculosis. >> translator: when i first went into the rat hole i was so scared, i thought the roof would fall on me. i just followed my brother inside but i was really scared. it was so hard to pull the cart. my niece were all scratched but after two weeks i got used to it. -- my knees were so scratched but after two weeks i got used to it . i go about 800 feet inside. going is not too difficult but coming out again is. the cart is really heavy and pulling it is hard. i pull the cart out, empty it and go back inside. i'm not old enough to do this work.

but i'm still doing it. what else can i do? >> karma lives in the japia hills area of india which borders bangladesh. it is a region blessed with breathtaking beauty and bountiful natural resources. the state department of national geology estimates there are 600 million tons of col reserves coal reserves. this discovery was a eureka moamen moment for the tribal entities.

not everyone is rolling in riches. rights activists say thousands of children like karma are being exploitin these lucrative mines. they manually dig for coal because land owners don't want to invest in expensive machinery. they work without safety equipment, drinking water, or medical insurance. >> the need for children to work here is because the way the mining is taking place here is traditional, these rat holes only fit the size of a child. >> no one knows exactly how many children work here. but many suffer from mall nutrition, chronic cough and skin diseases. i've crawled about ten meters into this rat hole and the

conditions are just horrific. as you can see there's literally no space. this is less than a meter that the children have to crawl through and often, sit in this position for seven hours a day, picking coal off the walls that you see around me. it's pitch-black and it's incredibly claustrophobic. it is wet on the floor, on the walls, and you can literally feel the weight of the million above you bearing down. accidents in these tunnels are incredibly common. they're often flooded and sometimes the walls and the ceiling collapses onto the miners burying them alive. i can't imagine being a child and coming in here day in, day out, and working for a living. >> america votes 2014 midterms it's all come down to this... >> you are going to determine whether i'm going to be the next senator from iowa >> the candidates last chance to convince voters they're the one... they will stop at nothing

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♪ ♪ ♪ [♪ singing ] >> mining is in karma's blood. several of his uncles and cousins do the job, he and his brother are a team, earning $160 a week, a fortunate compared to the average indian wage. but for the family of seven the seasonal income is not enough to save and leave this place. >> translator: we work and manage to save olittle money. but then we end up spending it when someone gets sick or dies. we can't save anything. we work about six days but the money we earn gets spent at the

market. >> the miners build tarp and mud shacks to live in just a few meters from the mine. they have no running water, electricity or toilet. they have to pay for gum boots and torch they use in the mines. still, at least karma's family is together. other children who work here aren't so lucky. all day and night hundreds of trucks carrying hundreds of coal make their way to india 's energy hungry area, they often come back with cargo of their own, illegal migrants from nepal and

bangladesh to work in the mines including children. hasina kobe is a prominent rl negotiator for children's rights. miners often convince desperate families that their children can earn fair salaries after coming here but they don't mention the deplorable conditions. >> children from bangladesh come here from trucks who go for coal. there is a lot of nexus from the mine manager. >> ngo impulse has been rescuing children and enrolling them in school for years. but her campaign has earned her enemies. >> it all started with phone call, different people calling me up, calling at the office.

the first thing they would say, that don't take up what you're doing, don't intervene in what you're trying to do. stay away from it. and they're called to say, you're such a small organization you'll be shut down very easily. there were times it came to personal trip, you know your family who are there. >> but karbee has refused to back down even in the face of powerful forces. >> majority of the mine owners are leaders themselves. whether they own the mine completely or through the names of their wives and families they own the mines and the power is with them. >> today, karbee is visiting a colony of nepal ese miners.

the boy is nervous but his mother confirms karbee's suspicions. karbee tells the mother it's illegal for her child to be working and offers to help enroll him in school. in india, child labor has been illegal for more than 60 years. when it comes to hazardous work like mining, no child under 18 is allowed to take part, according to several national laws and the constitution. but in megalia state, these rules don't seem to apply.

child miners have worked here for years yet no one has ever been prosecuted for employing them. activists say it's because the mines are on tribal property. all the land you see around me, kilometers of it, is owned by tribal communities. in fact, under the six schedule of the indian constitution , tribal areas are given ability to use the land the way they want. national protocols still apply here but land owners and mine operators are openly flouting child labor laws because they say it doesn't apply to them. the laws apply, but the state

government has failed to enforce them. in fact, they don't even know how many mines or mine owners there are. any tribal landlord can start mining without registering with the government or meeting safety or labor standards. this complete lack of regulations has led to increasingly dangerous working conditions in the mines. nepalese mienepalese migrant han working here for two years and is says accidents are common. in fact he was almost buried alive in this rat hole, just two

weeks ago. >> when they started cutting the rock, without warning it fell on me. it weighed 400 kilo gramed an kilograms and i would have dyed if it had weighed more. >> there wasn't even an investigation. >> if we die, we die. they just bury us here. if we can't work we can't earn. we just rot here. people who have friends and family, will be sent back to nepal. those who don't have family they'll just throw the body here. when they die, they just throw the body, so no one will know.

that way the owner doesn't pay compensation to the family, not a single cent. >> he says he knows of families whose children have died in the mining accidents, where the tunnels collapse. but the owner denies this. >> we don't allow them to come here. because it is risky. they don't get chances here. >> this is the roads which we are making. >> lindor shows me pictures of his mine, located several miles from where karma and his brother works. he says he compensates workers for injuries. but lindor says the state desperately needs an official policy that sets industry

standards and compels miners to use mches instead o machines instead of men. >> they are working in the mine, who knows? when there's boys there, when there are policies there, there there's more to finical news than the ups and downs of the dow. for instance, can fracking change what you pay for water each month? have you thought about how climate change can effect your grocery bill? could rare minerals in china effect your cell phone bill? or, how a hospital in texas could drive up your health care premium. i'll make the connections from the news to your money real.

>> it's not just young boys who are falling victim to megalie's boom.

this has created a thriving sex trade, involving underage local girls. 23-year-old dari, which is not her real name has been a sex worker for four years. her clients are mostly mine owners and managers, who pay her up to $200 a visit. she says she can also make money by pimping younger girls. >> translator: girls that are 17 they can get $300 to $400, even $500. if i can find young girls i also earn money. i get $160 as my fee. the youngest girls are around 16 to 18. >> dari admits it's a risky profession and young girls are

vulnerable. clients insist on no protection leaving them vulnerable to hiv and other sexual disease. >> when the girls go drinking with the customers very often the men get wild. they take them to the forest, have sex with them and just leave them there. we get calls from the girls in the middle of the night. and we have to go look for them. >> in india's capital new delhi, lawyer and former member of the national commission for the protection of child rights. despite damning reports from her team, she says the megali government has ignored the girls in favor of the mining industry and the profits it generates. >> what is lacking is outreach.

we have so many double standards, what is not acceptable for our children is so very acceptable for children of people who are less privileged than we are. mining has had, at least here, some terribly negative impacts on children. and if you look at the priorities that the state lists, when they are dealing with mining, children just don't figure. >> diksit says the state must impose swift punishment. >> the fact that you will cancel a license if their social requirements are not met will go a long way to ensuring that children are taken care of. >> but in me mega

li's capital shalong. >> i went to a couple of places, i haven't been to the west casa hills location. but i didn't find when i went now, unless i decide to camp out for days on end. >> but when we asked the labor minister about the footage we filmed she had this to say: >> you need to verify the ages of these children, so-called children also. we are a community which are very small-built. if you looked at my face you wouldn't know how old i am. i can challenge you on that. so i might look sweet 16 but my age is something else. that is another problem we are having now. every time we rescue these so-called children they come to a medical officer and they manage to get a certificate that says they are above such and such age. have. >> still, to better regulate the

mining industry lindor said, it prohibits child labor, what it doesn't do is ban rat hole mining which is why children are employed in the first place. the guidelines are awaiting final approval. and are expected to be introduced later this year. >> it is shameful for my state. but i just hope that the right message also goes out. you catch one or two or three young kids engaged in mining activities, don't go tell the world that everybody in our mines is actually a young person. >> but in jenkia hills we saw many child-miners. ♪

>> 16-year-old karma doesn't think about how many other children work in these mines. he only knows why he does. >> translator: i would like to have the chance to study. but then my brother would be the only one working. and we can't afford it. and if i try the t try to do anb the salary would be much less. do we eat or do i go to school? >> it wasn't long ago that karma had a very different plan for his life. he wanted to be a pilot. >> it was my childhood dream from when i was little. when i would look up in the sky i would see a plane fly and i used to think: how does this plane fly? i would feel like sitting in

that plane and flying. i used to always tell my dad, that i wanted to be a pilot. >> karma's dreams like the dreams of so many have been lost inside these coal pits. they've long forgotten their childhood and the only thing their future holds is their struggle to survive.

>> this is al jazeera america life from new york city, i'm richelle carey, here are the top stories. in syria, celebrating a small measure of success against i.s.i.l. fighters. in iraq, a call to protect against i.s.i.s. distribution eastern ukraine lects a new government closer to home. campaigning before the midterms elections.